Mobil Messaging Apps 2014: Digital Intimacy Attracts Users, Challenges Marketers

MOBILE
MESSAGING
APPSDigital Intimacy Attracts Users,
Challenges Marketers
JUNE 2014
Cathy Boyle
Contributors: Christine Bittar, Rimma Kats, Chris Keating, Monica Peart
Read this on
eMarketer for iPad

MOBILE MESSAGING APPS: DIGITAL INTIMACY ATTRACTS USERS, CHALLENGES MARKETERS ©2014 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
CONTENTS
2 Executive Summary
3 Messaging Breaks Free from Wireless Carriers
8 Chatterboxes in the US: Why and How They Use
Messaging Apps
10 Marketing via Chat Apps
14 eMarketer Interviews
15 Related eMarketer Reports
15 Related Links
15 Editorial and Production Contributors
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Mobile messaging apps elbowed their way
past games and social networks to become the
fastest-growing app category among smartphone
users worldwide, according to a 2013 analysis
by mobile analytics firm Flurry. However, the
conversational nature of these apps makes them
tricky places for brands to infiltrate.
Mobile messaging apps, also referred to as chat, instant
messaging (IM), social messaging and over-the-top (OTT)
apps, are, fundamentally, utilities:They are a means of
communicating instantly and directly with peers on a
one-to-one or one-to-several level. Messaging apps differ
from traditional social networks in that they are a medium
for intimate and immediate exchanges between two (or a
few) close contacts.Those exchanges can take the form
of text, pictures, videos or voice.
The private and, in some cases, fleeting nature of the
mobile messaging environment raises unique challenges
for marketers looking to engage consumers with branded
content or advertising. Knowing which apps are gaining
the most traction is important, as is understanding why
and how consumers use these apps.This report will
provide insight into these areas and give examples of
how brands are leveraging chat apps to achieve their
marketing goals.
For clarity, this report does not cover dating apps
with chat functionality or traditional social media apps
with built-in messaging features, such asTwitter and
Instagram. However, Facebook Messenger, which is
available as a separate app and which Facebook plans to
unbundle from its core social networking app, is included
because its main functionality is messaging.
KEY QUESTIONS
■■ What are the leading mobile messaging apps
worldwide and in the US?
■■ What motivates mobile users to use
messaging apps?
■■ What marketing opportunities do these apps
offer brands?
% change vs. prior year
Usage Growth Rate for Mobile Messaging Apps vs.
Total Mobile Apps Worldwide, 2013
Messaging apps
316%
Total mobile apps
115%
Note: based on growth of usage sessions, deﬁned as a user launching and
using an app
Source: Flurry, "The Age of Living Mobile," April 22, 2014
173257 www.eMarketer.com

MESSAGING BREAKS FREE FROM
WIRELESS CARRIERS
With a smartphone in hand and a mobile messaging
app on deck, consumers no longer need to rely on
wireless carriers’ SMS or MMS to shoot a private text
message, picture or video to the phone of a friend or
family member.
The use of mobile messaging apps is far greater than
it was 18 months ago. An analysis released by Flurry in
April 2014 showed the use of messaging apps worldwide
increased 316% between year-end 2012 and year-end
2013. “Use,” according to a January 2014 post on Flurry’s
blog, was “a consumer launching an app and recording
what Flurry defines as a session.”
A long and growing list of OTT messaging apps, which
transmit private one-to-one (or one-to-several) messages
via data connections and the mobile web, are drawing
consumers away from carrier-controlled SMS and MMS.
The shift in behavior is expected to take a sizeable toll on
mobile messaging revenues, which are mainly driven by
SMS and MMS fees (although carriers can be expected
to recoup some of these losses through an increase in
data revenues).
Portio Research estimates messaging revenue worldwide
will peak at $239.7 billion in 2015 and then decline 1%
in 2016 and another 4% in 2017, to $227.1 billion.The
research firm expects North America will be a year ahead
of the worldwide curve, with messaging revenue peaking
this year and declining in 2015.
As SMS traffic declines, the volume of traffic from
messaging apps is expected to increase dramatically.
By 2018, Juniper Research estimates instant messaging
apps will comprise 75% of mobile messaging traffic
worldwide but just 2% of the messaging revenue.
Juniper’s definition of “other mobile messaging” traffic,
which is expected to comprise one-quarter of the total
traffic volume and nearly all of the messaging revenue
generated in 2018, includes SMS, MMS, RCS/RCS-e
(a messaging service offered primarily by wireless
carriers in Europe), email and social messaging (posting
messages or uploading photo/video content to social
networks like Facebook and microblogging via services
such asTwitter).
Mobile messaging
trafﬁc share
Mobile messaging
revenue share
% of total
Instant Messaging App Share of Mobile Messaging
Trafﬁc and Revenues Worldwide, 2018
Note: total messaging market includes instant messaging, MMS, mobile
email, RCS/RCS-e (rich communications suite), SMS and social messaging;
*63 trillion messages; **$3 billion in revenues
Source: Juniper Research, "Mobile Messaging Markets: IM, Social, SMS,
MMS, Email, RCS/RCS-e 2014-2018" as cited in press release, Feb 18, 2014
IM apps*
75%
Other
mobile
messaging
25%
IM
apps**
2%
Other mobile
messaging
98%
Unlike wireless carriers, which profit directly from
the transmission of messages, the most profitable
chat app developers use messaging as a loss leader.
In other words, free messaging is the carrot that
draws consumers into a money-making machine
that is typically fueled by gaming platforms, in-app
purchases, paid content, advertising, and, in some cases,
mobile payments.
LEADING MESSAGINGAPPSWORLDWIDE
Three metrics—number of downloads, revenue
generated and number of active users—determine the
leading messaging apps worldwide. WhatsApp, LINE and
Skype ranked high in a number of indices.
The three chat apps were included among the
10 most downloaded apps of 2013 and the top 10
revenue-generating apps of the year, according to the
“App Annie Index: 2013 Retrospective” report. Note that
App Annie, which is an app tracking and analytics firm,
reported two types of download and revenue rankings
for 2013, one specifically for game apps and the other for
nongame apps. Messaging apps were among the latter.

