Kenya tops the continent in YouTube content creation

Kenya is one of the African countries with the most YouTube channels, with over 400 channels each boasting 100,000 subscribers.

The number of channels making more than Ksh1 million per month has also increased by 60%.

Nigeria and South Africa each have 300 channels with 100,000 members, well behind Kenya’s drive, which continues to draw a diverse range of content such as cuisine, school courses, music, travel, and sports, among others.

Mr Alex Okosi, YouTube Africa managing director, revealed the figures during this year’s YouTube Annual Roundtable virtual meeting, saying Kenya’s content creation growth grew at the fastest rate year over year, at 70%.

Mr Okosi said numerous initiatives had been undertaken to help Kenyan creators enhance the quality of video uploaded on YouTube, thereby increasing their reach and earning potential.

Citizen TV, Churchill TV, KTN News, NTV Kenya, K24 TV, and R&B singer-songwriter Otile Brown, according to Mr Okosi, each have over one million subscribers, with one station boasting of over a billion views.

According to data released this week, Kenya leads Africa in terms of content consumption, with only 45 percent of Kenyan content being consumed by a global audience.

Nigeria, which has 300 channels with over 100,000 subscribers, has 75 percent of its material viewed by a global audience, whereas South Africa’s content has 65 percent of global viewers.

“Africa has an amazing culture and good storytellers who use YouTube to showcase Africa’s diversity. We are committed to enabling these creators to voice their stories and provide access to the rest of the world using YouTube which, in the long run, leads us too to success,” he said.

Mr Okosi also unveiled a new team to drive the YouTube content creation campaign.