A recent research conducted by Google has shown a rapid increase in online search among Nigerians. The research study which ranked Nigeria among the top three countries of the world that spend quality time online in search of various goods and services, showed that Nigerians’ passion to go online is highest among African countries, surpassing South Africa and Kenya.
Country Manager for Google Kenya, Charles Murito, made this known in South Africa, while presenting a paper on the evolution of digital advertising and the rise of online presence among African countries. Mr. Murito said that South Africa has grown its online presence through mobile search from 61 per cent in 2014 to 67 per cent in 2017, Kenya grew its online presence through mobile search from 74 per cent in 2014 to 81 per cent in 2017, while Nigeria, which tops the African list for online presence through mobile search, grew from 76 per cent in 2014 to 86 per cent in 2017.
Mr. Murito equally put the growth of YouTube watch time in the past 12 months in Nigeria at 120 per cent, Kenya 110 per cent and South Africa 90 per cent. He attributed the growth in online presence among African countries to the availability and affordability of mobile devices, occasioned by the fact that Africans are majorly mobile dependent people.
However, he said that the number could grow faster than that if the cost of mobile broadband data is drastically reduced. He said South Africa still has the highest rate of mobile broadband data in Africa, which is put at $7.6 per gigabyte, followed by Kenya at $4.9 per gigabyte and Nigeria at $3.1 gigabyte. He said Tanzania and Ghana operate at $2.3 per gigabyte each, while Egypt has the lowest rate of mobile broadband data at $1.2 per gigabyte.
Aside the increase in online presence and the YouTube watch time growth, Mr. Murito said that internet usage among African countries has also increased tremendously.
Giving the implication of the growth in online presence and internet usage among African countries on digital marketing, Murito said the entire digital marketing ecosystem must rise to develop the right contents and then channel such contents to the target audience at the right time. As he put it, “The lack of local data and the ignorance of commercialising local data owned by some individuals and organisations, have always remained a major challenge for digital marketing in Africa”.
