آپارات (Aparat)

RegionIran

Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.

Overview

آپارات (Aparat) is an Iranian video hosting service run by صبا ایده (Saba Idea). The developer's website dates Aparat's launch to Bahman 1389 of the Iranian calendar — which by our conversion is late January and February 2011 (Saba Idea website).

The layout is familiar: channels, long videos, short vertical clips ("Aparat Shorts"), live streams, playlists, subscriptions, comments. The "About" page describes Aparat as the largest video sharing platform in Iran and lists the services built around it: آپارات اسپرت (Aparat Sport, sports broadcasts), آپارات موزیک (Aparat Music), آپارات کودک (Aparat Kids, an ad-free section for children) and آپارات گیم (Aparat Game) (the "About us" page).

The practical difference from global platforms: Aparat has a creator payout system described in detail, with clear thresholds, and at the same time it is entirely embedded in Iranian law — the rules for streams and advertising refer directly to the laws of the Islamic Republic. The interface and all documentation are in Persian; we found no English version of the policy pages.

Who's here

The numbers come from the platform itself; we have no independent measurement.

The "About" page gives three figures: over 74 million monthly active users, over 19.6 billion views in total, and over 197 billion tomans in combined creator earnings "last year" (the "About us" page). The page does not say which year is meant, or the dates as of which the first two figures were counted.

The same platform's advertising page cites a different number: "the most visited video site in Iran, with 60 million users" (the "Advertising on Aparat" page). Aparat nowhere explains this discrepancy within a single site — 74 million against 60 million; it may be a matter of different scopes or different dates, but that does not follow from the source.

Payouts tell a similar story: the monetization page states that "in 1403 Aparat paid content creators more than 198 billion tomans", while the "About" page says "more than 197 billion tomans over the past year". The year 1403 of the Iranian calendar corresponds, by our conversion, to roughly March 2024 through March 2025. The same page lists what individual channels earned over that period: an educational one — 600 million tomans, a gaming one — 550 million, automotive — 440 million, kids — 300 million, technology — 160 million, cooking — 90 million (monetization page). These are top examples rather than typical values: the platform itself labels them as the earnings of several of its best channels.

Language and geography. The interface is Persian; the rules require channels that republish content to keep titles, descriptions and tags in Persian. Payouts go to an Iranian bank account by "sheba" number, and the recipient's personal details must match the account holder (monetization rules) — so the platform is built for residents of Iran.

Getting started

Registration is free and a channel is created straight away. The requirements begin after that — and they are tied to monetization.

The monetization page describes entry into the payout system in three steps: pick a topic for your channel and publish long videos regularly → reach 200 subscribers and 3000 hours of watch time on long videos over 90 days (monetizing short videos requires 5000 hours over 90 days) → submit an application and wait up to 7 business days for a decision (monetization page).

The rules fill in the details. The threshold counts views of your own content: if the required hours were built up through republished material, the application is rejected. If the Aparat team cannot confirm the applicant's identity, it will ask for a verification video. For an individual, the national code, first name and surname must match the holder of the "sheba" account; for a legal entity — the national identifier and the company name. There is no age limit for participation; one person may run two or more monetized channels as long as their content does not overlap (monetization rules).

One quirk of the statistics: watch metrics are counted over a rolling 90-day window — new data is added and old data removed every day, so the "hours watched" figure can fall on its own (monetization page).

What you can publish

Formats: long videos, short vertical clips and live streams. For shorts Aparat sets the frame explicitly: vertical videos between 15 and 60 seconds long (monetization page).

Presentation requirements are covered in the section on metadata. The video thumbnail must have a 16:9 aspect ratio; it must not be shocking, must not insult political figures or ethnic and religious minorities, and must not show something the video does not contain. The title, description, category and tags follow the same rules and must match the content. The profile picture and the channel banner are checked as well, and using someone else's photograph as an avatar is called an offence (metadata and spam rules).

Prohibited content is set out in ten groups: violence and dangerous content; sensitive content; safety issues; abusive content; copyright infringement; invasion of privacy; encouraging imitative and antisocial behaviour; misleading content; metadata and spam; defamation and harassment (community guidelines).

