Infrastructure, not influence, defines creator earnings in Africa

The path to profitability in Africa’s creator ecosystem varies wildly depending on local payment infrastructure, gender demographics, and audience consumption habits, according to the newly released Africa Creator Economy Report (ACER) 2026, developed by Communiqué, an African creator-led media and intelligence firm, in partnership with TechCabal Insights (TCI) and Takeout Media Global (TM Global).

The report reveals a regional divide in how three of the continent’s creative hubs—Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya—structure their digital influence. This regional divergence suggests that the African creator economy is a collection of distinct markets at different stages of maturity, each requiring a tailored approach to investment and infrastructure. 

Nigeria’s demographic split on Instagram reveals that women make up 42% of creators compared to 35% for men, with the remaining 24% made up of neutral accounts such as brands. This female creator dominance in Nigeria is driven by the high-value categories of beauty, fashion, and wellness, where women lead as both the primary architects of content and the most active consumers. 

Conversely, younger Nigerian creators aged 18–25 are increasingly migrating toward TikTok, seeking lower entry barriers and faster virality. This leaves Instagram as the domain of those aged 25–35, who represent over 58% of the platform’s creators. For these individuals, the hurdle isn’t reaching an audience, but navigating the legal and contractual infrastructure needed to turn that reach into repeatable commercial income.

Kenya, on the other hand, presents a demand magnet scenario that is the inverse of Nigeria’s supply-heavy market. With only 89,001 local creators serving a massive active audience of over 220,000, there is a massive headroom for local Kenyan creators to capture domestic brand spend. 

Interestingly, Kenya’s monetisation strategy is built on the backbone of M-Pesa, the Safaricom-owned mobile money service. The ease of mobile money makes it trivial to sell small-ticket items, classes, and services, allowing Kenyan creators to bypass traditional brand gatekeepers entirely.

South Africa occupies a middle ground of high-value aesthetic curation, anchored firmly by the 25–35-year-old demographic, which accounts for nearly 57% of its creators. This makes the South African market exceptionally attractive to lifestyle and wellness brands looking for a professionalised, high-purchasing-power audience. The country’s ecosystem thrives on the intersection of high-end lifestyle content and established corporate advertising. 

The report identifies four key factors that will define the African creator economy over the next five years: capital and professionalisation, policy infrastructure, talent globalisation, and the integration of technology and AI. As investment interest deepens and policy initiatives like the Creative Economy Development Fund provide more robust infrastructure, African talent is expected to maintain its global influence