Programmatic in South Africa

The Internet changed the game of marketing and advertising. With digital advertising, brands might interact with target audiences wherever they are and turn them into loyal customers. This allows marketers to get greater profits from their marketing campaigns. So, it is no wonder that digital advertising has become the number-one choice for brands nowadays. And South African brands aren’t an exception. As we mentioned before in our article about Africans’ online behavior, Africa is going digital faster and faster. 

In this article, we reveal the state of the digital ads market in the country, the peculiarities of the internet audiences, popular ad formats, how you can succeed on the market, and more. Let’s go!

Digital Advertising Market in South Africa

According to Statista, digital advertising market share in 2020 reached $444.5 million. With a growth of 61.7%, ad spending in the digital advertising market is projected to reach $719.0 million in 2024. Moreover, there will be positive dynamics to be saved on South Africa’s digital market. 

Source: Statista

Programmatic Advertising Market in South Africa

Programmatic growth continues in South Africa, spurring an increase in advertising investment. This is according to Statista research, which forecasts growing demand for programmatic advertising—78% of the digital advertising revenue will be generated through programmatic advertising in 2028.

Source: Statista

Why do brands use programmatic advertising?

Let’s begin with what programmatic advertising is. Programmatic means automatic selling and buying ad impressions precisely for brands’ target audiences. With AI & ML algorithms, programmatic platforms spot patterns in users’ behavior and use data to predict their needs, goals, and actions to show them a relevant advertisement at the right time. So, even though brands don’t have a mind-reading superpower, with programmatic advertising, they can reveal what their prospect is thinking about, resonate stronger with audiences through highly relevant advertising, and grow brands’ revenues.

There are more benefits for brands in South Africa of programmatic ads:

• Precise targeting helps find even narrow and specific audiences wherever they are through the open Internet.
• Omnichannel interactions through Display, Video, Social, Native, CTV, Search, Audio, and DOOH let brands be near customers through the entire customer journey (learn more about what customer journey is and why it is so important here). 
• Better ROI & greater profit due to automatic and manual optimization that improves ad campaigns in real time allows brands to achieve significant growth in ad performance and profit. 
• Real-time control. Advertisers can maximize the impact of their ads by fine-tuning campaigns based on performance data.

In fact, programmatic media buying has even more benefits that couldn’t be all written in this article. If you want to learn more about them, read our white paper or contact NT’s managers at info@nt.technology. They would be glad to provide you with programmatic advantages specifically for your business and help launch ad campaigns with greater performance.

Available Audience & Customer Behavior

According to Data Reportal, there were 45.34 million internet users in South Africa at the beginning of 2024, which equals 74.7% of the total population. Smartphones are the top used devices for accessing the Internet—99.3% of users use these devices to access the Internet. 

Users want to find necessary information, know how to do things, and stay in touch with friends and family, so that’s why they use the Internet more often.

Source: Data Reportal

What we can say about social media is that there were 26.00 million social media users in South Africa, which equals 42.8% of the total population. The number of social media users has grown by 0.8% between 2023 and 2024.

 Source: Data Reportal

What is interesting is that 49.8 percent of South Africa’s social media users are female, while 50.2 percent are male. Meanwhile, the main reasons for using social networks are the desire to be in touch with friends, know the latest news, and look for inspiration.

Source: Data Reportal

At the same time, users use the Internet not only to scroll social media feeds but also to discover and research brands. Understanding what channels use a brand’s target audience helps brands adjust marketing strategies and achieve better results. So, the main channels for South African brands’ research include search engines, social media, and consumer reviews. In turn of sources of brand discovery, the leaders include TV ads, social media ads, and in-store promos.

 Source: Data Reportal

Ad Formats & Ad Channels

The market’s largest segment is Search Advertising, with a market volume of $258.4 million in 2024. The population of the ad format among advertisers will continue growing. According to the forecast, it’s expected that ad spending on search ads will reach $352.0 million by 2028. 

The second largest in the digital advertising market of South Africa is advertising on social media. The market volume of this segment is expected to reach $218.9 million in 2024.

Source: Statista

The biggest potential reach of the target audience is on Facebook and TikTok. LinkedIn takes third place.

Good potential is Video Advertising, with a market volume of $189.7 million in 2024. 