The rules for live streams are stricter. Banned are broadcasts of video games recognised as criminal content or lacking a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and the playback of unlicensed music. Separate clauses prohibit: showing smoking, alcohol and drugs; gambling and betting; terrorism and insults to religious sanctities; spreading false information; acts against national security, including insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic and the supreme leadership; pornography; impersonating another person, including an employee of the company that owns Aparat (live streaming rules).

How to grow

What the platform says about distribution

Aparat does not publish any detailed description of its feed algorithm. Indirectly, the rules show what is taken into account: the thumbnail, title, description, category and tags must match the video, otherwise the content is removed and the channel penalised (monetization rules). For short videos the platform names a separate entry point — the "explore" section in Aparat Shorts (monetization page).

Advertising

Aparat has an advertising dashboard of its own. Two placements are named: the "related videos" block and the top slot in search results and on pages of related hashtags; in both cases a click leads to your video's page inside Aparat. Targeting is possible by keyword, by individual categories, by specific Aparat channels, by telecom network and by device type (mobile, desktop, app). Campaign reports and statistics are available in the dashboard in real time (the "Advertising on Aparat" page).

Requirements for the ad clip: HD quality at minimum, full-screen and horizontal format. Once the wallet has been topped up, the money is not refundable. Advertising tobacco products, betting sites and casinos is prohibited; medicines and supplements — only with permits from the Food and Drug Organization; the clip must not talk about another person or brand (advertising service rules).

The former view-boosting service "Boost" has been closed: a blog announcement on the "About" page dates the shutdown to 21 Tir 1400 (July 2021 by our conversion) and says a new advertising service took its place (the "About us" page).

Path to monetization

This is the platform's strong side: the terms are set out in detail and with numbers.

How income is calculated. The basis is advertising shown on your videos. An impression counts as successful if the ad was watched for more than 6 seconds. The creator receives 50 to 70 % of the advertising profit; the share is reviewed every month and depends on the number of views and on how popular your videos are. On top of the advertising share, Aparat pays extra for the quality and popularity of videos, educational ones in particular (monetization page).

Entry thresholds. 200 subscribers and 3000 hours of views of your own videos over the 3 months preceding the application; review takes up to 7 business days (monetization rules). For monetizing short videos the bar is higher — 5000 hours over 90 days (monetization page).

Withdrawing money. Once a channel's unpaid earnings exceed 5 million tomans, the user may request a settlement at any time; after a check, the money is transferred to the linked bank account within a maximum of 7 business days, with Thursday, Friday and public holidays not counted as business days (monetization rules). The monetization page puts the same thing more loosely: the request can be filed on any day of the month, and the transfer takes up to one working week (monetization page).

What does not count as creating content. The list is strict: merely editing someone else's video; republishing finished clips; adding dubbing or subtitles; a "reaction" — a webcam overlay on someone else's video; game playthroughs and tutorials without the author on screen throughout the clip; any artificial inflation of views and subscribers. For gaming content a person must be visible for the whole video, and masks and virtual characters are not allowed; for educational content the teacher's face or voice must be present, and the video must carry a logo. Views of republished clips are credited only to whoever created the video (monetization page).

Artificial intelligence. The condition for acceptance is the presence of human creative work. Not accepted: ready-made templates, ready-made scripts and pre-generated videos; AI voice-over on top of archive slides and "text to speech" clips; deepfakes. Accepted: AI voice-over of an original script written by a human; AI-generated backgrounds and effects made under human direction as an addition to filming rather than a replacement for it; educational videos with AI narration based on the author's own script; storytelling where AI carries the narration and the plot was created by a human. If the imagery looks realistic enough that a viewer could take it for a real event, the author is obliged to label the use of AI (monetization rules).

How you can lose your income. A channel with no activity for more than 6 months is removed from the payout system at Aparat's decision and without warning. For violations the platform is entitled to exclude you from the system without warning, not to pay out what you have earned, or to withhold part of it at settlement; for repeated violations — to block the account. If membership is cancelled, unpaid earnings are not transferred. Infringing someone else's copyright leads to the return of the income received and a lifetime monetization ban for the channel. New republishing channels are no longer accepted into the system. Finally, the platform reserves the right to shut the monetization service down entirely at any moment — with a promise to pay out what was earned up to the point of shutdown (same source).

