Internet12.12.2023

Google reveals South Africa’s biggest searches of 2023 — including a new DStv product

Google has announced its 2023 Year In Search trends for South Africa, revealing the most searched terms, people, topics, questions, and events for the past 12 months.

Data from the world’s biggest search engine showed that South Africans had a heightened interest in celebrities, sporting events, special observed days, notable recently-deceased personalities, and technology.

Unsurprisingly, topping the search results in the technology category was OpenAI’s highly popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

The second most-searched phrase in technology was “DStv Stream”, MultiChoice’s streaming-only product.

DStv Stream was launched in July 2023 as a rebranding of the company’s streaming services, with a handful of new features.

A major addition to the service came in August 2023, when MultiChoice reintroduced the ability to watch on two simultaneous online streams.

The next most popular technology search after DStv Stream was the “iPhone 15”, Apple’s newest flagship smartphone, and “Google’s 25th Birthday” as the third and fourth most popular searches.

The fifth-most popular tech-related search was for the “Titanic submarine”, referring to the OceanGate Titan submersible that disappeared and was subsequently discovered to have imploded on a journey to the wreck of the Titanic.

The OceanGate submarine before its implosion in June 2023.

Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S23 and budget-oriented Galaxy A14 also saw a large number of searches in the tech category.

The most searched-for app was GBWhatsApp, an unofficial version of WhatsApp with additional features that circumvent WhatsApp’s privacy-related functions like view-once and self-deleting text and images.

Like other third-party apps not distributed on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, GBWhatsApp poses a serious security risk to users.

WhatsApp actively bans users in cases where it becomes aware that they are using unofficial third-party apps to access its service.

WhatsApp parent Meta Platforms might also not be happy with GBWhatsApp pipping its newly-launched Twitter/X rival Threads for the 8th spot.

Below are the top 9 most-searched items in the technology category.

ChatGPT
DStv Stream
iPhone 15
Google’s 25th Birthday
Titanic submarine
Samsung 23
Samsung A14
WhatsappGB
Threads

Another interesting category was the most searched-for movies and TV shows.

Box-office dominator Barbie also led South Africa’s most searched movies and TV shows, followed by Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed biographical thriller Oppenheimer, and Showmax Original series Shaka Ilembe.

Regarding celebrities and other well-known people, recaptured serial killer Thabo Bester was at the top of the list.

Among celebrities and media personalities who passed away in 2023, rapper, producer and businessman Kiernan Forbes, also known as AKA, topped the search list.

Forbes was shot to death outside a restaurant in Durban in what appeared to be a planned hit job in February 2023.

Another South African rapper — Costantinos Tsobanoglou, better known as Costa Titch — was the second most searched individual in this category.

Springboks dominate most-searched athletes list

In terms of sporting events, the Cricket and Rugby World Cups were top of the rankings for South African searchers, while the Springboks dominated the list of most-searched athletes.

Aside from the Springboks at #1 on the most-searched athletes list, the players themselves accounted for ranking #2 to #8.

The most popular of the bunch was captain Siya Kolisi, followed by Bongi Mbonambi, likely due to the controversy surrounding the “wit/wyd kant” incident.

Google also shared the most searched questions asked by South Africans.

Aside from wanting to know the dates of various important days and events, South Africans also wanted to know, “How is poetry different to other writing genres?” and “How are mumps spread?”.

But the most important question of all for South African Google Search users in 2023 was, “How is Celine Dion doing?”.

The celebrated singer was diagnosed with “Stiff-Person” syndrome towards the end of last year and is also famous for singing the main theme song of Titanic, which saw a resurgence in popularity after the Titan submarine disaster.

Below are the full lists of top trending Google searches by South Africans in 2023.