WhatsApp, Skype and LINE also appeared in several of
theTop 10 lists published in the “2013Year in Review”
report released in December 2013 by Distimo, a
competing app analytics firm that was acquired by App
Annie on May 28, 2014. WhatsApp was among the apps
that generated the highest number of downloads in both
major app stores last year (No. 1 paid app in Apple’s App
Store [WhatsApp changed to a free app in July 2013]
and No. 2 free app in Google Play). Skype ranked third
among the free apps that generated the most downloads
in Google Play last year and LINE ranked third among the
top grossing apps in Google Play.
In the race to generate revenue, a clear winner emerged.
LINE accounted for nearly 60% of the revenue produced
worldwide by 12 of the leading mobile messaging apps
in Apple’s App Store and 69% of the revenue generated
by the same set of apps in Google Play. LINE’s revenue
comes primarily through its gaming platform, in-app
purchases and marketing services.
% of total
App Revenue Share of Select Android and iOS Mobile
Messaging Apps Worldwide, 2013
Android iOS
LINE 69% 56%
KakaoTalk 20% 2%
WhatsApp 10% 17%
Tango 0.3% 0.7%
Viber 0.6% 1.4%
Kik Messenger 0.1% 0.3%
WeChat 0.1% 1.0%
Skype - 21.0%
Note: reﬂects activity among selected apps only; numbers may not add up
to 100% due to rounding
Source: Distimo, May 2014
A comparison of the 12 messaging apps also showed
Apple and Android users have different app preferences.
Of the 12 messaging apps Distimo analyzed, Snapchat
generated the largest share of downloads among iOS
users worldwide last year and WhatsApp was installed
the most by Android users globally. One likely reason
Android users gravitated more toward a text-based
messaging app like WhatsApp as opposed to a
photo-centric messaging app like Snapchat: Android
devices don’t have a built-in equivalent to iMessage,
Apple’s OTT messaging service that comes standard in
the Messages app on Apple devices.
% of total
Install/Download Share of Select Android and iOS
Mobile Messaging Apps Worldwide, 2013
Android iOS
WhatsApp 21.0% 13.0%
Facebook Messenger 17.0% 13.0%
Skype 16.0% 12.0%
LINE 12.0% 8.0%
Viber 9.0% 9.0%
WeChat 7.0% 8.0%
Tango 6.0% 6.0%
KakaoTalk 5.0% 2.0%
Snapchat 4.0% 17.0%
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) 1.3% 2.0%
Google Hangouts 0.3% 2.0%
Source: Distimo, May 2014
The difference in metrics for “downloads” between
Apple and Google Play is worth noting. As Christel
Schoger, data analyst for Distimo, explained it, “In the
Apple App Store, a ‘download’ of an app is based on
the user (directly linked to the Apple ID), which means,
when you download an app on your iPhone and on your
iPad, this will only be considered as one ‘user install.’ For
Google Play, the ‘download’ of an app by the same user
on an Android phone and on an Android tablet will be
considered as two ‘device installs.’Typically, the device
installs will be 1.3 to 1.5 times higher than the equivalent
user installs.”
The differing metrics, Schoger added, have a significant
influence when directly comparing Apple and Google
Play download volumes. However, the metrics make
no difference when comparing the market share of the
leading apps within each store, as the App Store and
Google Play provide market share figures independently.

