Gitnux/Report 2026

Blogging Industry Statistics

The U.S. creator advertising market is projected at $44 billion in 2026, explore the figures behind blogging usage, platforms, and AI-driven workflow changes.
194Statistics
56Sources
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Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Before any source is gathered, an editor locks the question, what qualifies, and how the piece will be judged.

02Source Research

Search agents collect the source set and pull each data point out with its provenance attached.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The blogging industry at a glance

Blogging is increasingly integrated into the broader creator economy: U.S. creator advertising is projected to reach $44 billion in 2026, while 92.4% of surveyed content marketers report using AI for blogging.

$44B[45]
U.S. creator ad spend, 2026
39.3%[46]
All websites using WordPress, 2026
92.4%[27]
Bloggers using AI, 2026
$37.1B[45]
U.S. creator ad spend, 2025
Market size
No reliable standalone global market-size estimate for blogging was identified. The closest current benchmark is U.S. creator-economy advertising, projected at $37.1 billion in 2025, but this includes social creators and other formats beyond blogs.[45]
Forecast & CAGR
IAB projects U.S. creator-economy advertising to increase from $37 billion in 2025 to $44 billion in 2026, equivalent to approximately 18% year-over-year growth; this is an adjacent creator-market forecast rather than a blog-only CAGR.[45]
Market share & regions
English remains the dominant language for WordPress publishing, accounting for 71% of WordPress.com blogs in the latest reported platform data. WordPress is used by 39.3% of all websites and 58.0% of websites with a known content-management system worldwide in November 2026.[46][47]
Segmentation
Blogging activity is segmented across personal publishing, corporate content marketing, affiliate and review sites, newsletters, and creator-led media. In Orbit Media’s 2026 survey, the average post was 1,312 words and took 3 hours and 20 minutes to produce, while 92.4% of respondents used AI in blogging workflows.[27]
Key players & concentration
Platform concentration is high: WordPress held 58.0% of the identifiable content-management-system market and powered 39.3% of all websites on November 11, 2026. These figures cover all WordPress sites, not blogs alone, so they should be treated as a publishing-platform proxy.[46]
Trends, drivers & challenges
AI adoption is now mainstream in blogging, with 92.4% of Orbit Media’s 2026 respondents using AI, but only 13.9% said their blogs delivered strong results. The same survey reported an average article length of 1,312 words, while IAB identified measurement, creator selection, and standards as key challenges for creator advertising.[27][45]
Consumer behavior & competition
Blogging competes with social, video, search, newsletters, and creator platforms for audience attention and advertising budgets. U.S. social-media advertising reached $117.7 billion in 2025, while creator advertising reached $37 billion, indicating that competition is increasingly concentrated in social and creator-led formats.[45]
Regulation
In the United States, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides apply to bloggers and require disclosure of material connections such as payment, free products, or affiliate relationships. Disclosures should be clear, conspicuous, and placed with the endorsement; the FTC updated the Guides in June 2023.[48]
Latest news
In September 2026, IAB reported that U.S. creator advertising was expected to reach about $44 billion during 2026, more than tripling its 2021 level. Orbit Media’s 2026 blogging survey also reported a sharp increase in AI use alongside a decline in the share of marketers reporting strong blog results.[45][27]

02 Ranking

Top 7 Companies in the Blogging Industry

The leading companies in the blogging industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

Google stands out for hosting blog publishing through Blogger because it operates Blogger as a hosted platform for publishing blogs, while HubSpot focuses on business CMS and blogging since it provides a CMS and blogging platform used by businesses for content marketing and inbound publishing.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in hosted blogging platforms

    Google

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.9 · Hosted blogging platforms

    Why we picked it: It operates Blogger as a hosted option for blog publishing within the broader web ecosystem.

    See in ranking ↓Visit google.com ↗

  2. Leader in website building & CMS

    HubSpot

    US

    Ranked #2 · 8.9 · Website building & CMS

    Why we picked it: It provides a CMS and blogging platform used by businesses for content marketing and publishing.

    See in ranking ↓Visit hubspot.com ↗

  3. Leader in open-source publishing

    Ghost Foundation

    SG

    Ranked #5 · 8.3 · Open-source publishing

    Why we picked it: It operates Ghost for blogging and newsletter publishing for independent publishers globally.

