SEO
Digital Marketing Trends in Germany 2025
KL
Kai Lemmetty
·6 min read
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KL
Written by
Kai Lemmetty
Digital marketing expert at Gaasly, helping businesses grow in international markets.
Written by
Digital marketing expert at Gaasly, helping businesses grow in international markets.
Germany has digitized at a much slower rate than most of its close neighbors. In 2013, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the internet "uncharted territory" and earned widespread mockery. But change is coming and it's coming fast: In 2023 the country entered the top five leading digital advertising markets worldwide.
As the leading E-commerce market in Europe with a highly digitally literate population, Germany is well placed to take advantage of 2025. Here is a closer look at the top four digital marketing trends in the country.
67.8 million Germans are actively using social media services. That is the equivalent of more than 80% of the country’s population. On average, a person will use 5.4 social media platforms each month.
Whilst desktop computers remain popular, 95.1% of Germans access their social media accounts via mobile devices. WhatsApp remains the most-used social media platform, with more than 80% of internet users in Germany accessing it each month. Instagram has significantly increased its users in the last years, with 61.9% of internet users between 16 and 64 using the platform every month. Right behind Instagram is Facebook (60.2%). TikTok is by far not as much used in Germany as in comparable markets. Only 36.3% of internet users log in at least once per month, however, TikTok users spend the most time on average on the platform (37 hours per month).
The average Facebook user spends more than eleven hours per month on the platform. Facebook believes that nearly 40% of the total population aged 13+ can be reached through Facebook adverts in Germany. Whilst Instagram’s figures reveal that more than 35% of the same age group can be achieved through the platform, users spend less time here, under eight hours per month.
German social media users are curious to find out more about their favorite companies on social media. Over 50.8% of users between 16 to 64 said that they use social media platforms to learn more about brands and products.
Facebook is the most common social media channel for advertising in Germany. More than 64% of web traffic referrals come from the social media platform. No surprise: You can reach up to 28.7% of the German population with Facebook ads. With the right targeting and tracking engagement and interactions, Facebook advertising is worth considering for digital marketers.
Quality content is key to top search engine rankings in Germany – as well as globally. Whilst repeating keywords may have worked in the past, search engines are becoming more intelligent when analyzing what is written on the page.
Successful marketers will answer questions website visitors have and solve problems. It is how Google defines “quality”. The other leading criteria are authority and user experience.
Search engines have also overcome traditional media: German internet users are more likely to discover a new brand via search engines (37.1%) than with traditional TV ads (35.3%). By comparison, word-of-mouth recommendations only scored 31.8%.
If you are wondering if Google is the search engine to put your efforts into, the answer is yes as this study by Statista shows.
When you optimize for search engines for the German market, make sure that any content is in German and keywords are specific to the country and resonate with the audience. You might even want to localize content for regional dialects (which there are many of in Germany) if you address specific regions such as Berlin, Bavaria or Saxony.
Based on web traffic, Chrome remains the leading browser with nearly 50%, followed by Safari at 26%. Firefox, Edge, and Samsung Internet each have less than 8% of web traffic.
In 2023, 83% of Germans used the internet to send or receive emails. The percentage has slightly decreased in the last years. However, this still means that email marketers can potentially reach eight out of ten Germans.
Germans are also leading in the amount of emails they are sending each day. In April 2024, they sent over 8.5 billion emails every day. Only one country in the world sends more: the United States.
Add to that the fact that email marketing is cost-effective and can be measured in detail, and it’s easy to see why it remains a viable option. However, marketers need to be aware of the EU’s GDPR regulations and ensure they have the recipient’s consent to send marketing messages through email.
Germany is one of the biggest advertising markets in the world yet one of the slowest-growing digital *ad markets in Europe. While German users are interested in learning more about brands on search engines or social media platforms, German advertisers still rely heavily on television and spend more on newspaper ads than their online equivalents.
But due to record growth, digital advertising is expected to leave traditional media far behind in the next three years. According to a study by Emarketer, by 2028 digital ad spend will account for 67.1% of ad spend in Germany compared to only 50.7% in 2022.
In digital advertising, search advertising is the clear winner with a market volume of 8.2 billion Euros in 2024 (out of 13.42 billion Euros digital ad spend), followed by video advertising and banner advertising. Influencer marketing plays only a small role in German advertising.
If you want to be successful with ads in Germany, it is smart to go against the trend of most German advertisers. While advertisers prefer desktop ads, most Germans use their smartphones for online shopping. 66% of online shoppers rather use their phone to make a purchase in contrast to 34% who used a desktop.
As the European Union’s leading E-commerce market, Germany is an essential target for almost any brand. The market has a few specifics that digital marketers need to be aware of to maximize the potential of their brand.
If you think your organisation can benefit from native German digital marketing expertise, reach out to our digital marketing experts. We’re happy to help you select the top strategies and tactics for your business.
Do you want to explore the power of Digital Marketing for your business? Contact our German digital marketing specialists here.