South Africa has an internet penetration rate of 54%, according to the report, which represents a connected population of over 31 million people.<\/p>\n
This is slightly higher than the 30.8 million internet users recorded the same time last year.<\/p>\n
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South Africans spend a lot of time online<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the report, South Africans spend the 6th longest time online, connected for an average of 8 hours and 25 minutes each day, on any device.<\/p>\n This is far higher than the global average of 6 hours and 41 minutes – and not that far below the biggest internet addicts, the Philippines, who spend over 10 hours a day on average online.<\/p>\n Connecting via computers, South Africans are the world’s second biggest internet addicts, spending almost 5 hours a day, on average, glued to our screens.<\/p>\n Looking at mobile internet time, South Africans are also higher than the global average, spending 3 hours and 30 minutes each day connecting via mobile devices.<\/p>\n South Africa’s average internet speeds are below average – but higher than African peers<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the report, South Africa’s average fixed-line internet speeds are at 18.3 mbps, which is some way below the global average of 54.3 mbps.<\/p>\n The world leader is Singapore, with an average speed at a blistering 190.9 mbps, while Egypt trails behind the countries measured, at 6.7 mbps.<\/p>\n Our mobile speeds are higher than the global average<\/strong><\/p>\n South Africa’s average mobile speed is recorded at 25.5 mbps, just above the global average at 25.1 mbps.<\/p>\n Overall, mobile speeds don’t quote match up to fixed line just yet, with Canada recording the highest average at 65.1 mbps.<\/p>\n South Africans are on social media<\/strong><\/p>\n Southern Africa has a relatively low social media penetration rate of 38% – though South Africa stands out as having a higher rate than its neighbours, with 40% of the population using social platforms.<\/p>\n This sits below the global average of 45%, but a 40% active user base means we have some 23 million people taking part of the conversation on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the like.<\/p>\n 5 million more South Africans are using social media than a year ago<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the report, South Africa’s social media activity is also one of the fastest growing in the world, where the country ranked 17th for its relative growth (seeing a 28% increase in activity year-on-year) and tied for 9th for net growth, having added 5 million new users since January 2018.<\/p>\n This is on par with Nigeria and Mexico – though far below China, which added 100 million new users in the past year.<\/p>\n We spend more time on social media than average<\/strong><\/p>\n South Africans also spend more time using social media platforms than the global average, with the report recording the average time spent at 2 hours and 48 minutes each day.<\/p>\n The average social media user, globally, spends 2 hours and 16 minutes on social platforms each day – with extreme users (Philippines) spending over 4 hours.<\/p>\n South Africans have 8 social media accounts on average.<\/p>\n We love WhatsApp<\/strong><\/p>\n In a broader look at the most popular messaging or chat app in each country, South Africans’ usage patterns showed that WhatsApp was the top app.<\/p>\n We spend R1,200 a month shopping online<\/strong><\/p>\n As part of the report, Hootsuite also looked at e-commerce and online shopping across the globe.<\/p>\n South Africa ranks quite low as an e-commerce nation, with the average revenue per user (ARPU) going towards consumer goods sitting at around $90 (R1,200) a month.<\/p>\n This is far lower than the global average of $634 (R8,400) a month.<\/p>\n One of the reasons for this is low penetration of online shopping habits, with only half (55%) of South Africa’s internet users actually making online purchases.<\/p>\n According to the report, online spending makes up only 1.5% of GDP per capita, and represents only 1% of total retail revenue in the country.<\/p>\n The full 2019 review can be read here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SA-online.png\")
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