The Internet

For the first time, the Israel Internet Association unveils an index of Internet use in Israel

The Israeli Internet Index provides a comprehensive map of Internet infrastructures in Israel, Israeli media consumption preferences and web use habits. It summarizes Internet use in Israel in 2022, based on periodical measurements throughout the year, as well as an exhaustive survey from the beginning of 2023, conducted by the research institution Maagar Mochot. The report provides an up-to-date, detailed picture of the Israeli Internet, in terms of infrastructure and performance, websites, use and consumption habits for online services such as social media, apps and streaming.

In the social media field, YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook maintain dominance, with over 90% of the Israeli public using each of them, there is a significant jump in popularity of TikTok, which about half of the Israeli public attested to using in the beginning of 2023, versus about 30% in the beginning of 2022. Also at the top of the table: Instagram with 70%, Telegram with 54%, and Twitter with 35%.

The international sites with the most hits by Israelis (using a browser on their computer and mobile phones) includes: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, a site with content for adults only, and Zoom.

The majority of the Israeli public uses various online streaming services such as Netflix, Spotify and more. This is true both of non-urban and urban areas as well as the national-religious and secular publics. Sixty percent of Israelis use Netflix, 10% Disney+, 5% Apple TV, 3% Amazon Premium and 1% Discovery Plus. In music services, Spotify leads with 35%, followed by Apple Music with 8% and Deezer with just 1%.

Among the online television content suppliers: Hot leads with 20%, followed by Yes with 14%, and Partner and Cellcom with 11% each.

The Internet supplier market in Israel is controlled mostly by the four major communications groups, while as of the beginning of 2023, the Bezeq-Pelephone Group commands the largest market share - approx. 28% of online traffic in Israel (wired + mobile) - followed by the Partner Group with 23%, Cellcom with 19%, and the Hot Group with 14%. The remainder of Israeli online traffic is divided between a large number of small Internet providers such as Mirs, 019, Xfone and more.

In terms of Internet infrastructures, it was found that as of the beginning of 2023, about 35% of Israeli households have Internet at home using a wired optic fiber connection, and the rest use outdated DSL technology (27% of Israeli households) and cable technology (about 21% of households). Israel ranks low in the scope of actual consumption of advanced wired Internet infrastructures, whereas in most OECD countries the actual scope of fiber optic infrastructures over the past few years has exceeded 40% of households. However, Israel ranks high in the scope of availability of 4G cellular Internet technology, as the companies Cellcom, Hot, Partner and Pelephone are available over 95% of the time.

Internet use and work among Israelis is divided equally between computers (desktop and laptop) and cellular devices (tablets and cell phones). The leading browser in Israel by far in the scope of its use is Chrome, with about 70% (wired + cellular). Other browsers are used by tiny percentages, the highest of which is Safari IOS with 8.8% use.

The report even examined how youths behave on the web. The data show that 49% of youths spend more than four hours a day in front of the screen, and a third of all young people stated that their screen time even exceeds six hours a day. The content they consume most was music and videos (70% responded this is their main online activity), and the second most highly-used activity was social networks (58%). The network they could not do without was Instagram first and foremost (41% of all respondents). In addition, about half of the young people testified that their parents do not talk to them at all, or rarely, about the risks inherent in the web.

About six months ago, the sphere of Hebrew web addresses was born, with the new country domain suffix "ישראל.". Shortly after the launch, approx. 21,600 domain names were added, registered entirely in Hebrew online. The most in-demand domain name in Hebrew that Israelis requested to register was גוגל [Google], followed by the word ישראל [Israel]. The word כסף [money / silver] was the tenth most in-demand word. As of the beginning of 2023, more than 283,000 domain names were registered in the il sphere.

To view the complete data: data.isoc.org.il