Tools and automation

Aparat effectively has no public API documentation. A portal at api.aparat.com exists and greets the developer with a line about finding documentation, best practices, code libraries and open data sets here. But the single "api document" link on that page points to the anchor #, that is, nowhere; the portal has no substantive sections (Aparat documentation portal).

The platform's robots.txt closes service sections to crawlers, including /api, /search and /profile (with an exception for /profile/profile/brand), as well as streaming manifests and /embed/ — while /video/video/embed/ is allowed, so embedding the player is provided for (robots.txt). We respected these restrictions and did not request the content of the closed addresses.

Of the official tools, what works is the advertising dashboard with targeting and real-time statistics (the "Advertising on Aparat" page) and the built-in check of whether a channel meets the monetization requirements — the "check my channel" button (monetization page).

Limits and rules

Legal framework and rights to what you upload. The site is governed by the laws of Iran, with the electronic commerce act named separately: the rules place responsibility for copyright infringement and for any content that contradicts Iranian law on the user, citing article 74 of that act. After upload, the rights to publish, delete and edit a video remain with Aparat, and the rules explicitly call the right to show advertising in uploaded videos a right of the platform (community guidelines).

A channel cannot be deleted. There is no way to delete a channel on Aparat completely; you can change the email address and phone number in profile settings. A channel that has shown no activity at all for 3 years may be blocked and its username handed to another user (same source).

Duplicates count as spam. Publishing identical videos in one or several channels at the same time is prohibited; uploading someone else's videos to a channel they do not belong to leads to the clips being removed and to a temporary upload ban. Oversight of published content and comments rests with the account owner (same source).

Circumventing blocks, inflating metrics, selling accounts. If an account, or the ability to stream or to write comments, has been blocked, attempts to get around the restriction through a new account, a fake identity or someone else's account are prohibited and may lead to a permanent block. The section on spam and fraud lists as separate items: manipulating and artificially inflating metrics such as viewer and subscriber counts; selling or transferring accounts; reselling Aparat's services and features; mass sending of repetitive, unwanted messages and complaints (live streaming rules).

Who it's for

Suitable for creators who work in Persian, live in Iran and can receive a payout to an Iranian bank account. The entry bar is moderate (200 subscribers and 3000 hours over 90 days), the creator's share is stated outright (50–70 %), the withdrawal threshold is 5 million tomans, and the timeframes are given (monetization page, monetization rules). Educational channels have a separate advantage: the platform promises them a bonus on top of the advertising share. Suitable for Iranian businesses running video advertising targeted at specific channels and categories (the "Advertising on Aparat" page).

Not suitable for those who republish other people's work: new republishing channels are no longer accepted into the payout system. Not suitable for automation: there is no working public API documentation. Not suitable for an international audience, or for creators without an Iranian bank account. Not suitable for topics sensitive to Iranian regulation: the list of bans in streams and advertising is broad and includes political and religious grounds.

Verified data

The checked data this deep dive rests on.

About the platform

The website of the owning company dates Aparat's launch to Bahman 1389 of the Iranian calendar (late January — February 2011 by our conversion); the list of Saba Idea products names Aparat, Filimo, CinemaTicket, SabaVision, Filimo School, Filimo Kids, Aparat Sport, Aparat Style, Aparat Music

The conversion of the date into the Gregorian calendar is ours; the source gives only the Iranian one

source, checked 2026-07-28

Separate services are listed around Aparat: آپارات اسپرت (sports broadcasts), آپارات موزیک (music), آپارات کودک (an ad-free section for children), آپارات گیم (games)

source, checked 2026-07-28

Who's here

PLATFORM CLAIM: over 74 million monthly active users, over 19.6 billion views in total, over 197 billion tomans in combined creator earnings «over the past year»

The page does not state the dates the figures refer to

source, checked 2026-07-28

The advertising page of the same platform cites 60 million users: «پرمخاطب‌ترین وب‌سایت ویدیویی ایران با ۶۰ میلیون کاربر»

