How Much Data Is Generated Every Day in 2024? (NEW Stats)

As an experienced technology professional, I get asked this question a lot: Just how much data is created on the internet each day?

The short answer is a mind-boggling 3.5 quintillion bytes of data is generated daily in 2024. But what does that massive number really mean? Read on for an in-depth look at data creation statistics and trends.

Why Data Matters

Before diving into the numbers, it‘s important to understand why data matters in the first place. Here are four key reasons:

1. Saving lives: Government agencies leverage consumer data to improve public health and safety. For example, Google searches can help track flu outbreaks in real-time.

2. Solving problems: Properly collected and analyzed data reveals insights that lead to solutions for organizational problems.

3. Revenue generation: With accurate information, companies can make optimal decisions that improve revenue and reduce costs.

4. Performance tracking: Detailed data enables tracking of individual and organizational performance over time. Metrics lead to strategy improvements.

In summary, data empowers people and companies to optimize processes, serve customers better, and make more informed strategic decisions. Our modern data-driven world depends on it.

How Much Can You Do With 1 Gb of Data?

To better comprehend massive data generation volumes, let‘s scale down and look at 1 gigabyte (GB) of data. Here are some common online activities and how much data they consume:

• Send 350,000 emails
• Talk on Skype for 30 hours (voice) or 4 hours (video)
• Stream 160 songs on Spotify or listen for 10 hours
• Download 25-30 mobile app updates
• Watch 30 minutes of high-definition (HD) or 2 hours of standard-definition (SD) streaming video
• Browse 3000 web pages
• Upload 300-400 photos to social media
• Watch 70 minutes of TikTok or 50 minutes of Instagram Reels

This gives a sense of how quickly data gets used on an individual level. Now let‘s look at global daily data generation.

2023 Data Creation Statistics

1. 1,200+ petabytes stored by top digital platforms daily

Major companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft store and process over 1,200 petabytes (1.2 million gigabytes) of data daily. Factors fueling growth include:

• More smartphone owners creating content
• Video streaming and cloud storage demand increasing
• COVID-19 accelerating digital utilization

2. 5 billion Snapchat photos and videos shared per day

Snapchat has 293 million daily active users who share over 5 billion snaps per day. Other key stats:

• 18 billion video views per day
• 65% of users are 18-29 years old
• 2020 revenue hit $2.5 billion, up 47% year-over-year

3. 3 billion Skype minutes used daily

Approximately 3 billion minutes of Skype calls take place daily. Here‘s how much data Skype calls consume:

• Normal call: 3.75 MB per minute
• HD video call: 22.5 MB per minute

With over 100 million active monthly users, Skype remains popular.

4. Digital data surpassed stars in observable universe

In 2020, the amount of stored digital data officially surpassed the estimated number of stars in the observable universe, which is 200 sextillion. Surpassing a number that large really puts the growth of digital data into perspective.

5. 20% of internet users play online games

Gaming continues to take up more internet bandwidth as it rises in popularity. According to polls:

• 20% of global internet users play online games, up 7% from 2019
• Top titles like Fortnite require 20-30 GB downloads
• Multiplayer gaming consumes 50 MB/hour on average

As gaming evolves with virtual reality and multiplayer experiences, expect data demands to increase too.

6. 218 billion mobile apps downloaded in 2020, up 14%

App downloads grew 14% year-over-year to 218 billion in 2020 across both Google Play and the App Store. Additional key metrics:

• 40 apps are installed per U.S. smartphone on average
• 9 apps are used daily per smartphone
• Time spent in apps is nearly 3 hours daily
• Games make up 75% of app revenue

As mobile engagement continues to rise, app development and usage shows no signs of slowing down.

7. 485 million downloads of Zoom mobile app

Zoom became ubiquitous seemingly overnight with the shift to remote work and socializing. Specific numbers demonstrate its wild popularity:

Metric	Volume
Total Zoom app downloads in 2020	485 million
Meeting minutes conducted	3.3 trillion
Data used for 1 hour group video call	800 MB – 2.5 GB
Data used for 1 hour 1-on-1 video call	540 MB – 1.6 GB

8. Bing ad revenue tops $7 billion

Though Google dominates search with over 90% market share, Microsoft‘s Bing still books billions in ad revenue annually:

• Bing‘s search engine market share: 6%
• Bing yearly ad revenue: $7.74 billion
• Bing U.S. ad revenue: $5 billion

This shows that even a small sliver of search leads to substantial data generation and ad money.

9. $1 million spent online shopping every minute

Ecommerce continues to gain momentum across the globe:

• 2.14 billion people shop online worldwide
• 43% of U.S. digital buyers start product searches on social
• U.S. ecommerce sales grew by over 30% in 2020

Online shopping directly fuels data generation via browsing, social media promotions, personalized recommendations, and more.

