Digital Behaviour & Viewing Habits: What We’ve Learned from Social Data (Africa 2024–25)

Digital Behaviour & Viewing Habits: What We’ve Learned from Social Data (Africa 2024–25)

If you want to understand what Africans are watching, don’t start with ratings sheets. Start with scrolling. Social timelines are now the front door to film, TV and streaming – and the latest We Are Social/DataReportal numbers give a pretty clear picture of how that door is being used.

Here’s what the data is telling us about how Africans discover, watch and talk about screen content.

1. Africa is Extremely Online – But Unevenly Connected

Globally, people now spend around 6 hours 40 minutes online per day, with social media the single most popular activity.  South Africans sit right at the top of that table: the typical user spends 9 hours 24 minutes online daily, with internet adoption close to 75%.

Nigeria and Kenya tell a slightly different story:

• Nigeria had 38.7 million active social media user identities in January 2025 – about 16.4% of the total population, but 31.3% of adults 18+.

• Kenya leads the world in time spent on social media: 3 hours 43 minutes per day, more than an hour above the global average of ~2 hours 20.

  
  

So you get a paradox: fewer people connected overall than in Europe or Asia, but those who are connected are heavy users. That has big implications for how often they bump into trailers, clips and fan edits.

2. Social Media Is the New TV Guide

We Are Social’s 2025 overview shows there are now 5.24 billion active social media user identities worldwide, up 4.1% year-on-year. Even as global time per user on social has dipped slightly to 2 hours 21 minutes a day, adoption keeps climbing – and Africa is part of that growth wave.

More important than raw usage is why people are there:

Globally, adults cite an average of 4.66 primary reasons for using social media. The top ones: keeping in touch, filling spare time, and reading news stories. 

• In less developed economies – including Nigeria – social is also where people research brands and products. Almost 70% of social users in Nigeria say learning more about brands is a primary reason they log on.

• Over 56% of Nigerian social users say news/current affairs content is one of their main draws.

For film and TV, that means:

When Africans decide what to watch next, they’re not browsing EPGs – they’re scrolling feeds where entertainment, advertising and news are all mixed together.

A show’s key art, trailer clip or meme is now competing with political updates, football analysis and influencer drama in the same space.

3. TikTok & YouTube Are Quietly Redesigning Viewing Habits

The Nigeria 2025 dataset is a good micro-lab for African viewing behaviour:

• TikTok: 37.4 million users 18+, reaching 30.3% of Nigerian adults and 35% of all internet users; ad reach up 56.8% in a single year.

• YouTube: 27.0 million users; ad reach equals 25.3% of internet users.

• Facebook: 38.7 million users (36.2% of internet users).

• Snapchat: 19.6 million users; ad reach across 18.3% of internet users.

  
  

Two takeaways:

1. Short-form video is now core viewing, not a side snack. TikTok’s explosive growth suggests that a huge chunk of Nigerian (and by extension, African urban) screen time is vertical, music-driven, and algorithmically curated.

2. YouTube remains the “search engine of video”. With over a quarter of Nigerian internet users reachable via YouTube ads, it’s a primary place where trailers, interviews and behind-the-scenes pieces live.

   
   

For series creators and marketers, that means your funnel probably looks like this:

TikTok clip → YouTube breakdown / recap → streamer binge.

If your show doesn’t exist in that path, it’s invisible to a large slice of the audience.

4. Social Isn’t Just For Escapism – It’s Also Where Politics & Entertainment Blur

2024’s Kenyan finance-bill protests were a textbook case of how Gen Z uses the same platforms to organise protests and share memes. TikTok, X and Facebook were used to explain the bill in local languages, coordinate marches and stream events in real time.

At the same time, social platforms remain a primary news source: globally, 34.5% of social users say reading news is one of their main reasons for logging on, with Nigeria over-indexing at 56.6%.

So when a politically charged film drops, or a series touches corruption, gender-based violence or protest, it’s landing in an environment where:

• News, fiction and lived reality are side by side

• The same tools used for activism are used to critique your plot

  
  

That amplifies impact – but also scrutiny. And it’s happening under fragile conditions: Africa recorded 21 internet shutdowns across 15 countries in 2024, the worst year on record, often during protests or elections.  Streaming and social behaviour can be literally switched off overnight.

5. What This Means for African Film & TV Teams

Pulling it together, the social data suggests a few clear strategic moves:

1. Design for mobile-first, scroll-first viewing- Your series needs 10–20 second “anchor moments” – lines, shots or reactions that work in a vertical crop and make sense without context.

2. Treat social as discovery, not just promotion- With Africans among the world’s heaviest social searchers and brand-researchers, your show page and creator profiles are part of the “research journey”, not an afterthought. 

3. Optimise for multi-platform journeys- Think: TikTok for emotional hooks, YouTube for deeper lore or cast conversations, then push to Netflix/Showmax/Prime for the full episodes.

4. Respect the political temperature- In markets where social is also the protest HQ – and shutdowns are a real risk – time-sensitive campaigns and live-watch events need contingency plans.

5. Use the data like a writers’ note- If TikTok use in Nigeria jumps 56% in a year while Kenya leads the world in daily social time, you’re writing for an audience that lives in fast-cut, comment-heavy, participatory culture. Characters, pacing and dialogue that recognise that reality will feel less like TV, more like life.

The headline is simple:

Africa’s viewing habits are being shaped less by what’s on TV at 8 p.m. and more by what’s in the feed right now. Social data doesn’t just describe that shift – it gives creators a cheat sheet for what to make next, how to market it, and where their stories will actually be found.