The platform does not explain the discrepancy with the 74 million on the «About us» page

source, checked 2026-07-28

What you can publish

Aparat Shorts — vertical videos between 15 and 60 seconds long

source, checked 2026-07-28

The video thumbnail must have a 16:9 aspect ratio; it must not be shocking, must not insult political figures or ethnic and religious minorities, and must not show what the video does not contain

source, checked 2026-07-28

Advertising

Ad placements: the «related videos» block and the top slot in search results and on pages of related hashtags. Targeting: keywords, individual categories, specific Aparat channels, telecom network, device type (mobile, desktop, app). Statistics in the dashboard in real time

source, checked 2026-07-28

The ad clip must be at least HD quality, full-screen and horizontal; once the wallet has been topped up the money is not refundable; advertising tobacco, betting sites and casinos is prohibited; medicines and supplements — only with permits from the Food and Drug Organization

source, checked 2026-07-28

The former view-boosting service «Boost» was shut down on 21 Tir 1400 (July 2021 by our conversion); a new advertising service took its place

A blog announcement placed on the «About us» page

source, checked 2026-07-28

Analytics

Watch metrics are counted over a rolling 90-day window: new data is added and old data removed every day, so the number of hours watched can fall on its own

source, checked 2026-07-28

How the money works here

"The Aparat earnings system" (سیستم درآمدزایی آپارات, the "Income" panel), it also includes earning on short videos, "Aparat Shorts" (آپارات شورتس); separately the platform names a "special plan to support video producers" (طرح ویژه حمایت از تولیدکنندگان ویدیو), launched in Esfand 1401

see note 1 at the foot of the card

source, checked 2026-08-04

Who is admitted. Three conditions. First: to be the author — the whole clip from beginning to end made by oneself; a re-upload, editing of someone else's material, dubbing, adding subtitles and splicing other people's clips do not count as authorship and do not admit one to the programme. Second: at least 200 subscribers (۲۰۰ دنبال کننده). Third: at least 3,000 hours of watch time over the last 3 months; for the option with short videos, over 90 days either 5,000 hours of watching shorts or 3,000 hours of watching long clips is needed

see note 1 at the foot of the card

source, checked 2026-08-04

Creator's share. The creator's share of the advertising income is not the same for all channels and varies between 50 and 70 percent (بین ۵۰ الی ۷۰ درصد). By default it starts at 50% and is reviewed by the system at the beginning of each month. Only a "successful impression" counts — an advertisement watched for longer than 6 seconds. The RPM figure (income per 1,000 views) as of Shahrivar 1404 is up to 100 thousand tomans

see note 1 at the foot of the card

source, checked 2026-08-04

When they pay. Payment is on the creator's request at any time convenient to them, not on a schedule: the money arrives no later than 7 working days after the request; a new request may be submitted no earlier than 7 days after the previous one

see note 1 at the foot of the card

source, checked 2026-08-04

Creator's share. The creator receives 50 to 70 % of the advertising profit; the share is reviewed every month and depends on the number of views and the popularity of the videos

source, checked 2026-07-28

An ad impression counts as successful if the ad was watched for more than 6 seconds

source, checked 2026-07-28

Entry threshold for the payout system: at least 200 subscribers and at least 3000 hours of views of your own videos over the 3 months preceding the application; review takes up to 7 business days

Hours accumulated through republished content do not count

source, checked 2026-07-28

Monetizing short videos (Aparat Shorts) requires 5000 hours of watch time over 90 days

source, checked 2026-07-28

PLATFORM CLAIM: in the year 1403 of the Iranian calendar more than 198 billion tomans were paid out to content creators

The «About us» page cites 197+ billion tomans «over the past year»; the discrepancy is not explained

source, checked 2026-07-28

Earnings of several of the best channels over the same period: educational — 600 million tomans, gaming — 550 million, automotive — 440 million, kids — 300 million, technology — 160 million, cooking — 90 million

These are top examples, not typical values

source, checked 2026-07-28

For an individual, the national code, first name and surname must match the holder of the «sheba» account; for a legal entity — the national identifier and the company name; if they do not match, the application is rejected. There is no age limit for participation; one person may run two or more monetized channels as long as their content does not overlap

