Unsurprisingly, Radio consumption in Kenya is in decline. According to a Kenya Media Landscape Report, in the last decade, radio has lost 13% of it’s audience. While it is still dominating the media landscape, the percentage tuning in to radio is now only 77% of Kenyans. This is down from 90% in 2014.
How Kenyans engage with media has significantly changed in the last decade. The report from the communications Authority of Kenya indicates TV viewership and online access have more than doubled since 2014. Print media has taken a huge hit and is now consumed by only 7% of the country. TV audience jumped from 46% to 74%. Online media consumption also grew by 30% in the referenced period from 27% to 57%.
Kenyans general prefer to mix their media sources. 22.6% of the population consume a mix of Radio+TV+Online. Only 28% of the population consume only one media. Despite the growth in internet access only 4.3% of Kenyans rely solely on online media.
Mobile phones are proving to be important for all types of media. 30% of Kenyans radio consumption is via mobile phones. Another 9% watch their TV stations of choice via phones. The biggest share of course goes to social media. 96% of Kenyans access social media via mobile. Laptops and desktop devices play a role too. 12% of the country use the devices to access social media
While online access of media is rising, just about 1% of Kenyans access the different media via online streaming. This 1% was similar for TV, Radio and social media streams. This shows this sector is still nascent in the country.
More Radio Stations
For radio, it’s worth noting that while percentage of listeners is declining the number of radio stations is growing. The count for radio stations surged from 120 to 228 between 2015 to 2023. TV stations numbers also grew from 6 to 182. The growth in TV numbers was attributed to the migration from analogue to digital broadcast.
Though not covered in the report, a jump in TV viewership could be attributed to growing number of affordable Chinese brands in the market during the period studied. Secondly, government electrification efforts especially under the Last Mile Connectivity Program (LCMP). As of 2018, the program had achieved 73% nationwide connectivity on the road to Universal Access for everyone. The project received more funding this year.
Internet access has also improved in the same period. The number of ISPs has increased since 2014. About 1.2 million Kenyans have Fixed Data and Broadband Subscriptions. The price of mobile data has reduced significantly. Additionally, the number of Kenyans with Smart phones has grown and most mobile broadband subscriptions utilize 4G technology.