    See in ranking ↓Visit ghost.org ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 7 companies in the blogging industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Google

Hosted blogging platforms · US

9.9
2

HubSpot

Website building & CMS · US

8.9
3

Automattic

Hosted blogging platforms · US

8.8
4

Squarespace

Website building & CMS · US

8.3
5

Ghost Foundation

Open-source publishing · SG

8.3
6

Medium

Long-form writing and publishing platform · US

7.6
7

Substack

Independent writing and newsletter publishing · US

7.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 7 companies in the blogging industry. In Blogging Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/blogging-industry-statistics/#top-companies

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

AI is now embedded in blogging work: 92.4% of surveyed bloggers used AI for blogging in 2026. Production is also shaped by common AI tasks like editing and outline creation.

AI in the blogging industry

  • 68% of surveyed bloggers used ChatGPT for content creation in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 50% of surveyed bloggers used Google Gemini for content creation in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 38% of surveyed bloggers used AI for outline creation in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 43% of surveyed bloggers used AI for editing and proofreading in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 95% of surveyed creators used AI somewhere in their published content in 2026, based on a survey of 80 respondents.[2]
  • 37% of surveyed bloggers used AI for first-draft writing in 2025, globally.[1]

Automation in the blogging industry

  • 19% of surveyed bloggers reported a significant increase in content production after adopting AI in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 48% of surveyed bloggers reported a moderate increase in content production after adopting AI in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 31% of surveyed creators used AI for image generation in their blogging workflow in 2026, globally.[2]
  • 67% of surveyed bloggers reported increased content production after adding AI tools to their workflow in 2025, globally.[1]

Digital Transformation in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 62% of media respondents said companies are not investing enough in future business models in 2026, indicating a significant transformation funding gap globally.[3]
  • 76% of publisher respondents planned to encourage staff to behave more like creators in 2026, reflecting a shift toward creator-oriented digital publishing globally.[3]
  • 44% of surveyed news publishers said their newsroom AI initiatives were showing promising results in 2026, while 42% described results as limited globally.[3]
  • 94% of media companies reported gains from digital-transformation efforts in 2025, the highest result among industries surveyed globally.[4]

Technology Adoption in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 76% of publishers were piloting or experimenting with AI on business-side functions in 2025, while 18% were actively deploying AI across multiple functions.[5]
  • 22% of publishers reported not using AI for content creation and distribution in 2025, based on a survey of U.S. and UK publishers.[6]
  • 30% of publishers reported using AI for content optimization and personalization in 2025, based on a survey of 50 U.S. and UK publishers.[6]
  • 69% of digital-publishing stakeholders expected journalists to have a voice on social media in 2026, according to a survey of 163 publishing-sector participants.[7]

Cloud Computing in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 98% of media respondents expected a majority of their workloads to be cloud-native within 12 months, according to a global media and entertainment survey conducted in 2023.[8]
  • 39% of media respondents identified cloud-sprawl costs, data-egress charges and unpredictable pricing as a major multicloud pain point in 2023.[8]
  • 35.4% of media and entertainment respondents identified migration to a multicloud environment as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[9]
  • 43% of media respondents cited insufficient internal skills for edge computing or specific cloud environments as a major multicloud challenge in 2023.[8]
  • 55% of media respondents identified complexity as their biggest multicloud challenge, including integration, scaling and maintenance issues, in 2023.[8]

Big Data in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 39% of publishing-sector stakeholders identified data and analytics capabilities as an investment priority for the year ahead in 2025.[10]
  • 27.8% of media and entertainment respondents identified integrating business applications into workflows as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[9]
  • 35.4% of media and entertainment respondents identified AI adoption as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025, reflecting growing use of data-intensive systems.[9]
  • 56% of surveyed publishers said unifying data across platforms was a growing challenge in 2025, based on responses from 50 U.S. and UK publishers.[6]

IoT in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 32.9% of media and entertainment respondents identified IoT adoption as a technology trend driving observability requirements in 2025.[9]
  • 39% of media-industry respondents had already implemented IoT and 5G initiatives in 2025, while 34% were in the process of adopting them across EMEA.[11]
  • 43% of global media and entertainment enterprises rated IoT extremely important to digital-transformation success in 2024, according to a GSMA Intelligence survey.[12]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Measurement pressure shows up in the quality of inputs for AI tools. In March 2026, 75% of publishers said incomplete, inconsistent, or outdated data affected AI tool usefulness.

