© European Union, 2018 Reproduction Is Authorised Provided the Source Is Acknowledged

Home , Viber, WeChat, Windows Live Messenger

Project number: 2018.3823

Title: Provider fiches applications

Language version Format/Volume Catalogue number ISBN DOI

EN PDF PDF/Volume_01 EB-01-18-684-EN-N 978-92-9200-938-0 10.2818/63568

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Info Providers Fiche (Applications)

Indicator Definition Stated MAU The latest number of worldwide monthly active users officially reported by the application itself or the corporation that owns the application. MAU WW The average amount of worldwide monthly active users reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016).

MAU EU The average amount of European monthly active users reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016), based on 20 European countries for which the data is available.*

DAU WW The average amount of worldwide daily active users reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016).

DAU EU The average amount of European daily active users reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016), based on 20 European countries for which the data is available.*

Downloads WW The total amount of worldwide application downloads reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016). The total amount of European based application downloads reported by Apptopia for a period of 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 2016), based on 20 European countries for which the data is Downloads EU available.* The average European rank, calculated based on the country ranks of all EU28 Member States, Norway and Iceland exported from Applyzer (rankings ranging from Oct. 1 - Oct. 4, 2016). The Avg. Rank average ranks reported have been weighted based on available statistics on the size of the Internet population in each EU28 Member State.

*The countries included are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece , Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom and Norway VIBER TYPE: Calling FACEBOOK TYPE:Social Networks Cluster: 2 Viber, founded in 2010, is a worldwide used messaging and calling application that can be used on any mobile CLUSTER: phone with a valid phone number and an internet connection. Viber offers free text messages, voice and video Stated MAU calls and file sharing on your mobile phone. Users can also follow public accounts, start group chats, express / themselves with "stickers" and play games. Viber is free to use but with multiple extra paying options available 249M like sticker-packs and a game store or the Viber Out feature, which allows users to call landline numbers.

Metrics - Worldwide Metrics - Worldwide

MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW 6 679 045 553 188 46 185 074 36 045 139 3 726 779 26 320 057 Metrics - Europe Metrics - Europe MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU 1 544 800 58 855 21 348 000 11 492 800 990 710 8 959 400

Users open Viber once every Users open Viber once every

In 2014, Viber was acquired by Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce and internet company based in Tokyo, for $900 million. Until then, friends and family of the Viber’s founders invested $20 million in the company. Viber was originally only available on Iphone but was in 2012 also released on Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. In the same year a group messaging feature was added together with a High Definition voice engine, which allowed for high definition quality voice calls. Rakuten reported Avg. rank in in their third quarterly report of 2016 to have 823 million unique phone numbers connected to the application, excluding the Avg. rank in App Store deactivations, growing from 125 million unique phone numbers recorded in 2012. Until 2013, Viber was not generating Google Play revenues and thus had no profit. Starting from 2013, the app started monetizing by releasing Viber Out, Viber Stickers and 142 Viber Games. In December 2016, Viber released public accounts which allow companies and brands to connect with their 53 customers and fans. This is Viber's attempt to follow the trend of similar applications, like Facebook Messenger, WeChat, LINE, Telegram, etc. with the aim to connect businesses with consumers. In 2017, Viber also launched an in-chat shopping service where people can share links to shoppable products and buy them through the chat app. The latest financial results that were publicly released date back to 2013, when Viber reported a net loss of $29,5 million. Sources: http://www.pymnts.com/mobile-applications/2016/viber-launching-one-touch-video-messaging-to-stay-ahead-of-pack/ https://apptopia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/results/ https://www.applyzer.com/ http://rakuten.today/blog/viber-public-accounts.html https://www.statista.com/statistics/316414/viber-messenger-registered-users/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viber http://www.retaildive.com/ex/mobilecommercedaily/viber-launches-in-chat-shopping-platform http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/061215/how-viber-makes-money.asp https://www.engadget.com/2012/09/11/viber-symbian-lumia-upgrade/ SOUNDCLOUD TYPE: MusicCluster: 2 SoundCloud, founded in 2008,FACEBOOKis a worldwide online audio distribution platform. The platform allows its users to share, promoteTYPE:Social Networks and distribute originally created sounds and allows the musicians to connect with their fans. SoundCloud also streams licensed Stated MAU CLUSTER 9: music tracks. The platform can be used by everyone aged 13 years or older. SoundCloud provides two types of subscription- based services: SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Go. The first one allows users to upload six (Soundcloud Pro) or unlimited SoundCloud.com (Soundcloud Pro Unlimited) hours of music and adds additional features. SoundCloud Go allows to cut ads and listen to music 175M offline, while Soundcloud Go+ has no ads and previews at all, the possibility to listen offline and access to 150 million premium tracks.

