Communication during pandemic

During the pandemic, video messaging clients meet the users’ needs and make it possible to work remotely and attend classes, or even meet friends without leaving home. Since the coronavirus restrictions were introduced in many Asia-Pacific countries, interest in messaging clients has increased as much as five times.

Picodi.com analysis team decided to find out which tools and applications which enable video chatting gained the biggest popularity in recent times.

Let’s talk

We analysed the average number of online search queries for some of the most popular messaging clients. We checked both niche and major operators, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Rakuten, or Line Corporation.

The undisputed leader in Asia-Pacific is WhatsApp, which was the most frequently searched messaging app in 12 countries. WhatsApp took the lead across the Asian continent, from Pakistan, through Hong Kong, to Indonesia. The explosion of interest in this green-coloured app was also noted in countries like Nepal, Singapore, Bangladesh, or Papua New Guinea.

In 8 countries — including Australia — the most popular messaging client was Zoom. The interest in this app skyrocketed mostly in countries such as the Philippines, Japan, New Zealand, or Brunei.

On the other hand, Taiwanese turned out to be fans of the messaging veteran — Line. It also gained great popularity in Thailand.

WeChat won in Bhutan, and Myanmar was the only place where Viber took first place among other messaging clients.

Methodology and Data Source

The research was based on comparison of search queries of 19 messaging clients which enable video chatting. Historical data was obtained through Google Keyword Planner.

Public Use

Feel free to use all the data and infographics presented in this report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please contact us: research@picodi.com.

About Picodi

Picodi is an international e-commerce platform which provides discount coupons for online stores. Founded in 2010 in Kraków, it currently operates in 44 countries and is listed in FT1000 ranking of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. In Australia since 2015.

Picodi Analysis Department

The unit was established in 2017, and it analyses the market, consumer activities, prices of products and services, as well as wages.

• Head of Department: Nikolay Kashcheev
• Researchers: Katarzyna Kobyłka, Paweł Stolarczyk, Irina Egurtsova
• Graphic Design: Daria Ponomareva