Digital media

Digital/online media is still a new phenomenon in Afghanistan, even newer than in other parts of the world. It is a new market, and according to the Afghan Ministry of Communication and IT, almost 9 million people have access to Internet. This access is possible either through direct connection to Internet or through mobile phones.

Culturally Afghans are used to having a physical medium for their connections, but the culture of Internet usage is increasing day by day. First hand news are available online. News agencies are using online tools for their news dissemination system. Even if those who use Internet potentially would be able to afford online news subscription fees, this is not happening except in small percentages. Free news websites are the most used. BBC Persian and Pashto websites are the most popular ones and almost everyone who is connected to the Internet uses either one of them. Almost all mainstream media have their websites, which are a tool for free news. International and national mainstream media that broadcast in the main two languages, Persian (Dari) and Pashto, also own the most viewed web pages in the country.

There are few radios and tv stations broadcasting online. Especially famous media outlets are using the online system.

Multimedia content is highlighted in the digital media world, giving audiences the possibility to consume text, audio, video and digital data at the same time. Thus, this has promoted the online media market to a very big extent.

Afghanistan has experienced a revolution in digital and online media. Looking back to 2003 , there were no more than 100 Internet connections in the entire country, a number which nowadays has raised to more than 9 million.