A short report on how different social economic classes consume media via mobile internet in Nigeria.

1. Nigeria: An analysis of the Mobile Behavior
of Social Economic Classes
This report is part of Terragon Group’s series of Mobile Insight’s report
December 2014

2. Content
I. Objectives and Methodology
II. Overall Findings
III. Detailed Findings
Mobile – The Pervasive Medium
Mobile – The highway to media consumption
Mobile as an Empowerment tool
IV. Recommendations
V. Conclusion

3. Objectives and Methodology
Mobile internet usage is growing everyday. Tons on data are being consumed by Nigerian
netizens. We know that as data and devices becomes cheaper, mobile internet penetration will
continue to rise, making access to the internet more seamless. But what class of the Nigerian
internet population is consuming what type of media? How are the lives of the different economic
classes impacted by the mobile web?
We surveyed over 15,00 mobile users across the
country from different social classes to understand
how they access the web and engage with the
mobile internet. We also worked to find out if there
is a relationship with the social class and mobile
internet usage. i.e. if the social class of an internet
user falls into impacts the way he uses the mobile
internet.
This report seeks to :
•Uncover perceptions and preferences of
different social classes
• Find behavioral patterns of each social
class
• Evaluate assumptions
• Assess the impact of mobile device and
mobile internet on the lives of the mobile
users
To gather our primary data, in-depth questions about mobile and mobile internet usage were sent out to
mobile users over the internet on different mobile websites

4. Overall Findings
• Mobile devices are essential in the lives of all
consumers in every social class. Over all, 85% of
the respondents said their mobile devices are
always with them while 82% said their mobile
devices are always on
• Always on but not always connected. Only 57% of
respondents said their phones are always
connected to the internet, while 35% said they are
sometimes connected to the internet
• A relationship exists between social class levels
and frequency of mobile data
renewal/subscription. The higher a mobile user is
in the social economic classification, the less
frequent he subscribes to the mobile internet and
vice versa.
• Mobile internet is mostly used in the morning.
• Response and Reaction on mobile devices are
instanteaneous. 58% of respondents agree that
they check their phones immediately a message
email comes in while 28% strongly agree.
• The middle social economic class are the major
drivers of m-educations and m-employment.
While a lot of m-business and m-commerce
activities are going on in the upper and lower
social middle class
• News, Entertainment & People are the most
searched categories.
Mobile devices have continued to revolutionize daily activities and how people perform
them. The mobile internet is becoming more than an access to the virtual world. It has
become a tool for empowering mobile users and making lives easier.

5. Detailed Findings
Here, we present detailed information gathered from the survey deployed to paint a picture of
mobile behavior for each social class.
For the purpose of this report, we have defined the different social economic classes using two variables –
Personal Disposable income and Educational qualification and Employment Status.
The different social classes have been defined as follows:
(‘000 ₦)
No Education
Primary
Education
Secondary
Education
Some
College
But not
Graduate
Graduate Post Graduate
Above 400
High Income earners B1 B1 B1 B1 A1 A1
250-400
High- Middle Income earners C C B2 B1 A2 A2
150-250
Lower-Middles income
earners
D D C B1 B1 A2
60-150 Working Class D D C B2 B1 B1
10-60 Working Class Poor E2 E1 D C B2 B2
Below 10 Under-Class E2 E2 E1 D D D

6. Mobile – The pervasive Medium
This sections looks at how each social class is connected to the internet, the frequency of
connection, how often connection is renewed and how much is paid for each renewal. It also
looks at how the different social classes engage with the mobile device at each time of the day, in
comparison with other devices – Desktops/Laptop and Tablets.
Always On . . Always Connected
Is your phone always on? Is your phone always with you Is your phone always connected to the internet?
The mobile phone is an extension of the self. In all
social classes, majority affirmed that their mobile
devices are always on and always with them.
However, there is a noticeable shift in the frequency
of which mobile devices are always connected to the
internet. Even though majority of the respondents
affirmed to always be connected to the internet, the
percentage is not commiserate to the frequency of
when their mobile device is always with them or
always on. Mobile users in the upper social classes
A1, A2,B1, & B2 are more connected to the interne
than any other social class
Percentage of respondents who answered yes to these Question

