Code for Africa and SembraMedia ran the African expansion of Global Project Oasis: a systematic effort to identify, verify and profile independent digital-native media across seven diverse African countries — a first of its kind. CivicSignal builds on that foundation, extending the same mapping to other emerging media and tracking how it all changes over time.
This is one of the first systematic efforts to map digital-native media across multiple African countries — spanning seven diverse markets, from Dakar to Nairobi. It's a genuine milestone for the sector, and Code for Africa is proud to have partnered with SembraMedia on it. CivicSignal builds on that foundation by extending the same mapping approach to other emerging media, and tracking how all of it evolves over time.
For the first time, more people get news weekly from social & video platforms than from news organisations' own sites and apps — Reuters Institute, Digital News Report 2026.
CivicSignal partners with researchers and funders on mapping digital-native media and other emerging media across African countries.
One of the first systematic efforts to map and analyse independent digital-native media across multiple African countries — the scale of discovery is the finding, not a footnote.
The pandemic and its aftermath coincided with a pronounced rise in digital-native formation — crisis disrupted legacy media, but also expanded demand for timely digital information. An association, not a proven single cause.
English 64.4%, French 28.4%, Arabic 6.2%. Nearly half also use at least one additional language — including Swahili, Wolof, Hausa, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Yoruba and others — pointing to emerging multilingual practice.
The sector is increasingly formal and commercial, yet more than three-quarters of outlets reporting staff data have 20 or fewer workers. Formalisation doesn't automatically mean institutional security.
Women founders are considerably more visible in non-profit and hybrid organisations (55.2% and 48.0%) than in for-profit ones (30.6%). Market-led growth alone won't fix this gap.
The number of active social platforms has the strongest association with an outlet's social-media influence score (Spearman ρ = 0.90). Team size and organisational age matter too.
Real, per-country figures from the Project Oasis dataset — population and GDP per capita are the only two not drawn directly from the report itself (see note below).
Orgs mapped is the number of digital-native organisations identified and contacted in each country (Project Oasis Table 3.1) — the full ~1,100-organisation universe, not just the smaller set that completed the survey. Press freedom rank, for-profit share and women-founder share are also from the Project Oasis 2025 Report itself (RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025 rankings as cited in the report). Population and GDP per capita (nominal, 2026) are from IMF/Worldometers, since the report discusses these only qualitatively. Ghana and South Africa's for-profit shares are reported as a 58–60% range, not an exact figure.
A few illustrative organisations from the full report — chosen to show how differently the same forces (language, platform reach, business model) play out country to country.
Seneweb — founded 1999, one of the earliest digital-natives in the study. 2.6M Facebook followers and 1.9M on Instagram; 35 full-time staff.
El Botola — sports outlet founded 2007 on "0 dirham." Now commands 6.1M Facebook followers covering football across five languages.
Inclusive News Network — hybrid-funded outlet reporting on and for persons with disabilities, blending reader donations, ads and partnerships.
AkwatiaTV publishes primarily in Twi — one of very few indigenous-language digital-natives identified in the entire sample.
The country's non-profit digital-native sector is led largely by women, including Influence Mag, focused on empowering young girls and African women through education.
Until Everyone Is Free — a podcast publishing exclusively in Sheng, a Kiswahili-English blend with no formalised writing system.
Coulibaly Apalo, Sandra Kohet, Mariam Ouattara
Stephen Tindi
Emma Laura Kisa, Rodgers Omondi, Harriet Ogayo, Naomi Wanjiku
Najwa Aboufikr, Fadwa Kamal, Mahmoud Maamar, Ahmed Sguiri
Lukman Abolade, Deborah Dinnah, Gbemisola Esho, Ifunanya Ezugwu, Olwautosin Victory George, Chioma Obinagwam, Akpo Patricia Uyeh
Diop Ababacar, Ibrahima Ndiaye, Mariam Sanogo, Arame Thiam
Zada Hanmer, Penelope Marais, Gloria Motsoere, Dr. Sandra Roberts
Project Oasis 2025 Report (Executive Summary, Methodology, Findings sections) and the CivicSignal/Code for Africa launch brief for Project Oasis. Figures reflect the research draft supplied for this page; recheck against the final published Project Oasis directory before public citation.