Source: Statista

Ad Inventory

Top Websites Ranking

google.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, google.co.za, instagram.com, linkedin.com, twitter.com, dstv.com, Fnb.co.za, takealot.com

Top SSPs used in South Africa

• Google Ad Manager
• AppNexus
• Rubicon
• BidSwitch
• Brightroll
• MoPub
• TeadsTV
• Waze
• Open.X

Top DSPs used in South Africa

• Adobe Advertising Cloud
• EZmob
• Scibids 
• AdLib DSP
• NT DSP

How to run programmatic advertising: how NT Technology can help you?

NT Technology is a team of experts in programmatic technology that provides brands with the best-in-class programmatic advertising service. Our team offers a full-service solution—we develop media strategies and ad creatives, launch ad campaigns, track their performance, optimize them, and provide detailed reports. Here are some more reasons it’s worth choosing us for launching digital campaigns:

Advanced Targeting Precision. Our DSP leverages data-driven insights and machine learning to reach the right audience at the right time, ensuring your brand’s ads reach those most likely to engage and convert.

Real-Time Optimization. With real-time data tracking and adaptive algorithms, our DSP optimizes ad campaigns on the fly, maximizing results and minimizing wasted ad spend by adjusting targeting and bidding strategies in real time. 

Cross-Channel Reach. Seamlessly connect with audiences across multiple platforms, including web, mobile, social media, and connected TV, ensuring a consistent brand message and maximizing reach.

Transparent Reporting and Analytics. Our team provides you with access to your private account in NT DSP that provides detailed, transparent reporting so you can measure key metrics, understand campaign performance, and make data-driven decisions with full visibility into ROI.

Enhanced Brand Safety and Fraud Prevention. We prioritize brand safety with sophisticated tools and partnerships to prevent ad fraud and ensure that ads appear in suitable, high-quality environments that protect your brand’s reputation.

Scalable and Flexible Solutions. Our DSP platform is designed to meet the needs of brands of all sizes, offering scalable solutions from small, targeted campaigns to large, multichannel strategies tailored to your objectives and budget.

Personalized Support and Strategy. Our team of experts provides personalized support and strategic guidance to optimize your campaigns, from planning through execution, ensuring you get the most out of every ad dollar. 

Cost-Efficiency with Programmatic Buying. By automating the ad-buying process, our DSP helps reduce costs, delivers competitive CPMs/CPLs/CPIs/and so on, and drives better results through efficient, data-informed bidding strategies.

Contact us at info@nt.technology to boost your ad performance. We’d be glad to help you!

Below, you will find an example of how programmatic advertising works in the case study of our client.

How to drive installations for casual game

Our client is an African game developer who provides best-class games to billions of gamers all over the world. The client aimed to attract more gamers to his casual game and drive registrations. The developer turned to us to reach the goal.  

After conducting detailed audience research, we decided to take an omnichannel approach. NT Technology executed a programmatic campaign using banners, videos, and in-app ads. To attract high-intent users with a higher retention rate, we set up playable ads—an interactive format that shows users a demo version of the game and allows them to try it before installing. Measurement and testing also played a crucial role in maximizing efficiency. We tested different banners, combinations of targeting options, and audience segments to identify the most effective approach and reallocated budgets to the best-performing tools.

Leveraging retargeting, we re-engaged high-intent users who downloaded the game but didn’t complete registration and users who demonstrated a strong interest in the client’s offerings. Additionally, we used look-alike targeting to broaden the campaign’s reach and find more players likely to install the client’s game.

Through this multichannel programmatic ad strategy led by NT Technology, the game developer successfully boosted game installs and registrations.

As a result, we achieved:

• 542 Installs
• 456 Registrations 
• 45.6% decrease in CPA 
• 34.7% decrease in CPI

Conclusion

The digital and programmatic advertising landscape in South Africa is evolving rapidly, offering brands unparalleled opportunities to connect with highly engaged audiences. With programmatic advertising poised to account for the majority of ad revenue in the coming years, brands in South Africa are increasingly leveraging data-driven strategies, real-time optimization, and cross-channel reach to enhance their marketing effectiveness. 

NT Technology is at the forefront of this shift, providing South African brands with a powerful DSP platform and expert support to create high-impact, cost-effective campaigns. Contact us at info@nt.technology.