Business intelligence in the blogging industry

  • 42% of bloggers used email-list growth as a measure of success in the 2025 Orbit Media survey.[13]
  • 77% of bloggers defined success primarily as traffic and visibility in the 2025 Orbit Media blogger survey.[13]
  • 7% of bloggers identified advertising revenue as a measure of success in the 2025 survey.[13]
  • 69% of bloggers identified business leads and brand building as measures of blogging success in the 2025 survey.[13]

Data analytics in the blogging industry

  • 3 hours and 25 minutes was the average time required to write a blog post in the latest Orbit Media survey.[14]
  • 88% of bloggers reported adding images to their blog posts in the latest Orbit Media survey.[14]
  • 49% of bloggers reported publishing original research during the previous 12 months.[14]
  • 60% of bloggers included statistics in their typical blog posts, according to the latest Orbit Media data.[14]

Data Quality in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 75% of publishers surveyed globally in March 2026 said incomplete, inconsistent or outdated data affected the quality or usefulness of their AI tools.[5]
  • 52% of publishers surveyed in 2023 reported low data quality as a challenge when segmenting customer data.[5]
  • 64% of publishers surveyed globally in March 2026 identified difficulty integrating data sources into AI tools as their greatest data challenge.[5]
  • 63% of publishers surveyed in 2023 reported low data quality as a challenge when collecting customer data.[5]

Data Governance in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 46% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 had a dedicated data team, while 34% had no dedicated data team.[15]
  • 28% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having a partially implemented data strategy.[15]
  • 28% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having a fully implemented data strategy.[15]
  • 92% of European media stakeholders surveyed in 2025 required robust data and privacy protection before joining a shared media data space.[15]
  • 37% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 reported having no data strategy.[15]
  • 72% of European media organisations surveyed in 2025 considered data very important to their daily operations.[15]

KPIs in the blogging industry

  • 29% of bloggers used personal-brand growth as a success measure in the 2025 survey.[13]
  • 76% of publishers used engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments and saves to measure social-media success in Ghost’s 2025 publisher survey.[6]
  • 77% of bloggers used traffic and visibility as a success KPI in the 2025 Orbit Media blogger survey.[13]
  • 100% of C-suite respondents in Ghost’s 2025 publisher survey used engagement metrics to measure social-media success.[6]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Teams report productivity gains alongside weaker blog results. In 2026, 67% of blog teams reported increased content production after adding AI tools, while Orbit Media found only 13.9% reported strong results.

Growth in the blogging industry

  • 67% of blog teams reported increased content production after incorporating artificial-intelligence tools into their workflow.[1]
  • 56% of blog teams expected their investment in blogging to expand going forward.[1]
  • 50% of marketers reported higher blogging return on investment in 2024 than in the previous year.[1]
  • Substack’s paid subscriptions increased from 4 million in November 2024 to 5 million in March 2025.[16]

Differentiation in the blogging industry

  • 51% of surveyed bloggers published guides or ebooks in the cited study.[14]
  • 76% of surveyed bloggers published how-to articles, making them the most common blogging format in the cited study.[14]
  • 49% of surveyed bloggers published original research in the cited study.[14]
  • 54% of surveyed bloggers published list articles in the cited study.[14]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Skills and operating patterns are shifting with creator work. In 2026, 16.3% of surveyed creators cited AI prompting and workflow design as the most important skill to develop.

Remote Work in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across entertainment and media job postings, 369,000 new remote-job listings were recorded globally in 2024.[17]
  • In the U.S. entertainment and media sector, 37.4% of new job postings were remote in 2024.[17]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 42% of staff worked fully from home in 2025.[18]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 84% of staff worked partly or fully from home in 2025.[18]

Hybrid Work in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 42% of staff at UK independent publishers had hybrid working arrangements in 2025, while 42% worked fully from home and 16% worked fully in an office.[18]
  • Across independent UK publishers, 58% of organizations required full-time staff to work a minimum number of days in the office in 2025.[18]
  • 42% of journalists surveyed globally worked in hybrid arrangements in 2024, compared with 24% working in-office and 34% fully remote.[19]
  • 38% of full-time Australian journalists worked in a hybrid combination of home and office, studio or newsroom in 2022, up from 8% before the pandemic.[20]
  • 52% of newsroom leaders worldwide said hybrid and flexible working had made recruitment easier in 2023; 28% reported no change and 15% said recruitment became harder.[21]

Upskilling in the blogging industry

  • 16.3% of surveyed creators identified AI prompting and workflow design as the most important skill to develop over the next two years in 2026.[2]
  • 32.5% of surveyed creators identified personal brand and distinctive voice as the most important skill to develop over the next two years in 2026.[2]
  • 8.8% of surveyed creators identified multimedia production across video, audio and visuals as the most important skill to develop over the next two years in 2026.[2]
  • 21.3% of surveyed creators identified original research and data storytelling as the most important skill to develop over the next two years in 2026.[2]

