Like almost every corner of the world the most visited website in Iran is Google followed by the locally- developed video-sharing platform Aparat and Iranian online marketplace Digikala, Alexa ranking report shows.
American web traffic analysis company Alexa Internet has released its survey on the most visited website around the globe in 2018 on its website alexa.com.
It needs mention that many popular online services are banned in Iran and people use proxy and VPN services when necessary. As such, giants like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter do not appear on Alexa’s list of the most visited websites in the country.
The globally acclaimed search engine google.com was the most visited website in Iran in the past year. In Alexa’s global ranking, Google occupies the top rank.
#Aparat
The second most visited website in Iran – a sort of cloned version of YouTube. Users can watch a wide range of videos on the locally developed platform from Iran-made soap operas and standup comedy shows to movies and news.
#Digikala
Online marketplace Digikala comes in third. Similar to online retailers in the world, one can get anything and everything via Digikala, from home appliances, laptops, clothing and more. Established in 2007, Digikala rose to prominence in less than a decade.
#Namnak
E-magazine namnak.com landed in the fourth place. Namnak is a yellow press outlet publishing a hodgepodge of articles on how to improve marital life along with market analysis and political developments.
#Varzesh3
Namnak is followed by varzesh3.com which is one of the oldest and most popular sports news sites in the nation of 82 million people
Instagram has the sixth top position and is the only international social media platform not blocked by the local authorities. In January “Instagram’s expected ban” became a hot topic in the country with most news outlets publishing reports and speculations about the possible state move. For now at least the threat has disappeared. More than 24 million Iranians use Instagram.
#Wikipedia
The multilingual free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is the seventh most popular website among Iranians. It is the largest and most popular general reference source on the World Wide Web and is one of the top 10 popular websites in Alexa’s global ranking.
#Shaparak
In eighth place is shaparak.com, the website of Iran’s supervisory organization in charge of the payment network and affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran. Most people use the website to pay for online purchases. The website has a well-designed user-interface and takes pride in a stellar performance.
#Telewebion
Local video streaming service telewebion.com is in ninth place. The service streams material produced by the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Telewebion Visitors also can watch the TV programs live as they are broadcasted by IRIB.
#Divar
Iranian e-commerce website divar.com, providing consumer-to-consumer sales and exchange is tenth. People find ads for electronics to real estate services on Divar.
Some Statistics
It could help to take a look at how Iranians are connected to the Internet and the quality of the services they use.
Iran’s total population is estimated at 82.4 million with almost 70% living in urban areas. It has 72.94 million Internet users and Internet penetration is 89%.
The number of Iranian Internet users shot up by 29% in 2018. In other words, 16 million people got connected to the web for the first time last year.
An estimated 123.7 million SIM cards have been sold in the country. The number of active mobile SIMs registered a 3 million (2.4%) Y/Y increase.
Average mobile Internet speed was 30.58 Mbps in 2018, 75% higher than a year earlier, while average fixed Internet speed was 12.82 Mbps indicating a 36% improvement.
Close to 74% of the mobile subscribers use pre-paid services and 26% post-paid. Over 59% of the mobile SIMs support broadband Internet (3G and/or 4G).
