Online Ad Spending Set to Nearly Double: PwC Sees Kenya's Market Hitting KSh 78B by 2030Online Ad Spending Set to Nearly Double: PwC Sees Kenya's Market Hitting KSh 78B by 2030
Key Highlights
- PwC forecasts Kenya's internet advertising revenue will rise from KSh 40.59B ($313M) in 2025 to about KSh 78B ($603M) in 2030, growing 14% a year against 7.2% globally.
- Video advertising is forecast to grow 18.2% a year, driven by social media and connected TV, while streaming video grows 15.9% a year.
- PwC's figures do not split the money between global platforms, telcos, local media and creators, so who gains most is still open.
Kenyans are shifting their attention online, and advertisers are following the audience.
PwC's Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2026 to 2030 forecasts that Kenya's internet advertising revenue will rise from KSh 40.59B ($313M) in 2025 to about KSh 78B ($603M) in 2030, Citizen Digital reported. That is a compound annual growth rate, the average yearly rate of growth, of 14%, almost double the 7.2% forecast for the world.
PwC says this would make Kenya the fastest-growing internet advertising market in the world by 2030. It is a forecast, not a result.
Video and streaming lead the growth
The outlook expects video advertising to grow 18.2% a year, driven by social media and connected television. Streaming video is forecast to grow 15.9% a year in Kenya through 2030, compared with 20.4% in Nigeria and 7.6% in South Africa. Traditional television remains significant in Kenya and Nigeria, so PwC sees streaming complementing it rather than replacing it.
Across the wider entertainment and media industry, PwC forecasts Kenyan revenue reaching about KSh 778.14B ($6B) by 2030, growing 5% a year. Gaming is forecast to grow 5.8% a year in Kenya, against 3.6% globally.
Who gains from the shift
PwC says businesses will need to focus on consumer preferences, measure the results of their advertising and link media spending to commercial outcomes. Michael Mugasa, Entertainment and Media Partner at PwC Kenya, said that businesses that understand their audiences and use data responsibly will matter in this market.
The figures suggest that more of the money will be spent where creators and small businesses can reach customers directly. The reported material does not split the revenue between global platforms, telecoms firms, local media and creators, so who captures most of the growth is not yet known. That is Mwenendo's reading of the gap.
PwC also points to connectivity. It expects 5G to reach 51.6% of subscriptions in Kenya by 2030, against 86.8% in South Africa and 35.3% in Nigeria. As Mwenendo earlier reported, Kenya's digital economy forecast already faces internet and trade barriers.
Mwenendo earlier reported on how African startups raise more while the infrastructure to scale remains uneven.
The outlook adds that artificial intelligence could help with translation, subtitling and personalised recommendations for African creators, but needs safeguards for copyright, privacy and human oversight.
In Summary
- Who made the forecast?
- PwC, in its Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2026 to 2030.
- What does it forecast?
- Kenya's internet advertising revenue rising from $313M in 2025 to $603M (about KSh 78B) in 2030.
- What period does it cover?
- 2025 to 2030, a 14% compound annual growth rate against 7.2% globally.
- Where is the growth strongest?
- In video advertising, forecast at 18.2% a year, driven by social media and connected TV.
- Why does it matter?
- It shows where advertisers, platforms and creators may compete for spending in Kenya.
- How certain is it?
- It is a forecast, and the figures do not split revenue between platforms, telcos, media and creators.