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Mobile Messaging Platforms How Facebook’s Hedge Strategy Is Changing The Face Of Messaging

Report by Karol Severin and Mark Mulligan
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The 20,000 Foot View

In just a few short years mobile messaging apps have become home to the largest group of digital audiences on the planet, with        billion cumulative monthly active users.  Following websites and social networks, messaging platforms are emerging as the third phase of how audiences congregate digitally.  Facebook is particularly threatened by this potential disruption.  But rather than stick its head in the sand Facebook embraced the disruption to the extent that it is now the single most important player in the mobile messaging landscape.

Key Findings

  • Messaging platforms are the third phase in the evolution of digital audiences, following websites and social networks
  • The cumulative global messaging platform audience is        billion 
  • Facebook’s three messaging apps (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram) account for        of the global messaging audience 
  • Asian origin messenger apps account for        of the global total while US origin apps account for       
  • The majority of messaging platform growth has occurred since 2013 with an acceleration since mid 2014
  • Instagram has grown steadily since 2014 capturing the zeitgeist of consumer photography as a continual life narrative
  • Facebook Messenger accelerated strongly from May 2014, adding        of its total installed base but growth is slowing
  • WhatsApp added        million over the same period but this represented just        of its total and there is no sign of a slowdown
  • Korean KakaoTalk has the highest number of average messages per day per user        followed by Japanese LINE with        Facebook Messenger has just       

Companies and services mentioned in this report: AOL, Buzz Feed, CNN, Facebook, Facebook, MSN, Messenger, Friendster, GeoCities, Instagram, Kik, KakaoTalk, LINE, MTV, MySpace, QQ, Skype, Snapchat, Tencent, Twitter, Yahoo, Vox, WeChat, WhatsApp

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