In practice an Iranian bank account is required

source, checked 2026-07-28

Not counted as creating content: merely editing someone else's video, republishing finished clips, adding dubbing or subtitles, a «reaction» with a webcam over someone else's video, game playthroughs without the author on screen throughout the clip, any artificial inflation of views and subscribers

source, checked 2026-07-28

AI rules: not accepted are ready-made templates and scripts, pre-generated videos, AI voice-over on top of archive slides, «text to speech» clips, deepfakes. Accepted are AI voice-over of an author's own script, backgrounds and effects under human direction, educational videos with AI narration based on the author's script, storytelling with a human-created plot. If the result is photorealistic, the author must label the use of AI

source, checked 2026-07-28

A channel with no activity for more than 6 months is removed from the payout system at Aparat's decision and without warning; if membership is cancelled, unpaid earnings are not transferred

source, checked 2026-07-28

New republishing channels are no longer accepted into the payout system; for those already accepted, titles, descriptions and tags must be in Persian, and repeating a clip leads to cancellation of membership

source, checked 2026-07-28

How they pay. A transfer to the creator's bank account after confirmation of the identity and banking details (اطلاعات هویتی و بانکی) in the "income report" → "income transfer" section

our translation, the original is in Persian; specific payment systems are not named; the source is the platform's own official blog (the آپارات blog, author "the Aparat editorial team"); the page https://www.aparat.com/income returns only the application shell, and the help node support.aparat.com does not open from this machine (the TLS handshake breaks off)

source, checked 2026-08-04

Payout minimum. Sources diverge: SOURCES DISAGREE: the platform's blog names 400 thousand tomans (۴۰۰ هزار تومان) — until the accumulated income is above that, an application cannot be made. The official income policy page names 5 million tomans, that is, 12.5 times more. We do not pick the plausible one: both figures are given, and the threshold should be checked with the platform before applying

A second source: aparat.com/community-guideline/incomePolicy. The blog and the official document disagree; which of them is out of date cannot be established from the dates. The toman here is an Iranian unit of account equal to 10 rials; they are converted nowhere in the catalogue, and that is a separate debt.

source, checked 2026-08-04

A second source: aparat.blog/aparat-income. A twelve-and-a-half-fold discrepancy in the figure most sensitive for an author — how long to wait for the first money.

source, checked 2026-07-28

Restrictions

A channel on Aparat cannot be deleted completely; you can change the email address and phone number in profile settings. A channel with no activity for 3 years may be blocked and its username handed to another user

source, checked 2026-07-28

The live streaming rules prohibit broadcasts of video games without a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and unlicensed music, as well as gambling and betting, terrorism and insults to religious sanctities, spreading false information, acts against national security, pornography and impersonating another person

source, checked 2026-07-28

The section on spam and fraud lists as separate items: manipulating and artificially inflating metrics (viewer and subscriber counts), selling or transferring accounts, reselling Aparat's services and features, mass sending of repetitive and unwanted messages; circumventing blocks through a new or someone else's account is prohibited

source, checked 2026-07-28

Legal

The site is governed by the laws of Iran, with the electronic commerce act named separately; responsibility for copyright infringement and for content that contradicts Iranian law is placed on the user, citing article 74 of the act of 17/10/1382

source, checked 2026-07-28

After upload, the rights to publish, delete and edit a video remain with Aparat; the rules explicitly call the right to show advertising in uploaded videos a right of the platform

source, checked 2026-07-28

API access

The api.aparat.com portal exists and promises documentation, best practices, code libraries and data sets, but the single «api document» link leads to the anchor #; the portal has no substantive sections

The numbers and observations here are OUR measurement taken while reading the page

source, checked 2026-07-28

Languages

the interface language of the home page: fa

The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang

source, checked 2026-07-28

Catalogue section: all similar

Notes shared by several facts

our translation, the original is in Persian; the source is the platform's own official blog (the آپارات blog, author "the Aparat editorial team"); the page https://www.aparat.com/income returns only the application shell, and the help node support.aparat.com does not open from this machine (the TLS handshake breaks off)