Advertising audiences are not user counts: how to read Digital 2027 before setting your budget

Read the metric’s name before its size

DataReportal’s Digital 2027 report, published in partnership with We Are Social and Meltwater, provides a broad picture of digital activity. It brings together multiple sources, so using it well starts with understanding each metric and its limits before turning it into a spending decision. [1]

Active users, User Identities and Advertising Reach are different measures.

DataReportal explains that user identities may not represent unique people, and that advertising audience figures can differ from a platform’s active user numbers. These terms are not interchangeable. Nor should you add audiences across platforms to obtain a unique person count without accounting for overlap. [1][2]

In practice, record the definition, source, market and reference period beside every figure you use in a presentation. This makes the discussion within your team more precise.

Check the basis of year-on-year comparisons

A changed figure can look like evidence that a platform is growing or declining, even when part of the change reflects a revised source or methodology.

The report flags changes in datasets, including Similarweb’s app data, and warns against direct comparisons with figures in earlier editions. Its notes also explain the effects of different samples, reference periods and collection methods. [1][2]

Before writing that an audience has grown, check that the comparison is valid. When the report provides a time series prepared with a consistent methodology, review that series and its footnotes rather than calculating change from two separate editions.

A consistent comparison basis matters for account reporting too. See our guide to calculating engagement rate and choosing a suitable benchmark before judging content performance.

Move from the world to your market

A global average can help explain a trend, but it cannot identify the right channel for a local business on its own.

A company serving Arabic- and Turkish-speaking customers in Istanbul needs more specific questions: who makes the decision? In which language do they search and compare? Do they buy directly or need a consultation? Can the sales team serve enquiries from this channel?

These are planning questions proposed by CROMBA. Connect them to available market data, then to your website, campaign and sales conversation data, instead of applying a global average to your audience.

Turn the indicator into a testable hypothesis

Instead of concluding that a large platform deserves more budget, formulate a specific hypothesis: this channel may help us reach a segment that we currently find difficult to assess.

Define the appropriate content, contact path and outcome you will review. You might want enquiries from companies of a particular size, service requests within a defined area, or visits to an important comparison page.

The report then becomes a source of questions and opportunities. A test evaluates whether those opportunities fit your business.

To connect these hypotheses to website outcomes, our guide to lead generation measurement in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) helps distinguish a visit from a contact action worth following up.

Make the limits of your conclusions explicit

We suggest giving each recommendation three parts: what the data says, what we infer from it, and what still needs testing.

Audience size does not establish that reaching it will be inexpensive. A platform’s popularity does not prove that its users are ready to buy your service. Even a successful previous campaign needs to be understood in context before its results are generalised.

Discuss with CROMBA how to turn market indicators into clear testing priorities, combining audience research, business data and your team’s ability to execute and follow up.