GWI (formerly GlobalWebIndex) is an audience research company founded by Tom Smith in 2009 that provides audience insight to publishers, media agencies and marketers around the world. GWI profiles consumers across 48+ countries with a panel representing over 2.7 billion digital consumers, making insights available through a subscription-based platform.
History
In October 2012, GWI surprised social media analysts and commentators by claiming that Twitter and Facebook had big followings in China and Vietnam (later lift the ban on Facebook) – countries where those social networks are blocked by their respective governments. The story was picked up by various news outlets including
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
,
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
, and the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', where the rise of
VPN has been attributed as the primary enabler for Chinese internet users circumventing website blocks. Almost a decade after the company was founded, and with customers including Google, Spotify, WPP and Omnicom Group, it closed its first round of series A funding in 2018. The company raised $180M series B funding in February 2022, and was valued at $850M.
Data Sources
GWI combines survey data from millions of