Kenyans followed Jesus in 2022... (Photo courtesy TEAMtalk)

It is perhaps of little surprise that in an election year Kenyans turned to the major social media platforms to try and find out what was going on.

“What is opaque?” (remember “opaque”?!) was ninth most searched phrases beginning “What is?” on Google with “What is Form 34?” second on the list of election related search terms and “IEBC portal” the single most searched item on Google.

If It’s Not Politics It’s Sport…

Sport of course dominated the thinking of many Kenyans with the most searched terms being World Cup 2022 Fixtures and AFCON.

Searches for our football heroes also took up five of the top 10 for ‘global personalities’ with, at the top of the list, Brazil’s and Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus being the most searched name.

The other most searched footballers after Jesus were Manchester United’s Casemiro and Argentina’s Lisandro Martinez, Erik ten Hag (Manchester United manager) and Raphinha (Barcelona).

Local Kenyan Content

YouTube registered increased traffic in 2022 but based more on local Kenyan content.

Pastor Ezekiel Odero had a hit with his appearance at Kasarani stadium, his New Life RV Kenya online channel coming second in the list of top 10 creators on YouTube after Thee Pluto Show the ‘entertainment channel’ featuring ‘both honest and cheating couples’.

On TikTok the most watched videos in Kenya were also locally produced with ‘Nyumba imelta shida’ AKA comedian Mulamwah being the most watched.

Something Wrong With Kenyan Music?

When it came to music however, data from Spotify reveals that Kenyan’s listened more to Nigerian, Tanzanian and American artistes rather than home-grown talent.

All of the top 10 most streamed artistes on Spotify were Nigerian and eight of the most streamed in general being American.

Out of the top 10 music videos viewed on YouTube five were Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, The Ben, Marioo, Zuchu and Alikiba.

Even of the four Kenyan artists in the YouTube top 10 two were the product of collaborations with Tanzanians. Willy Paul’s Toto and Kishash by Ndovu Kuu were the only two solely Kenyan songs/artistes to make it into the top 10.

YouTube’s most watched video was Calm Down by Rema.

On TikTok Kenyan content did somewhat better however, with Michael Bundi, Willy Paul, Wahu Kagwi and Guardian Angel making it into the top 10 most watched artistes in Kenya.