7. There is a noticeable trend in the frequency at
which different social classes renew their
internet data, as well as how much it spend in
each renewal. Respondents in the higher social
classes, with higher disposable income tend to
renew their mobile data less frequently than
respondents in the lower social classes.
Consequently, the amount spent on each
renewal varies with social classes. Respondents
in higher classes spend more money on data
renewal than respondents in lower classes. The
trend lines depicts that the higher a consumer us
on the social class, the higher the amount he
spends on the mobile data and the less frequent
he renews the data.
Frequency of Data Subscription/Renewal Amount Spent on each subscription (₦)
The Relationship Between Data and Income

8. Looking at the data gathered, there is a
clear line in what is preferred and what is
being used, in terms of access to the
internet. Majority of respondents in all
the social classes reported the mobile
phones is their primarily access to the
internet, although we see the higher social
classes, A1, A2,B1,B2, having high
percentage of Desktop and Tablet to
access the internet.
However, a noticeable difference is the
preferred device for internet access, in all
the social classes, the share of desktop and
Tablet rose up as the preferred device to
access the internet, with desktop account
for more of the share.
56.34%
69.09%
83.60%
88.04%
91.61% 94.02% 96.25% 93.89%
A1 A2 B1 B2 C D E1 E2
Primary Access to the internet
31.43%
45.87%
57.66%
54.33%
25.64%
63.05% 65.60%
83.21%
A1 A2 B1 B2 C D E1 E2
Desktop Phone Tablet
Preferred Access to the Internet
Mobile as a medium to the internet:
Choice or Necessity?

9. When comparing internet access by
devices at different times of the day, it was
noted that respondents, in all social classes
access the internet via mobile mostly in
the morning. Internet access via mobile
drops by afternoon, and desktop usage
pick up. Although, mobile access picks up
again in the evening, but usage is not as
much as it was in the morning, meanwhile
table access is highest in the evening for all
social classes.
Morning Night Evening/Night
Percentage of Respondents who selected Mobile as major medium of internet access
Mobile Internet: For the MAN? – Morning
Afternoon, Night.

10. Mobile – The Highway to Media Consumption
Content Drives internet usage. With mobile devices, Nigerians are consuming media more than
ever, with petabytes of data being downloaded and uploaded daily. This section discusses content
upload and Download, and which social classes are driving the delivery of content on the internet.
Multimedia
28.38%
40.78%
38.99%
36.47%
40.22%
37.13%
34.98%
41.41%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone to watch videos
on the internet
44.59%
54.55%
51.30%
58.84%
64.44%
62.61%
60.73%
53.54%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone to upload
pictures to the internet
33.78%
31.78%
24.25%
39.21%
40.28%
38.53%
36.43%
40.63%
A…
A…
B…
B…
C
D
E…
E…
I used my phone to Upload Videos on
the internet
Percentage of Respondents who answered ‘Agreed’ to the Questions
Clearly, Pictures are the most uploaded contents on
the internet driven, chiefly, by social media.
Respondents in the Lower social classes are driving
uploads of media, although when compared with
the higher social classes, the difference s not so
significant.

11. Mobile as an Empowerment Tool
This section discusses how different social classes are using mobile to invest in themselves as well
as make their lives easier. Here, we looking into what social classes are driving M-education, M-
commerce, mobile money and M-business.
M-Education & M-Employment
20.27%
28.70%
35.46%
47.30%
48.24%
47.04%
41.06%
45.16%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone to search for Job opportunities
48.65%
57.14%
53.76%
57.45%
60.64%
57.73%
59.20%
50.40%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone to Look up/Study educational
materials
Percentage of Respondents who answered ‘Agreed’ to the Questions
Sourcing for educational materials has never being
easier. Finding a job as never been closer to the finger
tips. Mobile internet has proven to be an
empowerment tool proving access to a pool of
information for the mobile user. From the data
gathered. The middle class is the class who are looking
for advancements, both intellectually . Social class
B2,C& D are the largest drivers of M-education, and m-
employment.

