Internet usage · Australia · September 2026
Australian Internet Usage & Digital Behaviour Statistics (September 2026)
Australia's internet market is effectively saturated. The latest Digital 2026 data records 26.2 million internet users and 97.1% penetration, while ACMA's 2025 research found 99.7% of Australian adults had used a device to go online in the previous six months. The story in September 2026 is therefore less about access and more about how Australians search, shop, consume media and increasingly use AI.
01 The digital baseline
Australia's internet market is saturated. The growth is now in depth of use.
DataReportal's Digital 2026 Australia report records 26.2 million internet users at the end of 2025, equivalent to 97.1% internet penetration. It also records 34.1 million cellular mobile connections, equivalent to 126% of the population. These are the latest comparable national digital-adoption figures available for the 2026 reporting cycle.
ACMA's independent 2025 research provides a different but complementary measure: 99.7% of Australian adults had used at least one device to go online in the previous six months. Internet access is therefore effectively universal among adults. The strategic question for Australian businesses is no longer how to get more people online. It is how to earn attention, traffic and transactions from people who are already there.
Internet penetration at the end of 2025 according to Digital 2026 Australia.
Australian adults who used at least one device to go online in the previous six months in 2025.
Cellular mobile connections, equal to 126% of Australia's population.
Why "more Australians online" is no longer the growth story
Australia has reached digital saturation. ACMA found 99.7% of adults had used a device to go online in 2025, while DataReportal records 97.1% population-level internet penetration. The competitive advantage is shifting toward visibility, relevance, experience and the ability to appear inside the increasingly complex environments where Australians discover information and products.
02 Age, device & daily habits
Mobile internet use is now almost universal among Australian adults
ACMA's latest research shows 97% of Australian adults accessed the internet via mobile phones in 2025, up from 95% in 2024. Daily mobile internet use also increased, with 92% using mobile internet daily. The average Australian used 4.1 devices to access the internet in 2025, the highest recorded level since 2020.
Laptops remain important, with 73% of adults using them to access the internet, while smart TV usage reached 64%. The device landscape is therefore not mobile replacing everything else. It is a multi-device environment in which mobile dominates access but laptops and connected televisions remain important parts of the journey.
| Device / behaviour | 2025 figure | Change / context | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile phone | 97% | Up from 95% in 2024 | Primary access device |
| Daily mobile internet | 92% | Up from 90% | Mobile is habitual |
| Average devices | 4.1 | Up from 3.7 | Multi-device use expanding |
| Laptop | 73% | Broadly stable | Important for work and research |
| Smart TV | 64% | Up from 61% | Connected-TV audience expanding |
| 75+ mobile access | 88% | Major long-term increase | Age gap continuing to narrow |
The important change is not simply that Australians use phones more. It is that mobile internet has become normal across almost every demographic. ACMA reports that even among Australians aged 75+, mobile internet use reached 88% in 2025. For marketers, mobile optimisation is therefore no longer primarily a younger-audience requirement.
03 Connection speeds
Mobile is faster than fixed broadband on the latest comparable national measurement
The latest comparable Ookla figures reported in Digital 2026 Australia put Australia's median mobile download speed at 122.20 Mbps, compared with 95.29 Mbps for fixed broadband. The same dataset records median mobile latency of 20 ms and fixed latency of 10 ms.
The important change from the previous version of this page is the measurement context. These figures are the latest available comparable Ookla data used by the 2026 Digital report rather than a September 2026 live measurement. They are therefore retained as the current benchmark rather than presented as a newly measured September figure.
Median mobile download speed in the latest comparable national dataset.
Median fixed broadband download speed.
Median fixed broadband latency, compared with 20 ms on mobile.
04 Search behaviour
Google still leads Australian search, but its share is no longer the 94% figure often quoted
StatCounter's August 2026 Australian data puts Google at 87.58% of search-engine market share across all platforms. Bing is second at 9.41%, followed by Yahoo at 1.59% and DuckDuckGo at 0.94%.
