52.3 million smartphones: Kenya's screen is now video-first

By the end of June 2026, 52.3 million smartphones were connected to Kenya's mobile networks, according to Communications Authority figures reported by Citizen Digital. Device counts are not the same as people, because many Kenyans carry more than one phone or SIM, but the direction is unmistakable: the smartphone has become the main screen for most of the country.

That has consequences for how businesses reach customers.

From text to video

The feature phone era rewarded text: SMS offers, USSD menus, a short line on a radio jingle. The smartphone era rewards pictures and, above all, video. Short-form video is widely described as the most consumed content format on Kenyan phones, and the platforms people spend time on, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook and WhatsApp Status, are built around it.

For a business, that means a poster with text is no longer enough to stop a thumb. A five-second clip with movement and sound usually does better.

Vertical is the default

On a phone, vertical video fills the screen. Wide video shows up as a thin strip. If most of your audience is on phones, make vertical (9:16) your default and adapt from there. Choosing the right shape for each platform.

Data costs still matter

More smartphones does not mean unlimited data. Many Kenyans buy small bundles and watch carefully. Short clips are cheaper to watch than long ones, and they are more likely to be finished. Keep ads short: 10 to 20 seconds covers most needs.

The production gap

The challenge for small businesses has been producing video at all. A professional shoot for every offer, product or season is out of reach for most. This is the gap AI video closes.

With Tari Studio, you describe the ad in plain words, attach photos of your product or shop if you have them, and get a quote showing the length, shape and credit cost before anything is made. The AK1 and AK2 models were tuned so African scenes, people, languages and accents come out right. Clips are 2 to 30 seconds with sound, in vertical, square or wide shapes. How the Studio works.

Speak the way phones are used

Kenyans on phones switch languages constantly. Switch every spoken line and caption to English as Kenyans speak it, Kiswahili or the mix. Ads in your customers' languages.

Close the loop on the same phone

The same phone that shows the ad also sends the WhatsApp message and pays by M-Pesa. Put a tracked WhatsApp link on every post, and the journey from ad to conversation to payment happens on one screen. WhatsApp and leads.

52.3 million screens is a big audience. The businesses that win it will be the ones that show up on those screens in the format people actually watch.