Global audience insights from the first quarter of 2026

In the first quarter of 2026, Average Engaged Time increased by 4.6 seconds in Central/Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, search traffic decreased sharply in the Middle East and Central Asia, and mobile pageviews held steady across most regions.

Read on for more audience insights from our first quarter research below.

Compare to our previous insights: Q4 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q2 2025

Average Engaged Time increased sharply in Central/Eastern Europe

Average Engaged Time remained highest in Central/Eastern Europe, rising by 4.6 seconds from Q4. All other regions experienced a decrease of up to 2 seconds or stayed relatively the same.

Mobile traffic remained steady across multiple regions

While Mobile traffic declined globally in Q4, Q1 was a different story as pageviews from this device type increased 2% in the Middle East, Southern Europe, and Latin America.

Search traffic fell across multiple regions

Search traffic fell dramatically across many regions. The Middle East and Central Asia saw the steepest declines, with pageviews from search falling as much as 6% and 7%, respectively. Meanwhile, Africa, Southern Europe, and Latin America saw a marginal increase in pageviews from this traffic source.

Social traffic increased in North America and Southeast Asia

Despite seeing a 2% decrease in social traffic in Q1, African publishers still received the most pageviews from this traffic type. Southeast Asia and North America followed closely, with the latter seeing an increase of 3%.

Reader Loyalty increased in Northern Europe and the Middle East

Reader loyalty remained unchanged across most regions. However, Northern Europe and the Middle East experienced large upticks, increasing by 4% and 7%, respectively. Central/Eastern Europe saw the steepest decline in reader loyalty, dropping 4% from Q4.

Takeaways from our first quarter research

Average Engaged Time across the globe is 26.5 seconds.
Average Engaged Time ranged from 38.2 seconds in Central/Eastern Europe to 23.6 seconds in Central Asia. Overall, average audience engagement rose half a second from Q4.

Mobile traffic held steady across most regions.
After mobile pageviews declined in Q4, publishers saw steadier traffic from this source in Q1. Mobile still drives the most traffic of all device types, with at least 63% of site visits occurring on mobile devices.

Pageviews from search are decreasing.
Search traffic decreased across all regions except Southeast Asia and the Middle East in Q1. This is likely due in part to AI’s impact on content discovery.