In this article we explore the growth that Colombia has had during 2020 in terms of Internet use and the new consumer habits that have emerged, specifically, due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The general state of mobile, Internet and social media use
graphic-digital-situation-colombia-2020-2021
The Colombian population is made up of 51.07 million people, of which 81.6% live in urbanized areas.
Regarding mobile connections, the number of mobile devices connected in the country is 60.83 million. This means that the number of connections through cell phones, tablets and laptops exceeds the total population (119%).
Active Internet users in the country represent 68% of the total population. Of that 68%, 76.4% are active on various social networks, including: Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube.
Digital growth: January 2020 vs January 2021
graph-digital-growth-colombia-2020-2021
Compared to 2020, the population in Colombia grew by 0.9%, representing some 463 thousand new people.
Since last year, mobile phone connections have also increased, specifically by 1.9%. Therefore, there are 1.1 million new mobile devices connected.
The percentage of Internet users increased by 4.0% over the course of a year, adding 1.3 million new Internet users.
At the same time, the number of users connected to social networks had a significant increase of 11.4%, representing a total of 4.0 million new profiles.
Quarantine and isolation periods due to COVID-19 have increased our need to be connected to the Internet and social media to chat with friends and family, entertain ourselves from home, and fulfill our work and academic responsibilities.
Devices most used by Internet users
graphic-possession-devices-colombia-2020-2021
The use of mobile and technological devices by the population of poland number for whatsapp Internet users in Colombia, between 16 and 64 years of age, is divided in percentage as follows:
Cell phone (any type): 98.1% .
Smartphones: 97.5%.
Mobile phone without “smart” features: 13%.
Laptop or desktop computer (PC): 76.6%.
Tablets: 35.6%.
Smart TV for watching online content (like Netflix): 17.9%.
Video game console: 31.5%.
Smart Home Device: 10.3%.
Smart watches: 19.8%.
Virtual reality devices: 4.5%.
Smartphone usage increased by 4.5%, while the percentage of non-smartphone usage decreased by 3.5% compared to the 2019-2020 annual report
Average time spent on digital platforms and devices
graph-average-time-spent-on-platforms-devices-colombia-2020-2021
The time that Colombian users spend on the Internet and digital devices is managed as follows:
10 hours and 7 minutes a day connected to the Internet (almost an hour more than last year).
4 hours and 4 minutes a day watching TV (Broadcast or Streaming)
3 hours and 45 minutes a day using social networks.
1 hour and 42 minutes a day listening to music through streaming services.
1 hour and 3 minutes a day playing console video games.
1 hour and 44 minutes a day reading news (online or print media).
1 hour and 15 minutes listening to the radio.
49 minutes listening to podcasts.
Overview of Internet usage in Colombia
graphic-general-summary-digital-colombia-2020-2021
As we saw in the general state of use of mobile devices, Internet and social networks, there are 34.73 million Internet users in Colombia, this represents a growth of 1.3 million new users.
These 34.7 million users spend approximately 10 hours and 7 minutes a day browsing the Internet from any device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, video game console, TV, among others), although 94% of them access this service mainly from their smartphone.
Overview of Internet usage via mobile devices