ayoba is thrilled to announce a significant milestone as the super-app crosses the mark of 35 million monthly active users across the African continent in December 2023. This remarkable growth is a result of heightened retention rates and organic adoption, driven by an improved user experience within the communication suite and a diverse content offering encompassing music, channels, games, and services. Expansion has been further accelerated by the inclusion of users from new territories such as Kenya, Egypt, Mali, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and Botswana.
Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, remarks, “ayoba is more than just an app; it’s a transformative journey that empowers connections, fosters innovation, and paves the way for a digital future. Similar to the resilience and dynamism of the continent, ayoba has continuously evolved and remained forward-thinking. As we celebrate the milestones of 2023, it’s evident that our commitment to innovation and user-centricity has propelled ayoba to new heights. With gratitude for the past and a vision for the future, we embark on 2024 with a steadfast commitment to evolving ayoba and delivering enriched experiences for our growing user base in Africa. Our focus remains steadfast on empowering communities, driving innovation, and building a sustainable ecosystem for long-term growth.”
In 2023, ayoba witnessed robust growth across various aspects of its service. Music usage continued to surge, notably through ayoba’s popular playlist service in collaboration with Boomplay, accumulating over 600 million streams by year-end. Other growth drivers included enhancements in the messaging vertical and the rising popularity of the new ‘Explore’ landing page.
Looking ahead to 2024, Burak Akinci, ayoba’s CEO, expresses optimism, stating, “We are immensely proud of our accomplishments in 2023, and we have much to anticipate in the coming year. We kickstart the year with an impressive offering for football enthusiasts, including daily news updates, games, and themed playlists, among others. As we progress through the year, our product and content teams have numerous updates planned across Messaging and Groups, User Stories, Music, Games, and more. In 2024, our focus will extend to the B2B domain, introducing features to benefit our partners and leverage our growing ecosystem and traffic.”
In 2023, ayoba successfully ventured into content marketing, forging partnerships with renowned brands such as Cadbury’s and Chappies. The upcoming year will witness a heightened focus on expanding partnerships with established brands, accompanied by the introduction of new Ad Sales options to capitalize on the burgeoning user base and engagement.
On the content front, ayoba has secured partnerships with new high-profile collaborators, ranging from international NGOs to localized offerings like Dycoco, enriching the platform with additional French comedy through the popular Adamant Media series. Plans for 2024 include the introduction of more podcasts, playlists, educational content, sports news, lifestyle updates, and uplifting content, with a focus on short-form videos.
ayoba is poised to unveil an updated range of services, including a communications API, new payment partners, and enhancements to its partner portal. The newly launched ‘Discover’ Page within the Services vertical offers fresh traffic drivers for partners, along with a curated services offering.
Messaging remains a core focus for ayoba. Following the successful re-engineering of the messaging module in 2023, which involved a design and features overhaul, ayoba will shift its focus to commercial features in 2024. This includes the introduction of business accounts with related support and a suite of business-oriented features.