Employee Engagement in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • Creative and media employees rated work-life balance 7.29 out of 10 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[22]
  • Creative and media employees scored 7.67 out of 10 for engagement in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[22]
  • Across communications and public-relations professionals, 89% reported being engaged at work in a 2024 survey.[23]
  • Creative and media employees recorded an average eNPS of +22 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[22]
  • Creative and media employees rated autonomy 8.62 out of 10 in CultureMonkey’s Q3 2026 benchmark.[22]

Change Management in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 74% of media and publishing leaders agreed or strongly agreed that their company culture encouraged change and innovation in 2022.[24]
  • 67% of academic publishers identified modernizing systems and workflows as their top strategic priority in 2025, while 21% actively embraced AI as a transformative opportunity.[25]
  • 25% of surveyed news workers at one US newsroom thought management had communicated its goals effectively during organizational change.[26]
  • 63% of academic publishers cited inefficient workflows and processes as their biggest internal barrier to change in 2025, while 85% agreed that modernizing production workflows should be a business priority.[25]
  • 92% of media and publishing leaders agreed or strongly agreed that their companies had a clear vision of the kind of company they needed to become in 2022.[24]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Blog goals skew toward visibility, engagement, and lead paths. In 2025, 66% of blog-maintaining businesses cited brand awareness and 49% cited lead generation as goals.

Customer experience in the blogging industry

  • 93% of marketers at blog-maintaining companies rated blogging as important or very important to their marketing strategy in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 66% of surveyed blog-maintaining businesses cited brand awareness as a blogging goal in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 53% of surveyed blog-maintaining businesses cited customer engagement as a blogging goal in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 83% of blog-maintaining businesses distributed blog content through social media in 2025, globally.[1]

Customer acquisition in the blogging industry

  • 45% of marketers at blog-maintaining companies said their businesses planned to increase blogging investment in 2025 compared with 2024, globally.[1]
  • 42% of surveyed bloggers defined blogging success partly through email-list growth in 2025, globally.[13]
  • 49% of surveyed blog-maintaining businesses cited lead generation as a blogging goal in 2025, globally.[1]
  • 69% of surveyed bloggers defined blogging success partly through business leads and brand building in 2025, globally.[13]

Lead generation in the blogging industry

  • 36% of surveyed bloggers published gated content in 2025, a format commonly used for capturing leads.[14]
  • 53% of surveyed bloggers published guides and ebooks in 2025, globally.[13]
  • 76% of surveyed bloggers published how-to articles in 2025, the most common blogging format globally.[13]
  • 27% of surveyed bloggers published infographics in 2025, globally.[14]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Distribution concentrates on social. In 2024, 83% of surveyed marketers said social media was their blog-content distribution channel, and 93% promoted blog content through social media in 2025.

Marketing in the blogging industry

  • 50% of surveyed marketers reported higher blogging ROI in 2024 than in the previous year, globally.[1]
  • 21% of 808 surveyed content marketers reported strong results from content marketing in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 93% of surveyed marketers rated blogging as important or very important to their marketing strategy in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 66% of surveyed companies identified brand awareness as their top blogging goal in 2024, globally.[1]

Digital marketing in the blogging industry

  • 93% of surveyed content marketers promoted blog content through social media in 2025, mainly in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 83% of surveyed marketers said social media was their blog-content distribution channel in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 65% of surveyed marketers worked at companies maintaining blogs in 2024, globally.[1]
  • Around one-third of surveyed content marketers promoted blog content through SEO and email marketing in 2025, globally.[27]

Branding in the blogging industry

  • 29% of surveyed bloggers defined personal brand development as a measure of blogging success in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 45% of surveyed content marketers never collaborated with influencers in 2025, while 9% usually or always did so, globally.[27]
  • 69% of surveyed bloggers defined business leads and brand building as measures of blogging success in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 56% of surveyed blog teams expected their investment in blogging to expand going forward in HubSpot’s 2024 research, globally.[1]

Social media in the blogging industry

  • 83% of surveyed marketers used social media as a distribution channel for blog content in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 30% of surveyed bloggers who used paid promotion reported strong results in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 42% of surveyed bloggers defined email-list growth as a blogging success measure in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 93% of surveyed content marketers used social media to promote blog content in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]

