Digital State of the Midwest

2026 Edition

Digital State of the Midwest

The first Digital State of the Midwest report was published in 2018, followed by the second edition in 2022. Now, the 2026 edition is here — packed with fresh insights, emerging trends, and practical strategies for engaging digital audiences across the Upper Midwest. 

Too often, marketers rely on nationwide studies that overlook unique characteristics of local markets. This report fills that gap, offering a deep look at how digital users in the Upper Midwest behave, what they value, and how marketers can craft strategies that truly resonate.

Marketing Insights You Can Use

Data alone doesn’t drive growth—interpretation does. The Digital State of the Midwest report goes beyond surface-level trends to translate digital behavior into meaningful insights marketers can actually act on. Grounded in regional data, the report helps you make smarter decisions about where to invest, how to engage, and what to rethink as digital habits continue to shift.

Insights You Can Expect in the Report: 

• Content format performance by audience segments: Short-form written content shows lower engagement among adults ages 18–34, with 47% reporting engagement.
• Trends in search engine usage: Daily and weekly search engine use has declined 9% since 2022, reflecting changes in how audiences access information.
• Advertising attention across channels: Podcast advertising has seen an 18% increase in the ads consumers report paying attention to since 2022.
• Perceived trust in digital influence: Only 5% of respondents rate influencers as highly trustworthy for online reviews.

About the Report

The Methodology 

The Digital State of the Midwest report is created by Click Rain Inc., a house of premier marketing and creative brands headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD. Our agencies, Click Rain and Lemonly know the Upper Midwest firsthand — we live and work here, as do many of our clients and their audiences. This report is our way of helping our fellow marketers make smarter decisions, backed by data and insights that matter locally.

We surveyed 1,060 people in the Upper Midwest, using statistically proportional segments of respondents from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Surveys were distributed through an enterprise research platform to a targeted randomized audience with equal distributions around location and age. We received statistically proportional responses from three age groups: 18–34-year-olds, 35–54-year-olds, and 55-year-olds and above (minors were excluded from the survey). A 1,060-person sample of a population of 12.76 million people in this five-state region yields a confidence interval of 95% and a margin of error of ±3%.