Rascasse Audience Intelligence

The Sowetan Audience in South Africa

A data profile of the people who buy, follow and care about The Sowetan in South Africa — modelled from more than twelve digital signal sources. The Sowetan has an estimated audience of 1,122,456 people in South Africa.

#4among Newspaper in South Africa
#29among Website / Newspaper / Magazine in South Africa
#7in News

The Sowetan has an estimated audience of 1,122,456 people in South Africa. 52.2% are female, 47.8% are male, average age 37.3. Top brand affinities: Family car, City car, High-net-worth individual, Innovation, Bedroom furniture.

Top brand affinities include Family car, City car, High-net-worth individual, with strongest over-indexing on Family car (1.71× the country average).

Demographically, the The Sowetan audience skews balanced with an average age of 37.3, and over-indexes on personality traits such as Quality Awareness, Career Orientation.

The typical The Sowetan fan in South Africa is balanced, around 37.3 years old, with strong Quality Awareness tendencies and a notable affinity for Family car.

Category: News · Type: Website / Newspaper / Magazine · Subtype: Newspaper

The data on this page comes from the Rascasse audience panel and is refreshed monthly from search, social and browsing signals. As of 2026-08-18.

Section 01

At a glance

The key figures that characterise the The Sowetan profile in South Africa.

Audience size
1.1M
in South Africa
Gender
52.2%
47.8% male
Age
37.3
average years
Country rank
#670
Website / Newspaper / Magazine in South Africa
Fig. 01

Search interest · 12-month trend

-37%
vs. last year
JanMarMayJulSepNov
Monthly searches · Source: Rascasse Audience Intelligence
Section 02

Audience demographics of The Sowetan

52.2% are female, 47.8% are male, average age 37.3.

Fig. 02

Gender split

52.2%
Female
47.8%
Male
Demographic split for The Sowetan audience in South Africa
MetricValue
Female52.2%
Male47.8%
Average age37.3
Estimated audience size1,122,456
Fig. 03

Age distribution

Ø 37.3
average years
Age distribution of the The Sowetan audience in South Africa
Age bracketShare%
16-1923%
20-2925%
30-3918%
40-4911%
50+22%
Fig. 04

Worldwide distribution

79.6%

of the worldwide The Sowetan audience comes from South Africa.

Worldwide audience distribution share by country for The Sowetan
CountryShare
South Africa79.6%
Brazil9.3%
Italy2.9%
Section 04
Brands and entities this audience over-indexes on, vs. the country average.

Audience interests & affinities

The strongest cross-interests of the The Sowetan audience — brands, topics and people combined.

Fig. 07

Top cross-interests, ranked by affinity

Top brand affinities (over-index vs. country average) for The Sowetan audience
#·InterestCategoryAffinity×
01Malt whiskyFood & Beverages2.12×
02Mid-size carCars & Mobility1.98×
03High-net-worth individualBusiness & Career1.93×
04BB creamBeauty & Wellness1.93×
05City carCars & Mobility1.90×
06SmirnoffFood & Beverages1.75×
07Mobile bankingBusiness & Career1.72×
08Family carCars & Mobility1.71×
09ProjectorsTechnology & Electronics1.71×
10Single malt whiskyFood & Beverages1.63×
11Nike+Sports1.63×
12Smart deviceTechnology & Electronics1.58×
13Bedroom furnitureHome & Garden1.57×
14Johnnie WalkerFood & Beverages1.57×
15CitroënCars & Mobility1.55×
16Smoked meatFood & Beverages1.55×
17InnovationBusiness & Career1.52×
18PumaFashion & Accessoires1.51×
19Crystal Palace F.C.Sports1.50×
20Toyota YarisCars & Mobility1.50×
Section 05
Top six personality traits over-indexed by this audience (1.0 = country average).

Personality of the The Sowetan audience

Values above 1.00× are above the country average, values below 1.00× below it.

Fig. 08

Deviation from the national baseline

What stands out
The strongest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by The Sowetan audience · What stands out
TraitClusterDeviationScore
Quality AwarenessPREMIUM1.33×
Career OrientationPOWER1.31×
Convenience OrientationPREMIUM1.18×
1.00× baseline
Rather not
The weakest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by The Sowetan audience · Rather not
TraitClusterDeviationScore
ExtroversionTHRILL0.64×
CreativityOPEN0.83×
MindfulnessBALANCE0.85×
1.00× baseline
Appendix

Explore more audiences

Related profiles, rankings and the same audience in other markets.

How to read this data

Audience size is the estimated number of people in South Africa who actively search for The Sowetan. Affinity is an over-index ratio: 2.0× means the audience is twice as likely to engage with that brand or trait as the country average. Reach is the estimated number of audience members in a region. Regional and brand-affinity tables are sorted from strongest signal to weakest.

About this audience profile

This audience profile is generated by Rascasse from anonymized search-behavior signals across South Africa. For methodology see methodology. Affinity values are over-index ratios vs. the country average (1.0 = baseline). Audience sizes are estimated, not measured.

Scale & coverage
500,000+ ready-to-use audiences across 170+ countries

From global mass-market brands to niche local segments — explore the full library and see which intelligence layers are included.

See pricing →