Influencer Marketing in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • $32.6 billion was the estimated global influencer-marketing market in 2025, up from $24.0 billion in 2024.[16]
  • 96% of media-agency respondents in a 2026 survey said social media was used for creator-brand partnerships, making it the most-used channel globally.[28]
  • $37.1 billion was projected for U.S. creator advertising spend in 2025, including sponsored content, paid amplification and planned creator adjacencies.[16]
  • 17% of media-agency respondents in a 2026 survey said they partnered with influencers to create content for retail media globally.[28]
  • 56% of brands said generating user-generated content was the main purpose of their influencer campaigns in 2024, versus 23% citing sales generation.[29]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Execution time and content cadence vary, while AI adoption rises. In 2025, the average content marketer spent 3 hours and 25 minutes creating an article, and 10% used AI to write complete articles.

Process optimization in the blogging industry

  • 67% of surveyed marketers reported increased content production after incorporating AI into their blogging workflow in 2024, globally.[1]
  • Only 5% of surveyed content marketers reported not using AI in 2025, down from 65% two years earlier, globally.[27]
  • The average surveyed content marketer spent 3 hours 25 minutes creating a blog article in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 10% of surveyed content marketers used AI to write complete articles in 2025, globally.[27]

Operational efficiency in the blogging industry

  • 5% of businesses with blogs published content monthly in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 30% of businesses with blogs published content weekly in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 37% of businesses with blogs published content two to three times per week in 2024, globally.[1]
  • 22% of businesses with blogs published content daily in 2024, globally.[1]

Quality management in the blogging industry

  • 60% of surveyed content marketers included statistics in typical blog posts in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 88% of surveyed content marketers included images in typical blog posts in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 45% of surveyed content marketers included contributor quotes in typical blog posts in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 26% of surveyed content marketers included video in typical blog posts in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the media and publishing sector (sector benchmark)

  • 24% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of indexing to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[30]
  • 54% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of typesetting to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[30]
  • 28% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of proofreading to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[30]
  • 37% of academic publishers outsourced the majority of copyediting to offshore vendors in 2025, based on a global survey concentrated in the United Kingdom and United States.[30]
  • 82% of surveyed academic publishers offshored work, according to Deanta’s global academic-publishing survey; the survey year is not stated on the source page.[31]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Monetization outcomes vary by model and experience. In 2026, bloggers monetizing mainly through advertising averaged $33.16 per 1,000 pageviews, while digital products averaged $535.90 per 1,000.

Pricing strategy in the blogging industry

  • Bloggers monetizing mainly through advertising averaged $33.16 per 1,000 pageviews in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]
  • Bloggers monetizing mainly through digital products averaged $535.90 per 1,000 pageviews in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]
  • The median blog earned $37.61 per 1,000 pageviews across 11 self-published income reports covering 2018–2026, mostly food blogs.[33]
  • Display advertising represented a median 55% of revenue across 18 published blog income reports covering 2018–2026, mostly food blogs.[33]

Profitability in the blogging industry

  • Bloggers with fewer than 3 years of experience averaged $100.35 in monthly income in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]
  • Bloggers with more than 10 years of experience averaged $7,060.72 in monthly income in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]
  • Bloggers with fewer than 100 published posts earned less than $40 per month on average in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]
  • Bloggers with more than 500 published posts averaged $9,460.09 in monthly income in the 2026 Blogging Income Survey, globally.[32]

Financial planning in the blogging industry

  • 7% of surveyed bloggers identified advertising revenue as a success measure in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 74% of surveyed publishers said they were likely to track impressions in future affiliate-marketing arrangements in 2024, globally.[34]
  • 42% of surveyed bloggers identified email-list growth as a success measure in 2025, primarily in the United States and other markets.[27]
  • 42% of content-affiliate performance-marketing spend went to bloggers in 2024, up from 34% in 2021, according to a Performance Marketing Association study.[34]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Platform extensibility continues through plugins and releases. WordPress 6.8 recorded 79.5 million downloads, and the WordPress directory listed 60,000 plugins in 2025.

