Africa’s youth currently account for 65% of the continent’s entire consumer spend, which is estimated at some US$1.3 trillion.

With around 50% of Africans under the age of 20, it’s no surprise that advertisers are concentrating their efforts on tapping into the massive youth market – and they’re doing it through social media.

Africa has the fastest-growing smartphone usage in the world. What’s more, South Africa alone has close to 7 million Twitter users, while visual platforms such as YouTube and Instagram have seen a user increase of 53% and 65% respectively over the past year, according to the South African Social Media Landscape 2015 report.

Craig Utermark, CEO of Cape Town ad agency Atmosphere Orange, says: ‘Our young people, like those across the world, want ads with great visuals, ideally set to a great musical beat; something they can share on social media and be seen as cool by their friends.’

The younger generation pays attention to word-of-mouth endorsements on social media and this is impacting on spending. At present, mobile internet advertising revenues are at ZAR172 million and rising, with news and media accounting for 79% of that, according to the latest IAB South Africa ad revenue report.

23 June 2015
Image: Gareth van Nelson/HSMimages