12. M-commerce & M-Business
Mobile devices have been the largest driver of
ecommerce and online businesses in Nigeria. More
people are making purchases and transacting
businesses online via their mobile devices.
Although, among all online activities, m-commerce has
one of the lowest adoption rate. Reasons range from
lack of trust for the online retailer, to fear of using card
details online. However, in the last 2 years, we have
seen a shift in consumer behavior with the inflow of
marketplaces.
Nigerian netizens are now opened to transacting
business with one another. Online retailers have now
opened they shops to 3rd party retailers to create a one-
stop centre for all kinds of transactions – B2B, B2C, &
C2C. The mobile device had largely driven this trend.
28.77%
42.73%
40.00%
42.09%
42.96%
39.24%
31.94%
42.74%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone for Business
31.08%
31.82%
30.22%
29.01%
29.79%
27.37%
26.58%
36.00%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
I use my phone to buy things online
Percentage of Respondents who answered ‘Agreed’ to the Questions
The chart shows that the Upper and lower social classes are
the drivers of M-commerce. Where uppers class may
engage in B2C transactions, the lower class E2 are engaging
in C2C transactions. M-business is being driven largely by
the middle class as well as the lower class. We see the lower
class E2 also leading in m-business. We can safely conclude
that while the middle class have desire to empower
themselves by getting better jobs or educating themselves,
The lower and upper classes have the desire to invest
financially in their lives.

13. Although, Mobile money was introduced to cater for
the unbanked population, majority of mobile money
users have bank accounts. Generally, adoption has
been very low. A major reason is lack of education. A
lot of Nigerians do not know what mobile money is
about and its importance.
Other reasons are concern around security and
reliability as well as lack of need for the money. The
most successful part of mobile money has been the
internet banking, which is being promoted by retail
banks. People are able to send money using the
internet banking application on their mobile devices.
Even with this, there are still concerns around the
security in entering account information on the mobile
devices which could be stolen and hacked into.
From the charts, it can be seen that the lower social
classes E2,E1, D are the major users of mobile money.,
while the upper social classes have been slow to adopt
the service.
27.40%
20.37%
34.72%
27.27%
33.04%
32.80%
31.79%
39.52%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
Send Money
28.38%
33.33%
32.04%
36.83%
38.19%
38.33%
36.26%
35.43%
A1
A2
B1
B2
C
D
E1
E2
Receive Money
Percentage of Respondents who answered ‘Agreed’ to the Questions
Mobile Money

14. Recommendations
• When working on digital strategies, start with a
‘Mobile-first’ approach. In every social class,
mobile devices were the primary access to the
internet. Hence, consumer will, largely, be
engaging with brands on the mobile device first.
Optimize every digital strategy for mobile before
any other device.
• Personalize strategy for different social classes in
your customer segments. Define the social class
you want reach, and work out strategies that will
be most beneficial for the social class. For
example, might be better for a brand to create
engagement around photo uploads rather than
video uploads. Another strategy could be to create
a mobile technology that animates pictures and
turns them into a video e.g. The Facebook Thank
You videos.
• Mobile is more than a communicating device.
Create strategies that also promotes
empowerment for your audience. Strategies
around giving your audience vital and novel
information promotes brand loyalty, affinity and
trust.
• Ensure to cater for different devices, especially if
the Higher social classes are your audience. These
classes are multi device users who have moving
from one scree to another. Ensure that digital
strategies are optimized for different viewing
environments
• Brands should start considering partnering with
ecommerce businesses or create digital platforms
that will enable their audience have access to their
products and services faster. Although, this is
happening in the service sector, the product
sectors are yet to catch on
• Email and messages are opened immediately, but
many are quickly forgotten. Use this wisely.
All graphs and opinions considered, if you are a brand looking to build a powerful digital and mobile strategy,
there is no better place to start than consumer data. These recommendations can help you apply the findings
we discovered in the SEC Mobile behavior report.

15. Conclusion
Different social classes are using the internet for different activities. Its is important for a brand to
know what social class its consumers fall under so as to adequately come up with digital
strategies that are engaging and relevant enough for them. When engagement is done on terms
the consumers find useful and relevant, capitalizing on the mobile device.

16. Terragon Group is a digital media company focused on Africa and operating from key
markets – Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and India.
Made up of three independent but complimentary business units that focus on
different aspects of digital media, the group has over the years, built strong
competences across the digital ecosystem comprising mobile, online and content.
For more information on TERRAGON INSIGHTS 2014, email Eniola on
emoronfolu@twinpinenetwork.com
If you’d like to chat with us on how we can help you, email info@terragonltd.com or
info@twinpinenetwork.com
Find out more at:
www.terragonltd.com
www.twinpinenetwork.com