That represents a materially different search landscape from the 94.1% Google figure used in the previous version of this article. The current data should be used for September 2026 reporting. Search-market-share figures are also platform- and methodology-dependent, so the figures below use StatCounter's all-platform Australia dataset consistently.
| Search engine | August 2026 share | Position | Market context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87.58% | 1 | Dominant search engine | |
| Bing | 9.41% | 2 | Significantly larger than previously reported |
| Yahoo | 1.59% | 3 | Small but established |
| DuckDuckGo | 0.94% | 4 | Niche privacy-led usage |
| Ecosia | 0.23% | 5 | Small alternative engine |
| Yandex | 0.17% | 6 | Very small Australian share |
The desktop/mobile combined StatCounter view is slightly different, recording Google at 87.28% and Bing at 9.64%. For consistency, this article uses the all-platform figure of 87.58% in the hero and main narrative.
05 Zero-click & AI search
The search result is becoming an answer engine, but the data needs more careful interpretation
Zero-click behaviour remains one of the biggest structural changes in search, but the previous version of this page overstated the precision with which a single Australian percentage could be assigned to all Google searches. Search behaviour varies substantially according to query type, SERP features, AI Overviews and whether a user is using Google's traditional results or AI-oriented interfaces.
What is clear is that AI-generated answers are changing the relationship between ranking and traffic. Research into AI Overviews shows that users are less likely to click traditional organic results when an AI-generated answer satisfies the query directly. The commercial implication is straightforward: being visible inside the answer can matter as much as, or more than, simply occupying a conventional blue-link position.
For Australian businesses, this changes the objective of content. Pages should still be technically strong and capable of ranking, but they also need to be easy for search and AI systems to understand, extract and attribute. Clear factual claims, authoritative authorship, structured information, original research and genuinely useful answers become increasingly valuable.
Australians aged 14+ using AI tools in an average four weeks.
Australians aged 14+ using ChatGPT in an average four weeks.
Australians using ChatGPT in an average four weeks.
What this means for Australian businesses
Search visibility is expanding beyond the traditional ten blue links. Businesses now need to think about conventional rankings, featured results, AI-generated answers, brand mentions and citations as parts of one discovery ecosystem. The objective is not simply to rank. It is to become one of the sources that search and AI systems consider authoritative enough to surface.
AI adoption is now mainstream
Roy Morgan's March-quarter 2026 research found 13.6 million Australians, or 58% of Australians aged 14+, used AI tools in an average four weeks. ChatGPT was used by 10.5 million Australians (45%), Google Gemini by 5 million (21%) and Microsoft Copilot by 4 million (17%). This is no longer an early-adopter market.
06 Video & streaming
Video is now a mainstream Australian media behaviour across multiple screens
ACMA's latest research found that 91% of Australian adults used an online service to watch video during a given week in 2025. Paid subscription streaming was used by 68% of adults. At the same time, smart-TV internet use increased to 64%, reinforcing the shift from "digital video" as a phone-and-computer activity toward a genuinely multi-screen television environment.
The distinction matters for marketers. YouTube, subscription streaming and connected-TV viewing increasingly overlap. A consumer can discover a brand on a phone, research it on a laptop and consume the resulting video content through a television. Media planning that treats these as completely separate audiences increasingly misses the actual behaviour.
| Video behaviour | Latest figure | Measurement | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online video use | 91% | Weekly adult use | Video is mainstream |
| Paid streaming | 68% | Adult use | Subscription video remains strong |
| Smart TV internet access | 64% | Adult use | Connected-TV audience expanding |
| YouTube | 21.0M | Advertising reach, Oct 2025 | Largest video discovery platform |
| Free-to-air TV | 52% | Weekly adult viewing | Traditional TV remains significant |
07 Ecommerce & transactions
Australian ecommerce reached $82.6 billion. Frequency and value are now the story.
Australia Post's 2026 eCommerce Report records $82.6 billion in online spending in 2025, up 14% year on year. Online spending represented 24% of all retail spend. A total of 9.8 million Australian households shopped online, showing that ecommerce is now a mainstream household behaviour rather than a specialist channel.
