Digital 2026 Thailand: what the latest numbers say about where Thai audiences are

DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Thailand report, published in late 2025 with data up to October 2025, is still the latest edition in the series. It puts Thailand’s population at about 71.6 million and internet users at 67.8 million, or 94.7% of the population, up 2.4 million (3.7%) in a year.

Only about 3.78 million people, or 5.3%, remain offline. Mobile connections stand at 96.6 million, equal to 135% of the population, because many people carry more than one SIM. That number is connections, not people.

One more figure worth remembering: Thailand’s median age is 40.6. The online audience is not mainly teenagers, as some brands still assume.

The report counts 56.6 million social media user identities, or 79.1% of the population, up 7.5 million (15.2%). The authors caution that identities do not necessarily equal unique people, because one person may hold several accounts.

Most platform figures below are advertising reach, as reported by each platform’s ad tools, not monthly active users. LINE is the exception, reported as active users.

• LINE: 56 million users, 78.2% of the population, unchanged year on year
• TikTok: ad reach of 56.6 million aged 18+, equal to 96.3% of adults, up 5.6%
• Facebook: ad reach of 51.5 million, 71.9% of the population, up 4.7%
• YouTube: ad reach of 47.2 million, 65.9% of the population, down 0.8%
• Instagram: ad reach of 20.6 million, 28.7% of the population, up 13.9%

DataReportal itself stresses that ad audience size is not a proxy for daily or monthly active users, and says nothing about engagement. Figures can also swing when platforms change how they count. Between July and October 2025, for example, TikTok’s ad reach fell by 2.46 million while YouTube’s rose by 1.5 million.

So claiming that one platform is bigger than another based on these figures alone is risky. A better approach is to use them for the broad picture, then check them against real data from your own ad accounts and sales systems.

The same caution applies to the social media identity count. In our view, growth of 15.2% in one year is unlikely to mean that millions of new Thais suddenly joined social media; it more likely reflects extra accounts and changes in platform data. Read it as a sign of how embedded social media already is, not as a pool of new customers.

Ookla data in the report puts Thailand’s median mobile download speed at 124.33 Mbps, up 127% in a year. Median fixed broadband reached 262.42 Mbps, up 13%.

Faster networks make short video and live streams smoother on phones, but they do not guarantee that heavy websites load quickly for everyone. A median is the midpoint: half of users still get slower speeds, and older devices still process pages slowly.

For a global comparison, DataReportal’s Digital 2026 mid-year update counted 6.12 billion internet users worldwide in early April 2026, or 73.8% of the world’s population. Thailand’s penetration is clearly well above the global average.

With nearly the whole country online, businesses will no longer win customers simply because people are coming online for the first time. Growth has to come from getting people who are already online to choose you, return, and recommend you.

LINE, with 56 million users, works like a communication utility and suits after-sales care and updates. TikTok and Facebook suit awareness and product discovery. Giving each channel a clear job matters more than trying to be everywhere with the same content.

Instagram is smaller but growing fast, and 56.5% of its adult audience is female. It can suit lifestyle, fashion and beauty brands that depend on a strong visual identity.

Treat these figures as a starting point for planning, then add your own business data.

Revisit the plan when the next edition of the report appears, but watch the direction of change rather than single numbers, since platform counting methods shift from year to year.

• Give each channel a defined role, for example TikTok for discovery, LINE for customer care, and your website for information and conversion.
• Do not assume your online customers are all young; test content with people aged 35 and over too.
• Test your website on mid-range phones and ordinary networks, not only on your team’s devices.
• Compare report reach figures with real data in your ad accounts before moving budget.