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.

Digital State of the Midwest 2026 Highlights

Hi everyone. Chris Prendergast here, partner and Chief Operations Officer at Click Rain Inc. We recently completed and unveiled our 2026 Digital State of the Midwest, the massive survey where we uncover the digital impact on people's lives in our five-state region. This was our biggest survey, yet we got the most questions, the most insights, and in fact, it was also our third survey, meaning we started to see some very interesting trends begin to emerge. 

The first and biggest trend had to do with the video. Now, the rise in video I think is probably expected, but the extent to which we saw was amazing. In fact, the number of people who consume videos daily increased across all demographics, across all platforms. Those who watch YouTube videos every day or multiple times a week increased by 35% from our first survey. Those watching streaming TV or streaming video increased by 38%. And in fact, those watching social videos on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, that was a rise of over 70% from our first survey. And it's not just the frequency of watching videos, it's also the amount of time. The average adult, under the age of 35 in the Midwest is now watching three-and-a-half hours of video on their mobile device every day. That's across streaming platforms, across social, across YouTube, three-and-a-half hours on average, seven days a week on a mobile device. Not even counting TV, not even counting desktops and laptops. And that's not all. 17% of adults under 35 in the Midwest are watching seven hours of video on a mobile device every single day of their week, every day of their lives. That was more than I expected, maybe more than you expected, but you're watching a video right now, so who knows? The takeaway from all this is that we should all be investing more in video. If you're not doing video, whatever your business is, whatever your marketing strategy is, if you're not doing it, now is the time to start. And if you are doing it, 2026 is the time to increase that spend, increase that focus, increase that attention, because whoever your audience is, they're increasing their attention on video right now. 

The second big takeaway from our survey had to do with search and people's changing behaviors with search engines. Now, if you're like me, Google may be a big part of your daily life, of your work life. So you may be surprised to learn that in the Midwest, people's use of search engines has actually declined since our last survey. Now, what are they doing instead? Are people searching less or just using search engines less? In fact, social search is on the rise. The TikTok generation especially is increasingly likely to go to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, other social platforms to search for products, services, maybe even your business, and that's not all. You may have also guessed that the rise in AI has contributed to this as well. So nearly half of all adults in the Midwest have said that ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, these AI platforms have started to replace some of their search behavior taking away from traditional search engines. And in fact, 31% of adults in the Midwest say that they use ChatGPT regularly. So as this landscape changes, maybe your strategy needs to change as well. So while SEO isn't going away , it's changing. SEO may also include social search. It may include AI search. So make sure your strategy is ready for that. 

The third takeaway from the 2026 Digital State of the Midwest had to do with the changing advertising landscape. What we learned is that across every ad platform, across every channel, people's attention was decreasing, except for three. There were three channels that saw an increase in people's attention from our last survey: billboards, streaming television, and video ads. Remember how I said video is important? In fact, compared to four years ago, people are remembering and paying attention to video ads 40% more. Now, that increase means that video should be a part of your advertising plan as well as your content plan in 2026. 

We learned so much in this study, we couldn't contain it all in this one video. In fact, we looked at and analyzed over 617,000 data points, so there's a lot more to say. If you want to get our full report, all of our insights, everything we learned from the Digital State of the Midwest, go to our Trendigital website and download the report today. Because the world is changing, the Midwest is changing, and with these trends, you're gonna be on top of it for your marketing. Thank you.

Your Media Mix Matters

43% likely to purchase after video ads

Since 2022, video ads have seen a 61% increase in purchase influence.

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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.

What's Included

$59

Digital State of the Midwest Report

This 50+ page report features charts, key findings, and trend data dating back to 2018, with insights broken out by audience segments including age, gender, income, education, and households with children.
 

Sections include:

  • How Midwesterners Are Connected
  • How Midwesterners Engage with Digital Marketing
  • How Midwesterners Use Search and Online Reviews
  • How Midwesterners Use Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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About the Report

Survey 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%.