Advertising on social media: a comparison of platforms
Facebook still Namibians' favourite
An analysis by Kepios indicates a noticeable rise in Namibians' use of social media when comparing statistics from early 2023 to early 2024.With an estimated 126 000 new social media users over the past year – a 21.8% increase – the portion of the country's total population that uses social media now stands at 26.8%. These figures represent accounts and may not entirely reflect unique individuals.
Information published in the ad planning tools of the top social media platforms in Namibia indicates that roughly 703 400 users were aged 18 and above, representing 46.2% of Namibia's population over 18.
Nearly half, or 43.1% of Namibia's internet user base, used at least one social media platform in January, regardless of age considerations.
At the beginning of this year, 50.3% of Namibian users were female, and 49.7% were male.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, notes that the platform had 703 900 users in Namibia at the start of the year and showed a decrease in potential ad reach of 21.8%.
Ad reach in the country covered 26.8% of the total population, or 43.1% of the internet user base at the beginning of this year. Meta, however, has got some way to go in reaching the potential audience for Facebook in Namibia, as 43.1% of Namibians over the age of 13 also use Facebook. Namibians over 13 are considered elligible users due to Meta's restriction on using the app under that age.
Between October 2023 and January, the number of users advertisers could reach with Facebook ads decreased by 1.9% (~14 000 users).
“Estimated audience size is not a proxy for monthly or daily active users or for engagement. Estimates aren’t designed to match population, census estimates, or other sources, and may differ depending on factors such as how many accounts across Meta technologies a person has, how many temporary visitors are in a particular geographic location at a given time, and Meta user-reported demographics,” Meta noted.
Meta reported around 422 700 Instagram users in Namibia at the beginning of 2024, stating that the platform's ad reach accounted for 16.1% of the total population. Instagram's ad reach was 25.9% of the total internet user base, regardless of age.
Like Facebook, Meta allows only users over the age of 13 to access its platforms, and in January of this year, 23.7% of the eligible audience in Namibia were account holders.
Statistics from earlier this year indicate that 53.9% of Instagram's ad audience was female and 46.1% was male.
Between January 2023 and January 2024, ad reach for this platform grew by 105 000 users (33.2%).
X
X's (formerly Twitter) advertising resources claim that 87 700 Namibians were members in early 2024, with an ad reach representing 3.3% of the total population.
"There may be meaningful differences between the size of X’s ad audience and its total active user base... Moreover, we’ve seen some particularly bizarre trends in the data reported in X’s advertising tools over the past year, so we’d advise caution when it comes to analysing these X figures," notes DataReportal.
X allows only individuals aged 13 and older to use its platform, indicating that 4.9% of the eligible user base and 5.4% of the total internet user base in Namibia are currently on X.
Unlike other platforms, X has a higher proportion of male users in Namibia, with 64.9% male and 35.1% female. Additionally, X does not require users to identify as male or female; instead, it uses signals such as a user's name and activity on the platform to determine gender.
"Our analysis suggests that X’s inferences may not be particularly reliable in determining users’ gender, especially in countries where English is not the dominant language," shares DataReportal.
X's ad planning tools show a decrease of 7.1% (~6 669 users) in potential ad reach from early 2023 to early 2024.
The same data shows that the number of users marketers could reach declined by 32% in the final quarter of last year.
"The figures published in X’s planning tools appear to be liable to significant fluctuation – even over short periods of time – and these anomalies may impact the reliability and representativeness of this change data," says DataReportal.
At the start of 2024, LinkedIn's advertising resources show 380 000 users in Namibia. Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn publishes total registered accounts and not active monthly users in its advertising resources.
As a result, these LinkedIn figures are not directly comparable with the figures for other social media platforms published on this page or in our Digital 2024 reports. Their advertising reach figures show that their audience was equivalent to 14.5% of the country's total population.
People under 18 are not allowed to use LinkedIn; as a result, 25% of the eligible audience are users of this platform.
At the beginning of the year, LinkedIn's ad reach was noted as 23.3% of the total internet user base.
Similar to X, LinkedIn has a higher proportion of male users, with 53.8% male and 46.2% female.
From the start of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, LinkedIn's potential ad reach grew by 22.6%, with a 5.6% increase observed in the last quarter of the year.
Data from LinkedIn’s planning tools indicate that its potential ad reach in Namibia increased by 70 000 (22.6%) between early 2023 and early 2024.
- irene-mari@nmh-hub.com.na
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