Internet affordability, others top peer-to-peer content sharing landscape

The global shift to ‘new normal’ following the global pandemic, has affected billions of lives globally.
 
According to file-sharing app, Sharelite the first notable shift was in lifestyle as families, corporate organisations, were confined, everyone had to embrace the Internet culture and resort to living digitally. This altered the way information was shared, files/documents were distributed and entertainment was achieved.
 
In recent times, content consumption has evolved from what it used to be. A report by data-marketing tech company, Teragon Group indicates that 65 per cent of Internet users in Nigeria now prefer to watch online videos, compared to texts and other forms of content. Overtime, this has increased the rate of digital entertainment and video content sharing among families, friends and larger peer networks; to date it remains a continuous trend in human life.
 
Given the existing trends, 2022 will see an uptick in video content sharing as consumer preference will largely remain for videos. Not to mention that companies are also doubling down on video content for their marketing goals and to establish a better rapport with target demographics.

Most importantly, apps like ShareitLite will magnify that very basic social habit of sharing among peers offline.
 
Globally, conversations are being held to ensure internet affordability in nations across the world.  In recent times however, the move for internet affordability has expanded beyond advocacy to deliberate initiatives and actions being taken by individuals, corporations and the Nigerian government to ensure more citizens aren’t deprived of internet possibilities due to data challenges.
 
Nigeria is said to have one of the most affordable internet plans. Although many people still fall below the red line on a scale of internet affordability, according to the Alliance For Affordable Internet (A4AI ), the trends are changing. Its latest report in 2021 shows Nigeria ranking fourth in Africa and 19th globally on internet affordability.
 
Similarly in 2021, Nigeria’s data usage surged by 202 per cent compared to three years before. The implication is reflective in users’ digital behaviour. Globally, as infrastructure improves, data consumption increases subsequently. Same is seen in the Nigerian market where internet users are now installing more apps, playing more games, and sharing more files as a result of improved data and internet infrastructure. In Nigeria, users are particularly surging towards applications with faster speed without mobile data consumption such as Sharelite.
 
There is also smartphone broadband penetration. In 2018, Pew Research released a study showing that smartphone adoption in Nigeria is at 32 per cent compared to counterparts like South Africa, Ghana and Senegal, which stood at 54 per cent, 34 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. Although this data largely reflects a slow uptake in smartphone penetration, the bright picture is painted through Data Reportal’s analysis, which reflects that over 90 per cent of users access the internet through mobile devices.
 
Despite the lag when compared to other sub-Saharan African countries, Smartphone and broadband penetration adoption in Nigeria continues to experience significant growth.