We live in the mobile age where people consume media from gadgets that fit on the palm of their hands. One generation that has been able to embrace this rapid change of tact are millennials and it has been a source of interest for researchers. GeoPoll decided to make a survey on African millennials and the results were not surprising at all.
They did a study of how African millennials consume media, their usage habits and how they use mobile apps. The rapid survey was conducted on February this year among 2,861 respondents between the ages of 18-34 in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria. They used the GeoPoll App to conduct the survey. “We sought to understand this affinity towards technology and more specifically, mobile technology among African Millennials,” they said in the report.
Media consumption
When it came to media consumption, African millennials use mobile data the most to access the Internet. Social media has become an integral part of life as 60% of African millennials use it as their primary source of information. Traditional media systems like TV come at a distant 2nd at 25% and newspapers are last with 6%. In Kenya for example, 60% of millennials use social media, slightly under 30% get their information from TV while the rest get their information primarily from newspapers and radio.
There is also the trend of using your phone as the second screen while watching TV. 57% of millennials surveyed said the sometimes use their smartphone while watching TV while 35% said they are always on their phone.
Another source of information for African millennials is bootleg DVDs where according to the survey, more millennials are accessing movies and TV series through online downloads. Subscriptions to online video streaming services like Showmax, Netflix, Amazon or Apple are still relatively low and if they are using it, Netflix is the most popular.
Preferred Mode Of Communication
This varied from country to country. Kenyan and Tanzanian millennials were found to prefer texting (62% vs 54%) while Ghanaians and Nigerians prefered to call (58% vs 51%). WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have both the ability to let you make voice calls but they are still not widely used.
WhatsApp and Facebook are still the most important social media platforms for African millennials as 56% and 31% are active on each respectively. 46% are actively engaged on WhatsApp daily in at least 1-3 WhatsApp groups.
They also wanted to find out if African millennials are addicted to their phones by checking how they use their phones. They found out that 48% carry their phones to the washroom, 81% place their phone next to their bed while sleeping and 31% carry a power bank just in case the phone runs out of juice.
Usage of Mobile Apps
GeoPoll found out that African millennials download social networking apps the most while gaming, instant messaging, banking/finance, education and health & fitness apps follow suit. Kenyan, Ghanaian and Ugandan millennials download more games than any other app category which is rather interesting.
