WhatsApp is the most popular video messaging client in Asia Pacific during the pandemic, reveals Picodi study

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. In Asia, since the coronavirus restrictions began in many countries, interest in messaging clients increased as many as five times, according to Picodi.com. As such, the international e-commerce platform - which provides discount coupons for online stores - decided to find out which video messaging platform gained the biggest popularity in recent times. Picodi's analysis team surveyed the average number of online search queries of some of the most popular messaging clients. They analysed both niche and major operators, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Rakuten, or Line Corporation. The study was based on comparison of search queries of 19 messaging clients which enable video chatting. Historical data was obtained through Google Keyword Planner.

The results revealed that 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 continent - from Pakistan, to Hong Kong, to Indonesia. The explosion of interest in this green messenger was also prominent in countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea. Singaporeans also turned out to be avid users of WhatsApp. Meanwhile, in eight other countries, the most popular messaging client was Zoom. Interest in this app skyrocketed mostly in the Asia Pacific countries such as the Philippines, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Brunei. On the other hand, Taiwanese resorted to Line. The messaging veteran also gained great popularity in Thailand. WeChat won in Bhutan, while Myanmar was the only place where Viber took first place among other messaging clients.