Its music service with its focus on local content leads the growth towards the milestone
15 December 2022 - 14:14
by Mudiwa Gavaza
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
MTN-backed super-app ayoba now has more than 20-million monthly active users, double that of a year ago. The milestone indicates progress by Africa’s largest mobile operator with its new lines of business premised on services such as mobile money and instant messaging.
The success of WeChat — Tencent’s super-app in China — has convinced companies, across the banking and telecoms sectors in SA, that new growth areas, such as mobile payments and integration with multiple service providers, are the future.
A super-app aims to be a one-stop shop for the user, with services ranging from connectivity, entertainment, shopping and finance.
MTN, in partnership with ayoba, said its platform reached the milestone on December 5. Ayoba’s CEO Burak Akinci said: “This achievement is the result of listening to our users, understanding their needs and working on multiple aspects of our platform to serve them better.”
“We will continue to develop what is a robust messaging service in ayoba, that continues to offer new functionalities, a free music service that has grown to millions of streams, high quality games, a wide range of channels with curated local content, and hundreds of new MicroApps.”
The company says growth was led by its music streaming service, which focuses on local content. Streams were up 174% in 2022. Users also engaged with content with topics such as football updates, tech and entertainment news, food and fashion, rugby and other sports.
In early December year-on-year growth for messages sent was 125%, games were up 208%, while micro-app sessions increased 322%, with 85-million stories posted by users to their networks.
The platform, originally billed as an instant messaging service to rival Meta’s WhatsApp — is available globally but with a focus on Africa. Key markets for the app include Nigeria, Cameroon, SA, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Uganda and The Republic of Congo, where MTN has operations.
The app, developed in partnership with MTN, is open to all networks. Users receive free daily data in participating markets. The platform is part of MTN’s continued strategy under which it targets 100-million users by 2025.
Rival Vodacom has its own VodaPay super-app, which was launched in late 2021. The platform has had more than 3.5-million downloads with 2.2-million of those by registered users.
In another corner of the market, banks such as FNB have taken a stab at the e-commerce space with a marketplace that allows businesses to list products and services, with the benefit of the bank’s payment integration.
Nedbank launched its Avo platform in 2020, offering a wide range of products and services, most recently rolling out a vehicle marketplace akin to WeBuyCars, Cardura and Wheels24.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
MTN-backed super-app ayoba hits 20-million users
Its music service with its focus on local content leads the growth towards the milestone
MTN-backed super-app ayoba now has more than 20-million monthly active users, double that of a year ago. The milestone indicates progress by Africa’s largest mobile operator with its new lines of business premised on services such as mobile money and instant messaging.
The success of WeChat — Tencent’s super-app in China — has convinced companies, across the banking and telecoms sectors in SA, that new growth areas, such as mobile payments and integration with multiple service providers, are the future.
A super-app aims to be a one-stop shop for the user, with services ranging from connectivity, entertainment, shopping and finance.
MTN, in partnership with ayoba, said its platform reached the milestone on December 5. Ayoba’s CEO Burak Akinci said: “This achievement is the result of listening to our users, understanding their needs and working on multiple aspects of our platform to serve them better.”
“We will continue to develop what is a robust messaging service in ayoba, that continues to offer new functionalities, a free music service that has grown to millions of streams, high quality games, a wide range of channels with curated local content, and hundreds of new MicroApps.”
The company says growth was led by its music streaming service, which focuses on local content. Streams were up 174% in 2022. Users also engaged with content with topics such as football updates, tech and entertainment news, food and fashion, rugby and other sports.
In early December year-on-year growth for messages sent was 125%, games were up 208%, while micro-app sessions increased 322%, with 85-million stories posted by users to their networks.
The platform, originally billed as an instant messaging service to rival Meta’s WhatsApp — is available globally but with a focus on Africa. Key markets for the app include Nigeria, Cameroon, SA, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Uganda and The Republic of Congo, where MTN has operations.
The app, developed in partnership with MTN, is open to all networks. Users receive free daily data in participating markets. The platform is part of MTN’s continued strategy under which it targets 100-million users by 2025.
Rival Vodacom has its own VodaPay super-app, which was launched in late 2021. The platform has had more than 3.5-million downloads with 2.2-million of those by registered users.
In another corner of the market, banks such as FNB have taken a stab at the e-commerce space with a marketplace that allows businesses to list products and services, with the benefit of the bank’s payment integration.
Nedbank launched its Avo platform in 2020, offering a wide range of products and services, most recently rolling out a vehicle marketplace akin to WeBuyCars, Cardura and Wheels24.
gavazam@businesslive.co.za
MTN Ghana begins cutting off a quarter of its customers
Vodacom completes R42bn acquisition of Vodafone Egypt business
Victory for MTN in decade-long Iran licence case
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
E-commerce is ‘the great equaliser’ needed to jump-start SA’s economy
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.