Product development in the blogging industry

  • 79.5 million downloads were recorded for WordPress 6.8, a 13% increase from the previous release.[35]
  • 230 first-time contributors participated in WordPress 6.9 development, alongside more than 340 enhancements and fixes.[35]
  • 1,500 WordPress themes were released during 2025, expanding design and publishing options for blogs and other sites.[35]
  • 60,000 plugins were listed in the WordPress directory in 2025, supporting product development across the blogging platform ecosystem.[35]

Product lifecycle in the blogging industry

  • 68% of CMS users had migrated to a new content-management system during the previous three years in the 2024 State of CMS survey.[36]
  • 57% of CMS users planned to migrate to a new content-management system in the near future in the 2024 State of CMS survey.[36]
  • 90% of surveyed organizations had more than one team using their CMS, increasing the need for ongoing lifecycle and governance processes.[36]
  • 71% of bloggers reported updating old blog content in the latest Orbit Media blogger survey.[14]

After-sales in the blogging industry

  • More than 1.5 million learners used Learn.WordPress.org in 2025 for structured education and ongoing platform support.[35]
  • More than 81 WordCamps were held across 39 countries in 2025, supported by more than 5,000 volunteers serving the WordPress publishing community.[35]
  • Nearly 100,000 people attended WordCamps in 2025, providing training, support and community services for WordPress users.[35]

Value proposition in the blogging industry

  • 93% of surveyed marketers rated blogging as important or very important to their marketing strategy.[1]
  • 50% of surveyed marketers reported higher blogging return on investment in 2024 than in the prior year.[1]
  • 3 million paid subscriptions were reported by Substack in February 2024, demonstrating demand for paid newsletter and blog publishing products.[37]
  • 66% of companies with blogs identified brand awareness as a primary blogging goal in HubSpot’s survey.[1]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Governance around AI tools is becoming formal in publishing workflows. In the 2024 State of CMS survey, 74% of CMS users reported having regulations specific to AI tools.

Ethics in the blogging industry

  • 4% of bloggers said they never use AI tools for content creation in HubSpot’s 2025 survey.[1]
  • 79% of CMS users reported using AI-powered content tools in 2024, making responsible-use policies relevant to blogging operations.[36]
  • 74% of CMS users reported having regulations specific to AI tools in the 2024 State of CMS survey, indicating formal governance around AI-assisted publishing.[36]

CSR in the blogging industry

  • 1.5 million learners used Learn.WordPress.org during 2025, extending free publishing education to the WordPress community.[35]
  • Nearly 100,000 people attended WordCamps in 2025, where the WordPress project provided community education and participation opportunities.[35]
  • More than 5,000 volunteers supported WordPress community events across 39 countries in 2025, contributing unpaid labor to the blogging ecosystem.[35]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Publishing layers show international adoption. In 2026, WordPress powered 43% of all websites globally, while English accounted for 71% of WordPress.com blogs.

Globalization in the blogging industry

  • 5 million paid subscriptions were active globally on Substack in March 2025.[43]
  • 43% of all websites globally were powered by WordPress in 2026, while WordPress held more than 60% of the known content-management-system market.[44]

Stakeholder management in the blogging industry

  • More than 50 writers earned over $1 million annually on Substack by 2026.[16]
  • Approximately 50,000 creators were earning money through Substack by 2026.[16]
  • 5 million paid subscriptions represented readers supporting writers and creators on Substack in March 2025.[43]

Distribution channels in the blogging industry

  • 92% of B2B marketers used short articles or posts for content distribution during the measured 12-month period.[14]
  • 84% of B2C marketers used blogs on corporate websites to distribute content during the measured 12-month period.[14]
  • 83% of blogging teams identified social media as a blog-traffic source in HubSpot’s 2025 survey.[1]
  • Approximately 7.5 million blog posts were published worldwide each day in the cited estimate.[14]

Key questions about the blogging industry

How has AI changed blogging workflows?
Orbit Media’s 2026 survey reports 92.4% of respondents used AI in blogging workflows. It also reports 67% of blog teams increased content production after incorporating AI tools.
How concentrated is the CMS/platform layer behind blogging?
WordPress held 58.0% of the identifiable content-management-system market and powered 39.3% of all websites on November 11, 2026. English accounts for 71% of WordPress.com blogs in the latest reported platform data.
Which companies lead the blogging industry?
Google stands out for hosting blog publishing through Blogger because it operates Blogger as a hosted platform for publishing blogs, while HubSpot focuses on business CMS and blogging since it provides a CMS and blogging platform used by businesses for content marketing and inbound publishing.
What does performance look like for AI-assisted blogs?
Orbit Media’s 2026 survey reported that only 13.9% of marketers said their blogs delivered strong results. The same survey reported an average article length of 1,312 words and 3 hours and 25 minutes spent writing.
Reference

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Blogging Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/blogging-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Blogging Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/blogging-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Blogging Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/blogging-industry-statistics.

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