Social media plays a vital role in shaping our lives, perceptions, and lifestyles in ways more than one. From the clothes we wear to the products and services we purchase and from the food we eat to the cars we buy, and everything in between and beyond is influenced by social media.
This article will delve deeper into South Africa’s social media users’ statistics, trends, and other metrics.
Accurate data on South Africa’s population, social media metrics, and internet integration across the country play a crucial role in shaping and devising an effective social media strategy. Moreover, it showcases why you can’t ignore social media’s role in helping brands achieve their objectives and business goals.
In the year 2024, South Africa’s population has exceeded 60.69 million (January), out of which 45.34 million are internet users.
South Africa has 26 million social media users, with an upward growth trend.
Contrastingly, the cellular mobile connections in South Africa stood at 118.6 million in 2024, equivalent to 195.4% of South Africa’s total population.
Around 51.2% of the South African population is female, and 48.8% is male.
As per Kepios Analysis, the number of internet users in South Africa increased by 409 thousand in one year since January 2023.
Facebook Users In South Africa (2024)
As per Meta’s ad resources, Facebook had nearly 26 million users in South Africa around January 2024.
As per Meta’s own tools, Facebook’s ad reach has increased by 17.4 percent or over 3.9 million.
In other words, Facebook’s ad reach is equivalent to around 43% of South Africa’s population.
In 2024, 49.8% of Facebook’s ad audience is female and 50.2% male.
YouTube Users in South Africa (2024)
As per Google’s Ad resources, South Africa has 25.10 million users in South Africa in 2024.
The ad reach of YouTube ads is equivalent to South Africa’s 41.4% of the population.
YouTube Ads reach around 55.4 percent of the total internet users in South Africa.
In 2024, the YouTube audience comprised 50% Male and 50% female.
Instagram Users In South Africa (2024)
As per Meta’s ad resources and tools, the number of South African users on Instagram in 2024 is 6.95 million. The company recently revised its user data statistics, which said that the Instagram ad reach in South Africa is equivalent to 11.5 percent of the country’s population. Instagram only allows users over 13 to use its platform; therefore, around 15.2% of the eligible users in South Africa are on Instagram.
Instagram’s ad reach is 15.3% of the total local internet users in South Africa, irrespective of age.
It is worth noting that Instagram’s ad reach increased by 23% between January 2023 and January 2024.
Around 55.8% of Instagram users are female, and 44.2% are male.
TikTok Users In South Africa (2024)
As per ByteDance’s Ad resources, South Africa has over 17.46 million TikTok users aged 18 and above.
As per statistics provided by ByteDance, the TikTok ads reached nearly 43.2% of all adults above 18 in South Africa. TikTok’s ad reach in South Africa is equivalent to 38.5% of the local internet user base at the beginning of 2024.
In January 2024, 52.0 percent of TikTok’s ad audience were female, and 48.0 percent were male.
It needs to be mentioned here that TikTok’s ad reach in South Africa increased by nearly 47.7 percent between 2023 and early 2024.
LinkedIn Users In South Africa (2024)
In early 2024, South Africa had nearly 12 million LinkedIn members.
LinkedIn’s ad reach in South Africa equals 19.8 percent of South Africa’s total population. (January 2024)
However, it’s important to note that LinkedIn doesn’t allow members below 18 years. So, this concludes that 29.7 percent of the eligible population in South Africa uses LinkedIn. In January 2024, 48.3 percent of LinkedIn’s ad audience was female and 51.7 percent male.
X Users In South Africa (2024)
As per X’s advertising resources, it has nearly 4.10 million users in South Africa.
This means that X’s ad reach equals 6.8 percent of South Africa’s total population.
Please note that the ad reach differs from monthly active users.
X only allows users over 13 to use its platform, which means that 8. 9 percent of the eligible audience in South Africa is on X. In early 2024, 39.8 percent of X’s ad audience In South Africa consisted of females, and 60.2 percent were male.
Snapchat Users In South Africa (2024)
In January 2024, Snapchat had 5.71 million users in South Africa.
In other words, the total ad reach of Snapchat in South Africa is 9.4 percent of the country’s population.
Snapchat only allows users above 13 on its platform, meaning around 12.5 percent of the eligible audience in South Africa is on Snapchat. In January 2024, around 77 percent of Snapchat’s ad audience in South Africa was female and 18.4 percent female. Between 2023 and 2024, Snapchat’s ad reach decreased by 140 thousand or -2.4%. However, Snapchat’s advertising tools indicated a growth of +3.9 percent in terms of how marketers use Snapchat ads to reach out to more users.
Conclusion
Social media has integrated into every aspect of our lives. Along with playing a role in our daily lives, it plays a crucial role in transforming the future of businesses, irrespective of its scale.
Social media has played a vital role in transforming people’s lives in South Africa and boosting the marketing efforts of businesses across the country. In this article, we have covered a wide range of crucial data and social media metrics for various platforms, providing insights that can help guide your social media strategy or craft one from scratch to leave a lasting impact. These social media metrics give you a brief overview of the social media trends in South Africa and how you can use them to your advantage. It may also be instrumental in choosing which social media platforms to focus on to help enhance brand visibility, effectively penetrating specific niche markets and generating higher revenue.
The social media market has grown tremendously in the past few years and only continues to grow with time. It is essential to pinpoint marketing efforts strategically to make the most of your marketing dollars spent in South Africa.
