The 2026 edition of RANKED, widely regarded as Africa’s leading report on digital news media performance, is set to be unveiled on April 23, 2026, at Amber Residence in Ikeja, Lagos, bringing together key stakeholders in journalism, public relations, and strategic communications.
Published by SquirrelPR and organised by Squirrel Media Technologies in partnership with KT Communication, the annual report has steadily grown into a critical benchmark for assessing media visibility, audience behaviour, and influence across the African continent.
This year’s edition delivers its most expansive analysis yet, covering 13 countries across Anglophone and Francophone Africa, a development that underscores the increasing complexity and diversity of the continent’s media ecosystem. One of the report’s most striking findings is a noticeable decline in readership traffic across all markets surveyed, a trend that reflects changing audience habits and the growing fragmentation in how digital content is accessed and consumed across platforms.
Despite the drop in traffic figures, the report reveals a simultaneous rise in media influence, pointing to a shift in emphasis from sheer audience numbers to more nuanced indicators such as credibility, authority, and trust.
To deepen this perspective, the 2026 edition introduces enhanced performance metrics including local and foreign audience traffic distribution, domain authority rankings, and sector-based audience growth patterns, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how influence is built and sustained within Africa’s evolving digital landscape.
Speaking ahead of the launch, James Ezechukwu, co-founder of SquirrelPR, described the report as an indispensable resource for professionals navigating the changing media terrain, noting that it provides clarity in an era where traditional metrics are increasingly insufficient.
The launch event will also feature a high-level panel session with industry leaders including Muyiwa Matuluka, Rasheed Bolarinwa, Damilola Bright-Ukwenga, and Olufemi Ajasa, who will examine the theme, “The Reality of Digital Media Performance in Africa: Navigating the Future Through Data and Tools,” while also witnessing the unveiling of new PR and communications solutions designed to equip practitioners with advanced tools for a rapidly transforming media environment.