CAWI · n=1,004 · representative · October 2025
INTERNET COMMUNICATION STUDY

How Germany communicates digitally

Internet Communication Study 2025/26:
Email, AI and cloud in Germany

Since 2009, Convios conducts an annual survey on how Germany communicates digitally: email, cloud services and AI. 16 waves. Over 16,000 respondents.

52.1%
WEB.DE + GMX: Market leaders
46.3%
use ChatGPT
68.4%
Privacy concerns about US corporations
13.8%
Gmail: Market share declining
COMMISSIONED BY
WEB.DE & GMX (United Internet)
CONDUCTED BY
Convios GmbH
METHOD
CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing)
SINCE
2009 · 16 waves
AI USAGE IN GERMANY

Who uses which AI services?

First time with three-year trend. Broken down by provider, age group, gender and education.

AI usage by age group
P24, Wave 16, n=1.004. Multiple responses.
87.5% of 16- to 19-year-olds use ChatGPT. Among those over 60: 26.6%. Gemini strongest at 30–39 (31.5%). Perplexity popular among under-30s (12.5–13.6%).
34,3%

use AI for product search

P26, Wave 16

53,8%

reject autonomous AI shopping

P27, Wave 16

35,0%

would use AI email management

P28, Wave 16

EMAIL MARKET GERMANY

WEB.DE and GMX gain share. Gmail declines.

Most used email address, 2009 to 2025. WEB.DE rises from 23.0% to 26.4%. Gmail falls from 17.5% to 13.8%. P8, Wave 1 to Wave 16.

66%

primarily use email on smartphone

P23, Wave 16

50,1%

stay out of habit

P12, Wave 16

82,2%

don't pay for email

P19, Wave 16

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Email beats chatbots and messengers

77.7% prefer email for communication with businesses. 82.8% want order confirmations by email. Chatbots: 16.8%.

Preferred channel to businesses P42, Wave 16
Super app: Interest by age P43, Wave 16
16–1941.7%
20–2952.4%
30–3953.6%
40–4942.8%
50–5932%
60+23.4%
DATA PRIVACY & CLOUD

Trust, concerns, willingness to switch

Concerns about US corporations P35, Wave 16
Yes26.9%
Partly41.5%
No22.4%
Don't know9.2%
Cloud: US vs. DE P30, Wave 16
US DE
28,3%

reject any data usage

P22, Wave 16

57,5%

would switch after data breaches

P36, Wave 16

8,1%

want AI in the cloud

P33, Wave 16

SAMPLE STRUCTURE

Regional distribution (Nielsen)

22%
NRW
15.8%
North
15.1%
Bavaria
14%
Hesse / RLP / Saar
12.8%
Baden-W.
8.1%
East
8.1%
Thuringia / Saxony
4.1%
Berlin
P5, Wave 16. n=1,004. Men 48.7%, women 51.3%.
16 YEARS OF SURVEY HISTORY

From the first wave in 2009 to the AI survey 2025/26

2009
First wave. GMX 23.5%, WEB.DE 23.0%. Gmail at 3.0%.
2013
NSA scandal. Privacy concerns rise. GMX + WEB.DE at 52.4%.
2015
Mobile email doubles to 29.4%. Volume DE: 537 billion.
2020
Covid. 71.6% prefer email for B2C. Cloud usage rises.
2023
First AI survey. ChatGPT 54.3%. Cloud overtakes USB stick.
2025
WEB.DE and GMX gain share. Over 52% market share. First AI special analysis with three-year trend.
2026
Email beats chatbots and messengers. 78% prefer email for business communication.
Press release →
Conducted annually since 2009. Suspended once in 2016. AI special analysis since 2023. Over 16,000 respondents cumulated. Commissioned by WEB.DE and GMX (United Internet).
POSITIONING

Germany's only email market share time series

ARD/ZDF, Bitkom, D21 and Postbank cover adjacent fields. None provides email market shares as a time series.

Study
Email
Cloud
Privacy
AI
Since
Convios / WEB.DE & GMXTHIS STUDY
Only email market share time series in Germany
2009
ARD/ZDF-Onlinestudie
Media usage, no provider data
1997
Bitkom KI-Report
Enterprise focus (600 companies)
2017
D21-Digital-Index
Broad digital indexing, no email
2013
Postbank Digitalstudie
Banking/shopping focus
2015
16

Waves since 2009. Longest time series on internet communication in Germany.

16.000+

Respondents cumulated. Each wave n≈1,000, representative.

4

Dimensions: email, cloud, data privacy, AI

METHODOLOGY
POPULATION
German internet users aged 16 and above. Representative quota sample by age, gender and Nielsen region.
SURVEY METHOD
CAWI. Online panel. Approx. 40 questions, 12 minutes. October 2025.
SAMPLE
n=1,004 (Wave 16). Cumulated: over 16,000. Commissioned by: 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH.
PRESS AND CITATIONS
2012Heise OnlineiCloud unter den meistbenutzten Cloud-Diensten
2015iBusinessDeutsche bevorzugen GMX und WEB.DE
2016W&VDas sind die meistgenutzten E-Mail-Dienste
2018PresseportalSprachassistenten: Herausforderung für Datenschutz
2020PresseportalE-Mail bevorzugter Kanal für B2C-Kommunikation
2021StatistaHeimische Anbieter dominieren E-Mail-Markt
2022Marketing-Börse52% nutzen primär GMX und WEB.DE
2023Stadt-BremerhavenCloud überholt erstmals USB-Stick
2024BNNDeutsche nutzen KI bislang nur zum Zeitvertreib
2025GMX NewsroomWEB.DE und GMX legen zu, Gmail verliert
2026GMX NewsroomE-Mail schlägt Chatbots und Messenger
100+ publications since 2009. GMX Newsroom, Heise, W&V, Statista, Presseportal, BNN, it-daily.net, Stadt-Bremerhaven, iBusiness, Marketing-Börse, Melaschuk-Medien.
FULL RESULTS

46 tables. 16 waves. All cross-tabs.

Breakdowns by age, gender, education, income, Nielsen region and email provider. Convios advises mid-market companies on AI strategy, regulatory compliance and software delivery.

Key findings as PDF. For the full study we'll schedule a call. No spam.

46 data tables
Full cross-tabs
16 waves
Time series since 2009
Demographic splits
Age, gender, region, education
AI special analysis
Providers, tasks, shopping

Questions about the study?

Dr. Oliver Gausmann, Convios GmbH. Press inquiries, licensing, custom analyses. Advisory on AI strategy, regulatory compliance and software delivery.

Convios GmbH · Landsberg am Lech · Internet Communication Study · Since 2009