South Africa’s internet population has increased by almost two million adults within the last year, indicating a rise in online media consumption.
The Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA) and Echo Consultancy collaborated for a research project called the All Media Products Survey (AMPS), also validated by Effective Measure (EM).
Findings revealed internet users in the country have hit the 14 million mark, with 39 per cent of South Africans having access to internet.
Jarred Cinman, chair of the DMMA steering committee, said: “We needed to provide our members with a more realistic view of the total internet population in South Africa.”
Peter Langschmidt, managing director of Echo and South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) board member, explained the research was conducted through a process of tagging.
“In the case of internet penetration in South Africa from AMPS, there is most definitely respondent confusion regarding internet usage, with many respondents not equating websites accessed via their mobile phones with internet browsing,” Langschmidt said.
Langschmidt added: “In the middle of last year EM reported that there were 15 million Unique Browsers. In the last year this number has grown to 20 million. By applying the derived formula, we can say that that these 20 million Unique Browsers represent just under 14 million adult users.”
