AI platform targets Africa's fragmented advertising market

An AI-powered advertising platform aims to help advertisers manage campaigns across multiple channels through a single integrated system across Africa

An artificial intelligence-powered platform aims to tackle Africa's fragmented advertising market by bringing campaign management across multiple channels into one system.

The platform seeks to help advertisers, agencies, publishers and media owners manage media buying, audience insights, campaign monitoring, creative management and reporting from a single dashboard instead of using multiple disconnected tools.

"Advertising in Africa requires a different approach. Consumer behaviour, channel preferences and media consumption patterns differ across markets. Our goal is to build infrastructure that reflects those realities while helping brands achieve greater visibility, efficiency and performance," said Dennis Maina.

The platform also integrates programmatic advertising, conversational commerce, digital out-of-home advertising, connected television, social media marketing and artificial intelligence, allowing advertisers to coordinate campaigns across digital and physical channels through one system.

It includes artificial intelligence tools that monitor campaign performance in real time, analyse audience behaviour, detect advertisement fatigue, recommend creative changes and help marketers adjust campaigns while they are still running.

The system also supports customer engagement through WhatsApp, short message service (SMS) marketing and chatbot automation. It incorporates programmatic digital out-of-home advertising and connected television as media consumption shifts towards mobile devices, streaming services and digital screens.

The initiative comes from Nairobi-based advertising technology company Suss Ads, which says it has spent the past five years developing advertising infrastructure designed for African markets rather than adapting systems built elsewhere.

"We were never interested in building just another advertising agency. We wanted to build the underlying infrastructure powering how advertising is planned, purchased, delivered and measured across Africa. Nairobi is not Lagos, and Johannesburg is not Lusaka. Our solutions must reflect those realities," explained Maina, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Suss Ads.

Dennis Maina, Suss Ads CEO. 

The launch comes as digital adoption continues to reshape advertising across Africa.

According to the Communications Authority of Kenya, the country had 58.5 million mobile data subscriptions by June 2025, with 78.2 per cent connected through mobile broadband. Active mobile money subscriptions reached 47.6 million during the same period, reflecting growing demand for digital services.

The platform also includes an integrated creative studio for managing content production, approvals and deployment across multiple channels. It supports publishers, media owners, outdoor advertising operators and other partners through a self-service ecosystem.