Mdundo reaches 24.5 million active users in Q3

Mdundo has now increased MAUs expectations from 25 million to 26 million by June 2023. The company previously announced it aimed to hit 50 million MAUs by June 2025.

The country with the most MAUs was Nigeria with 8.3 million, followed by Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

The service said in its Q3 report that it had also recorded growth in podcast consumption at the end of the quarter with downloads – including comedy, poetry, religion, short stories and football-themed shows – accounting for 2% of consumption.

One of the most popular shows created by Mdundo, which provides insights into the meaning of popular African songs, enjoys approximately 90 000 monthly listeners. Another Mdundo-created show, Soccer Pundits, has 26 000 monthly listeners.

There was also a strong focus on Mdundo DJ Mixes, a premium service that gives customers exclusive access to new DJ mixes every day for a daily subscription fee. The service is available to 185 million customers in partnership with leading telcos in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa.

Throughout Q3, Mdundo launched engagements with the DJ community to further increase awareness and improve content for its paid service. Mdundo hosted a workshop for aspiring DJs and playlist curators in Tanzania and has kicked off the latest edition of the Mdundo DJ Battle, which will run until May.

The report also highlighted a steep growth in revenue – $942 000 or a 161% increase from the previous year. It also registered a significant increase in revenue from paid users as a result of telco partnerships in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa.

Despite reporting a steep increase in revenue from its paid service, accounting for 33% of revenue for the third quarter of 2022-23, the majority of Mdundo users are using the ad-supported free tier.

Major brands from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria – including Serengeti Breweries, Kenya Breweries, SportPesa, Wrigley, Nivea, Nestle and Guinness Nigeria – ran ad campaigns on Mdundo.com within the quarter. The company also conducted a seminar on women in music together with Serengeti Breweries, the company’s long-time partner in Tanzania.