Charles Stuart has a simple message for anyone watching Africa’s screens: the people matter more than the technology. “Technology is creating more ways for audiences to connect, but lasting value will come from understanding the people behind those connections,” said Stuart, Africa entertainment and media leader at PwC. His firm’s Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2026 to 2030 projects steady expansion across South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, though the pace and shape of growth differ by market maturity, connectivity and how people actually consume content.
For millions of viewers, gamers and music fans across the continent, the way entertainment reaches their screens and speakers is changing fast. The forecast suggests that shift will only accelerate over the next five years.
The appetite for local stories is one of the clearest signals in the data. In South Africa, local artists made up 70% of the ten most streamed artists in 2025. Nigeria’s cinema revenue is projected to climb from $10m in 2025 to $29m by 2030, with local films accounting for almost half of box office revenue in 2025.
Streaming habits tell a similar story. Nigeria is forecast to have the world’s fastest growing over the top streaming market, with revenue rising 20.4% annually to 2030. Kenya follows among the fastest growing at 15.9% a year, against a global rate of 6.1%. Kenya is also expected to lead global internet advertising growth, with revenue up 14% annually, nearly double the global 7.2%. South Africa, meanwhile, is forecast to lead global live music revenue growth at 5.7% annually, compared with 2.1% worldwide.
Gaming is another area where African audiences are outpacing the rest of the world. Video gaming revenue is forecast to grow faster than the global rate of 3.6% in all three countries through 2030, led by Nigeria at 8.5% a year, followed by Kenya at 5.8% and South Africa at 4.3%. In Nigeria, gaming revenue is expected to rise from $286m in 2025 to $431m by 2030, with social and casual games making up 77% of the market in 2025, a sign of how smartphones have widened access for ordinary players.
None of this happens without better connections. By 2030, 5G subscription penetration is projected to reach 86.8% in South Africa, 51.6% in Kenya and 35.3% in Nigeria, while fixed broadband expands across all three markets, supporting streaming, gaming and connected television. “As connectivity becomes faster, more reliable and more accessible, the opportunity is increasingly about how businesses use this growing connectivity to reach new consumers, expand their entertainment and media offerings and unlock new revenue opportunities,” said Nana Madikane, Africa technology, media and telecommunications industry leader at PwC.
The overall market picture reflects these trends. South Africa remains the largest of the three markets, with entertainment and media revenue projected to rise from $16.6bn in 2025 to $19.4bn by 2030. Nigeria is the fastest growing, expanding 6.9% annually to $5.3bn, while Kenya’s market is expected to grow 5% annually to $6bn.
Artificial intelligence could widen the reach of African creators further, through translation, subtitling and localisation, while improving content discovery and advertising personalisation. PwC cautioned that businesses would need to address copyright, attribution, privacy and data governance as the technology spreads.
The report’s broader conclusion is that digital platforms will complement, not replace, traditional entertainment. Music, sport, cinema and shared cultural experiences remain important, and the businesses best placed to benefit will be those that pair digital innovation with creativity, cultural understanding and trusted relationships with their audiences. Whether local creators can capture that growth, and keep their audiences close as the platforms multiply, is the question the next five years will answer.