Average basket size fell to $96 as consumers became more price conscious while making smaller, more frequent purchases. That is an important distinction: ecommerce growth is not simply coming from consumers spending more per transaction. It is increasingly coming from more occasions and more online purchasing behaviour.
Total Australian online spend during 2025.
Australian households shopping online.
Of online transactions now occurring through marketplaces.
Marketplaces have become a structural part of Australian ecommerce
Australian shoppers spent $18.9 billion on online marketplaces in 2025, up 13% year on year. Marketplaces now account for 42% of online transactions. For brands, this means the discovery problem is no longer simply "how do I rank in Google?" It is also "how do I appear where shoppers already compare products and prices?"
Australia Post also reports that 35% of online shoppers now purchase online at least weekly. Millennials are particularly frequent online buyers, with 47% purchasing online weekly or more. Value, delivery experience, checkout friction and visibility across marketplaces are therefore increasingly important conversion variables.
08 Privacy & data behaviour
Privacy concern is rising faster than consumer trust in the systems collecting the data
The OAIC's 2026 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey provides the strongest current national benchmark. 87% of Australians say they are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago. At the same time, 73% experienced at least one privacy concern during the previous year.
The tension is significant. Australians want greater control over personal information but often find the mechanisms difficult to navigate. The OAIC's findings reinforce the importance of transparent collection practices, meaningful consent and privacy-by-default approaches as AI and data-driven personalisation become more widespread.
Trust in AI is particularly weak
Only 4% of Australians believe AI companies are worthy of their trust, according to the OAIC's 2026 survey. That creates a significant gap between rapidly increasing AI adoption and the level of trust Australians place in the organisations building these systems. Businesses using AI for marketing, personalisation or customer service should treat transparency as a competitive issue, not merely a compliance exercise.
09 What's different in September 2026
Seven changes that matter to Australian digital marketers right now
Google's Australian search share is now 87.58%. StatCounter's August 2026 data puts Bing at 9.41%, meaning the old 94.1% Google figure should no longer be used as the current Australian benchmark.
AI adoption has crossed into the mainstream. Roy Morgan reports that 13.6 million Australians, or 58% of Australians aged 14+, used AI tools in an average four weeks in the March quarter 2026.
ChatGPT alone reaches 10.5 million Australians. Roy Morgan measures ChatGPT usage at 45% of Australians aged 14+, ahead of Google Gemini at 21% and Microsoft Copilot at 17%.
Mobile internet use is effectively universal. ACMA reports that 97% of Australian adults accessed the internet via mobile phones in 2025, while 92% used mobile internet daily.
Australian ecommerce reached $82.6 billion. Online spending increased 14% in 2025 and represented 24% of total retail spending, with 9.8 million households shopping online.
Marketplaces now account for 42% of online transactions. Australians spent $18.9 billion on marketplaces in 2025, reinforcing the importance of marketplace visibility alongside traditional search.
Privacy concern is intensifying. The OAIC's 2026 survey found 87% of Australians are more concerned about privacy than five years ago, while only 4% believe AI companies are worthy of their trust.
10 Common questions
What people are asking about Australian internet usage in 2026
Methodology & data sources
- DataReportal Digital 2026: Australia — internet users, penetration, mobile connections and digital behaviour. Headline figures are based on data available around October 2025.
- ACMA, How we use the internet — 2025 Australian internet access, mobile use, device usage and connected-TV data, published 2026.
- Ookla Speedtest Intelligence — latest comparable fixed and mobile speed data reported in Digital 2026 Australia.
- StatCounter GlobalStats — Australia search-engine market share, August 2026.
- Roy Morgan Single Source, January–March 2026 — Australian AI-tool usage and ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot usage.
- Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026 — 2025 Australian online spend, households, marketplace transactions and shopping frequency.
- OAIC Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2026 — privacy concern, data collection expectations and trust in AI companies.
- All figures are presented using the latest available comparable Australian measurement and are dated where the underlying dataset predates September 2026.