10. Half of Netflix & YouTube viewing is on mobile

How people watch streaming video is shifting increasingly to mobile:

Platform	% of Viewing on Mobile
Netflix	50%
YouTube	50%

On mobile devices, 1 hour of standard video streaming consumes ~1 GB on Netflix and ~260 MB on YouTube. As viewing goes mobile, data use intensifies.

Total Data Creation Per Day in 2024

Factoring in all the statistics and trends above across billions of people and devices worldwide, over 3.5 quintillion bytes of data is created daily in 2024.

That‘s a huge number – but with 4.6 billion internet users and rising, it makes sense. Next let‘s look at other data points that contribute to the daily data deluge.

More Key Data Generation Insights

• 65.6% of the global population (4.6 billion people) use the internet, up from just 2.5 billion in 2013. More people online = more data created.

• There are over 6 billion Google searches per day, translating to 100 billion searches per month.

• On social media:

  • Facebook sees over 1 billion hours of video viewed per day

  • 400 million tweets are sent on Twitter daily

  • 500 million Instagram Stories are shared each day

  • On WhatsApp, 100 billion messages are sent daily, with 65 billion of those being images and videos

• Gaming and streaming continues to rise:

  • Fortnite alone draws in over 15 million players per day

  • Netflix accounts for 15% of global downstream web traffic

  • Twitch live streaming generates over 9 billion streaming hours per year

• On average, an internet user creates 1.7 MB of data per second, or over 140 GB per day. With billions of connected users, data piles up fast.

The bottom line? We‘re creating immense amounts of data daily across social media, search, video, ecommerce, gaming, messaging, and more. Next let‘s visualize the numbers.

Daily Data Generation in Perspective

This chart helps put the massive 3.5 quintillion daily data creation into perspective across different magnitudes:

Metric	Daily Volume
Emails sent	319 billion
Google searches	5.6 billion
YouTube video views	5 billion
Social media logins	4.4 billion
Tweets sent	500 million
Photos shared	4.3 billion
Text messages sent	25 billion
Video/audio minutes streamed	4.5 billion
New web pages created	4.8 million
Software downloads	9.6 billion
Keys pressed on Google	63 trillion
Bytes of data transmitted	3.5 quintillion

Looking at specific common online activities makes the massive scale of daily data generation more tangible.

Now let‘s turn to the future.

Where Data Creation Goes From Here

Multiple technological trends will shape data creation going forward:

1. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI)

• AI adoption grew 270% in the past four years
• 90% of digital transformation leaders will utilize AI by 2024
• AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030

As AI enables new products, services, and automation capabilities, data generation and consumption will increase exponentially.

2. Proliferation of internet of things (IoT)

• There are currently 13.5 billion IoT devices, growing to 29.3 billion by 2024
• 5G will expand IoT device capabilities and use cases
• IoT devices will generate 82 zettabytes of data by 2025

IoT sensor data will soon eclipse user-generated data as billions of smart appliances, vehicles, and systems transmit continuous streams of information.

3. Leveraging big data analytics

• Big data analytics becoming essential for large enterprises
• Tools like Hadoop and Spark enable scalable data analysis
• Helps optimize data-driven decision making and strategy

As data pools grow deeper, getting value from analytics becomes more integral for organizations of all types and sizes.

4. The steady rise of cloud computing

• 50% of corporate data already stored in the cloud
• Cloud spend expected to hit $200 billion by 2022
• Enables real-time data sharing and collaboration

The cloud will provide the connective foundation on which future tech and data creation blossoms.

While data volumes are already vast in 2024, we‘re just scratching the surface of our data generation potential.

Key Takeaways and Conclusions

Let‘s recap the key data creation insights:

• 3.5 quintillion bytes of data is created each day in 2024
• Top digital platforms generate over 1,200 petabytes daily
• There are over 6 billion daily Google searches and 500 million tweets sent
• Video streams and mobile apps consumption is rising quickly
• On average, an internet user creates over 140 GB of data daily
• Future trends like IoT, AI, big data, and cloud will accelerate data generation

As this overview demonstrates, data creation is exploding thanks to digital transformation and internet proliferation across the globe. While numbers may seem abstractly large, they translate into innovations and conveniences that impact lives and businesses.

Continued rapid growth is inevitable as emerging technologies mature and become mainstream. But by understanding the scales and trends involved, individuals, enterprises, and governments can hopefully harness data for productive uses that drive progress.

There is no going back from a connected, data-centric world – only mapping out how to best steer its ongoing evolution.