Internet penetration in Africa is gradually gaining ground and Zimbabwe is no exception. Sub-saharan nations arrived very late to the dot com table (others are still on their way) but as they say it’s better late than never, In Zimbabwe. here are the top 10 websites that were visited by ZImbabweans in Jan 2018:
10. NEWSDAY (News and Media)
Newsday Zimbabwe is a daily Zimbabwean newspaper housed under Alpha Media Holdings (AMH); newsday.co.zw the 10th most visited website in Zimbabwe is the online edition of the daily paper. The news and media site is the first site in our top 10 list. With an average of slightly over 2 million visits and 9 million page views per month, the site is estimated to be worth approx $1.5 million.
Social Media Networks continue to dominate the internet finding their way into the top 10 of most nations. Zimbabweans in particular are very fond of the micro-blogging site and as such the network finds itself in the top 10 once again.
Herald.co.zw the online edition of Zimbabwe’s daily newspaper of the same name presently stands as the 8th most visited site. As at the time of writing, the site nets a little over 2 million visits and 11 million page views a month and is estimated to be worth $2 million.
Instagram is a mobile, desktop. and Internet-based photo-sharing application and service that allows users to share pictures and videos either publicly, or privately to pre-approved followers. The site, which is owned by Facebook seems to be gaining popularity among Zimbabwean internet users who are no strangers to social media.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as most desktop and even mobile web browsers usually have the google site set as their homepage. The local co.zw domain version of the google site comes in as the 4th most visited website.
Facebook, the biggest social network company on earth, also ranks as the top most visited social network site in Zimbabwe, it has for some time now and will probably maintain this position as there’s no site that offers much competition.
Despite the clearly high prices of data in Zimbabwe and the bandwith demands of video streaming, Youtube, the TV/Video website makes it not only in to the top 10 but top 3 visited sites in Zimbabwe. [this is the Hint for the 28 August 2018 Cash Giveaway: I’m a common pet, but a cat I’m not; my name starts with a B] One of the factors that is possibly driving this traffic is the fact that Zim musicians, comedians and content creators are now utilizing the site more, finding expression and monetization through it in ways that they were previously unable to via the national TV broadcaster.
Naturally the global Google website (international domain) is the most frequented website in Zimbabwe, it’s also the most visited site in Nigeria, Kenya, USA and the world with over 40 billion visits per month globally. This is to be expected because most people have it set as their default homepage.
Interesting things I noted:
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Of the 10 websites most visited in Zimbabwe, only 2 are owned by Zimbabweans or Zimbabwean-owned companies.
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Both Zim-owned websites, focus on News and Media i.e. Online news publications are the only locally-owned sites in the top 10
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Other African nations like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya also have locally-owned sites taking only 2 or 3 positions in the top 10.
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The difference though is that in Nigeria those 2 spots go to a shopping site and a sports gambling site, in South Africa one of those spots is taken by a shopping site as well and the second spot is taken by telecom giant Vodacom’s local site. In Kenya 4 of the top 10 sites are locally owned, and they’re in the gambling sector.
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These differences are in some sense differences of online behaviour and perhaps also indicate that either Zimbabweans have low disposable income or have a hard time spending online compared to their African counterparts who shop and bet online.
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