Reaching younger audiences in South Africa is turning into more and more complicated. Social platforms dominate discovery, however consideration is fragmented, competitors is intense, and lots of manufacturers are nonetheless working on outdated assumptions about how youthful generations assume, spend, and interact.
To higher perceive this era on their very own phrases, ReachPlayers, a number one gaming advert community centered on immersive in-game branded content material, surveyed 10,000 younger South Africans aged 13 to 25, gathering responses straight inside gaming environments the place this viewers is energetic and engaged.
The findings level to a era that’s formidable, sensible, and extremely selective, highlighting a rising hole between the place manufacturers make investments and the place consideration is definitely held.
A era that doesn’t assume the best way manufacturers count on
The information challenges frequent perceptions of youth behaviour. 45.5% of respondents say getting cash is their high precedence, adopted by 37.6% prioritising profession success and 18.7% specializing in supporting their household. Beginning a enterprise got here in at 14.2% and fame ranked close to the underside.
Spending habits reinforce this shift. Saving cash or serving to household is the one largest spending class at 44.7%, adopted by garments and style at 37.3% and meals and going out at 26.6%. Gaming, video games, and skins sit at 9.7%, rating forward of music, occasions, and leisure at 6%. This isn’t a era outlined by impulsive consumption. They’re considerate, sensible, and oriented towards the folks round them.
Affect additionally comes from sudden locations. Household is the strongest buy affect, adopted by self-decision making and associates, whereas influencers and creators account for simply 9.5%, and adverts path at 4.9%.
This indicators a era that’s extra grounded, unbiased, and sensible than many manufacturers assume.
In terms of belief, high quality leads at 58.8%, adopted by honest worth at 36.0% and private advice at 16.3%. Seeing a model incessantly on-line sits at simply 10.4%. Repetition just isn’t constructing the relationships manufacturers assume it’s any extra. 45% of Gen Z are additionally utilizing advert blockers to really keep away from this repetition.
Social wins discovery however not consideration
The analysis confirms that social platforms stay the first gateway for model discovery, with 57.5% of respondents saying they first encounter manufacturers on TikTok.
Nonetheless, this additionally displays the place manufacturers are capitalising. Far fewer manufacturers are activating inside gaming environments, creating a transparent imbalance in how channels are getting used. With over 30 million Gen Z and Gen Alpha South Africans representing greater than half the nation’s inhabitants, the dimensions of this viewers just isn’t in query. The query is whether or not manufacturers are participating them in ways in which truly land.
On the similar time, 15% of respondents say they don’t like promoting in any respect.
From passive scrolling to energetic consideration
In contrast, gaming environments present a essentially totally different sort of engagement. 39.5% of respondents mentioned they’re much extra centered, and an extra 16.5% mentioned they’re just a little extra centered. Mixed, that’s 56% of respondents reporting meaningfully larger consideration inside gaming environments than on social media, highlighting a transparent distinction in consideration high quality.
Social drives attain, but it surely doesn’t constantly maintain consideration. What many model managers don’t realise is that social media and gaming attain practically the identical share of the South African inhabitants, 41.5% versus 44%. The distinction is what occurs after you have that focus. Social media engagement averages beneath 9 seconds per submit. ReachPlayers analysis exhibits in-game branded content material engagement averages between 2 and eight minutes relying on the activation. The hole between these two numbers just isn’t a marginal distinction in efficiency. It’s a essentially totally different class of engagement.
That is bolstered by actual behaviour, not simply notion. Spending on gaming (video games, skins, in-game objects) ranks larger than music, occasions, and leisure, exhibiting that gaming isn’t just the place consideration exists, however the place actual financial exercise is already taking place.
Not like passive scrolling, gaming is energetic and participatory. Gamers are making selections, interacting, competing, and interesting in actual time. This creates a essentially totally different alternative for manufacturers, one primarily based on participation reasonably than interruption. Consideration is earned by means of interplay, not captured by means of placement.
“What this research gave us was a way more full image of how younger South Africans truly assume,” says Michael Anav, CEO of ReachPlayers. “They’re formidable, they’re selective, they usually reply to manufacturers that perceive them. That ought to change how entrepreneurs plan, not simply the place they place adverts.”
What this implies for entrepreneurs
Taken collectively, the findings level to a era that’s tougher to succeed in by means of typical means however extremely responsive when manufacturers present up with real relevance. Household affect, self-directed choice making, and high quality over familiarity are the actual drivers of buy behaviour. Discovery could occur on social, however belief is constructed elsewhere, by means of folks, by means of expertise, and thru environments the place this era is genuinely current and engaged. For these 18 and beneath, gaming has turn into the social yard of their era. The pores and skin their avatar wears is extra vital to them than the model on their again in actual life.
ReachPlayers works with international manufacturers together with Samsung, L’Oréal, and Adidas, reaching thousands and thousands of younger gamers throughout gaming environments worldwide. This research displays the corporate’s broader dedication to understanding the subsequent era, not simply as a gaming viewers, however because the shoppers, choice makers, and tradition shapers they’re already turning into.
Picture credit score: El Broide, The Platinum Membership.
Supply: El Broide, The Platinum Membership.