Metrics - Worldwide Metrics - Worldwide

MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW 2 726 438 294 735 18 946 829 19 399 407 1 815 924 18 869 734 Metrics - Europe Metrics - Europe MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU 136 152 8 842 6 184 000 4 199 600 394 977 4 457 700

Users open SoundCloud once every Users open SoundCloud once every 9.1 days (on average). 10.7 days (on average).

Soundcloud is a private company. It received two rounds of funding in 2010 ($2,5 million) and in 2011 ($25 million). The key feature of SoundCloud is to upload and share music files. This has been made easy by allowing the sound files to be embedded anywhere, i.e.. on third-party websites. Another characteristic feature of SoundCloud is the visualisation of the songs as a Avg. rank in waveform, on which users can comment on a specific part of the song using “timed comments”. SoundCloud is free to use but Avg. rank in provides consumers with premium subscription services giving users additional features. ‘SoundCloud Premier Partners’ lets App Store creators monetize their content through advertisements such as pre-roll audio ads, channel sponsorship, mobile display ads Google Play and native content in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Germany. After initial losses of $44 135 million on revenues of $22 million in 2014, and losses of $52 million to revenues of $20 million in 2015, SoundCloud's revenue is 140 estimated at $27,9 million in 2016, an upward trend that is expected to continue in 2017. This is mostly attributed to the increased revenues from advertising. In 2017, the company is turning on programmatic ad buying in the U.S. after launching it in its smaller markets. Sources: https://www.applyzer.com/ https://apptopia.com https://blog.soundcloud.com/2016/03/29/introducing-soundcloud-go/ http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/09/30/soundcloud-revenues-43-pct-year/ https://on.soundcloud.com/about https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/soundcloud-2015-financial-report-loss http://mixmag.net/read/soundcloud-bounces-back-with-43-increase-in-revenue-news https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/24/why-soundcloud-will-be-worth-more-than-spotify/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/23/soundcloud-amps-up-advertising-with-programmatic-buying-in-the-us/ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-soundcloud-launches-subscription-service-20160328-story.html https://www.statista.com/statistics/513796/soundcloud-income/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/512072/soundcloud-revenue/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/23/soundcloud-amps-up-advertising-with-programmatic-buying-in-the-us/ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-soundcloud-launches-subscription-service-20160328-story.html SNAPCHAT TYPE: Picture/Video FACEBOOK TYPE:Social Networks Cluster: 2 Snapchat, founded in 2011, is a worldwide photo messaging application. The basic premise consists of sharing CLUSTER: images privately that are only available temporarily available and disappear after a short period or view. This Stated MAU idea differentiated Snapchat from its competitors. Pictures and videos can be edited by filters, drawings or text / captions. Snapchat is free to use and available for users older than 13 years old. The main audience of Snapchat 200M is aged between 18 and 24 years old.

Metrics - Worldwide Metrics - Worldwide

MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW 32 920 825 4 133 302 59 594 661 105 204 179 55 620 150 38 967 486 Metrics - Europe Metrics - Europe MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU 6 153 800 159 100 22 776 600 28 576 200 15 263 000 10 300 400

Users open Snapchat once every Users open Snapchat once every 9.0 days (on average). 1.9 days (on average).

Snapchat is developed by Snap Inc., a company owned by the creators of Snapchat. Snap Inc. went public in March 2017, valuing the company above $20 billion. Since 2014, Snapchat included “stories”, which can be seen by users their followers for 24 hours, and “live stories”, with the same concept as normal stories but for specific events. In 2015, Snapchat introduced a popular “Lens” feature, that uses a face detection technology to add effects to the photo or video, and “geo-filters”, which allows users that are in a specific Avg. rank in location to use a special filter which is only available in that location. Both features are also available for advertisers. In 2016 Snapchat Avg. rank in App Store also introduced “Memories”, which allows Snapchat users to save their own Snapchats and to be able to review or send them again in Google Play the future. Since its launch, Snapchat has seen rapid growth with 187 million daily users worldwide, an increase of 18% year-over-year compared to Q4 of 2016. Metrics show 6 billion videos were sent and 10 billion videos are viewed per day as of November 2016. In Q4 12 of 2017, Snapchat reported revenues of $286 million, improving from $208 million in Q3 of 2017. Despite this rapid revenue growth, 7 Snapchat reported net losses totalling $350 million in Q4 of 2017, compared to $443 million in Q3 of 2017 and $170 million in Q3 of 2016. Snapchat generates revenue through paid advertising, especially through the “Discover” feature, which shows content from publishers, via video ads and via sponsored lenses and geo-filters. Sources: https://www.applyzer.com/ https://apptopia.com http://fortune.com/2017/03/01/snap-ipo-buy-snapchat-stock-price/ https://investor.snap.com http://www.marketwatch.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/ http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/2/14451972/snap-ipo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapchat http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/snapchats-parent-snap-inc-rockets-higher-in-biggest-wall-street-debut-since-2014?__lsa=26f2-9edc FACEBOOK MESSENGER TYPE: Calling FACEBOOK TYPE:Social Networks Cluster: 2 Facebook Messenger, released in 2011 and often referred to as "Messenger", is a worldwide instant messaging Stated MAU CLUSTER 2: mobile application. Facebook Messenger allows text, image, video and file sharing and the main purpose is Facebook.com (+Mobile) social communication. Facebook Messenger is commonly used as an integrated chat feature of Facebook, although since 2014 the functionality was removed from the main Facebook app and became a stand-alone 1000M WhatsApp.com (+Mobile) application. Instagram.com (+Mobile) Boomerang from Instagram Metrics - Worldwide Metrics - Worldwide

MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW 205 416 080 22 039 432 31 339 261 638 256 971 454 053 589 81 157 570 Metrics - Europe Metrics - Europe MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU 30 389 400 2 160 400 7 832 900 182 700 000 131 600 000 20 903 700

Users open Facebook Messenger once every Users open Facebook Messenger once every 16.7 days (on average). 1.4 days (on average).

Facebook Messenger is created and owned by the public Facebook Inc. company. Facebook Messenger implemented some extra features like video calling, location sharing (2015), group phone and video calling and Instant Games (2016). In 2017, Messenger Day was launched, which gives users the possibility to share photos or videos with their friends for up to 24 hours, similar to the Snapchat’s main functionality. In December 2017, Facebook reported that Messenger had reached 1.3 billion Avg. rank in monthly active users, up from 1 billion in 2016. While Facebook does not report separate revenue from the different Avg. rank in App Store applications it owns, it plans to monetize Messenger by allowing consumers and businesses to communicate organically Google Play through chatbots, which allow Messenger users not only to communicate with businesses but also to make purchases within 17 the app. Facebook reported 33.000 operating chatbots in November 2016, up from 11.000 in July 2016. In addition, in January 2 2017, Facebook launched a test introducing display ads on Messenger’s home screen, below users’ favorite contacts. No revenue figures are provided.

Sources: https://www.applyzer.com/ https://apptopia.com https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/12/messengers-2017-year-in-review/ http://www.businessinsider.com/ https://www.fool.com/investing/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Messenger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook SKYPE TYPE: Calling FACEBOOK TYPE:Social Networks Cluster: 2 Skype, founded in 2003, is a worldwide VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) application that allows users to make Stated MAU CLUSTER 5: voice and video calls. Other functions also include instant message and file transfer (up to 300MB) via messages. Skype.com Skype to Skype calls are free of charge, and users can also make calls to mobile phones and landlines at lower rates than traditional phone services. Other services include voicemail and business communications (Skype for 300M business). Registration on Skype is free.

Metrics - Worldwide Metrics - Worldwide

MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW MAU WW DAU WW Downloads WW 106 010 315 8 266 984 54 942 836 192 884 815 155 944 660 27 177 776 Metrics - Europe Metrics - Europe MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU MAU EU DAU EU Downloads EU 21 834 500 1 314 913 18 289 600 54 977 200 44 094 000 7 124 900

Users open Skype once every Users open Skype once every 13 days (on average). 1.2 days (on average).

In 2011 Microsoft acquired Skype for $8,5 billion. Skype now has 300 million monthly users and carries 40% of the international calling market. The company has three large sources of income: fees paid by consumers for their services; display advertising in the free version of the Skype app and web properties with audience targeting; and through Skype for Business Avg. rank in telephone product sales, subscriptions and services. In 2015, Skype launched a new feature called Skype Mojis, which enables Avg. rank in users to add short movie, music and TV clips from Microsoft’s partners like Universal Studios, Disney and BBC, to private App Store messages. In 2013, Skype replaced the discontinued “Windows Live Messenger” and acquired all its users, becoming an Google Play integrated feature in Outlook. Before the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft, the company made a revenue of approximately 34 $860 million in 2011. In 2013, revenues of the Microsoft Skype division amounted to $2 billion. No financial data has been 22 made public since.

Sources: https://www.applyzer.com/ https://apptopia.com https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10942/why-are-there-advertisements-for-other-companies-in-skype http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/revenue-financial.skype_global_sarl.57f78cdaaf658f45.html. https://www.quora.com/Is-Skype-profitable-for-Microsoft http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/skype-statistics/ http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/15/skype-launches-mojis-short-shareable-movie-and-tv-clips-from-universal-disney-muppets-and-bbc/ http://www.anorak.co.uk/383464/money/skype-is-now-40-of-the-entire-international-telephone-market.html/ http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/voip/skype-turns-10-did-microsoft-s-bet-pay-off-1176537