Of course, downloads are just the first step toward
success. Regular usage by a large audience ultimately
decides the fate of any app.The number of monthly active
users also provides another means of comparing the field
of messaging app players. Using this measure, the same
apps that appeared on theTop 10 download and revenue
lists rise to the top of the active user list, but in a slightly
different order.
WhatsApp: 500 million monthly active users worldwide
(April 22, 2014, source: WhatsApp)
WeChat: 396 million monthly active users worldwide
(May 14, 2014, source:Tencent)
Facebook Messenger: Approximately 200 million
monthly active users worldwide (April 23, 2014,
source: Facebook)
LINE: 175 million monthly active users worldwide (April
21, 2014, source: BNP Paribas as cited inThe Wall
Street Journal)
Viber: 100 million monthly active users worldwide
(February 14, 2014, Source: Rakuten)
Several apps likely to be among the leaders—namely,
Skype (mobile), Google+ Hangouts and Apple
iMessage—have not recently disclosed the number of
monthly active users of their services.
REGIONAL DOMINANCE
The stars on the world stage aren’t necessarily common
or known everywhere. A significant degree of regional
dominance exists among messaging apps, although that
is quickly changing.
Take the messaging app LINE, which launched in Japan
in 2011. More than one-third of social network users in
Japan (34.8%) surveyed in March 2014 by japan.internet.
com and NTTCom Research said they considered LINE
to be their primary social network, surpassing the
percentage that pointed to Facebook (28.5%) and
Twitter (21.1%).
According to a Nielsen//NetRatings study released in
December 2013, LINE was used by the largest number
of smartphone app users in Japan, once again outpacing
Facebook and also multiple apps from Google. LINE also
attracted significantly more new users between April and
October 2013 than apps from the two mobile giants.
millions and % change vs. April 2013
Top 10 Smartphone Apps in Japan, Ranked by Average
Monthly Users, Oct 2013
% change vs.
April 2013
1. LINE 30%
2. Google Play 20%
3. Google Maps 14%
4. Facebook 5%
5. Google Search 22%
6. Gmail 18%
7. YouTube 11%
8. McDonald's 22%
9. Twitter 19%
10. Yahoo Japan
Average monthly
users (millions)
21.2
18.8
15.8
15.4
15.2
14.5
11.4
10.8
9.4
6.4 45%
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, "Tops of 2013: Digital in Japan" as cited in
press release, Dec 25, 2013
In an April 2014 blog post, LINE reported its app passed
the milestone of 10 million registered users in 10
countries, including the US, Korea, Malaysia and Mexico.
However, findings from several research firms suggest
LINE has a ways to go before it becomes as popular in
other countries as it is in Japan.
The same holds true for China’s two leading mobile chat
apps, WeChat (Weixin) and Mobile QQ. According to Q3
2013 data released by Analysys International Enfodesk,
Mobile QQ and WeChat comprise 77.3% of the IM/chat
apps market in China.They have yet to attract such a large
audience outside of China.
% of total
Mobile IM/Chat Apps in China, Ranked by Market
Share of Accounts, Q3 2013
Mobile QQ
47.0%
Weixin (WeChat)
30.3%
Mobile Feixin
10.9%
Mobile MSN
3.5%
Yixin
2.1%
Wangxin
2.0%
Mi Liao
1.1%
LINE
1.0%
Other
2.1%
Note: includes active and non-active users
Source: Analysys International Enfodesk, "China Mobile IM Market Q3 2013
Report" as cited in press release, Nov 26, 2013

Internationally, the messaging app landscape remains
fragmented. However, multiple sources suggest
smartphone users in several countries have begun to
gravitate toward WhatsApp more so than other apps:
■■ An online survey conducted by Asociación para la
Investigación de Medios de Comunicación (AIMC) –
Spain between October and December 2013 found
80.4% of internet users in Spain usedWhatsApp for
instant messaging, which far exceeded the number
who used Facebook Messenger (53.3%), Skype
(39.6%) or LINE (23.8%).
■■ An August 2013 survey conducted for Acision by
Convergencia Research found the largest share
of smartphone users in Mexico (84%) used
WhatsApp compared with Facebook Messenger
(70%), Skype Messenger (24%),WeChat (10%) or
LINE Messenger (9%).
■■ Data from Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights
showed nearly all smartphone users (96%) in
India used messaging apps in June 2013 and
WhatsApp was by far the app of choice. Mobile
metering technology used across Android,
iOS, RIM and Symbian operating systems
showed 83% of smartphone users in India used
WhatsApp while just under half usedWeChat
(49%) or Google Hangouts (46%). Just 27% used
Facebook Messenger.
WhatsApp’s triple-digit growth in users worldwide goes
a long way toward explaining Facebook’s keen interest
and eyebrow-raising bid to acquire the app. Figures
from GlobalWedIndex show WhatsApp experienced
tremendous growth in every geographic region and the
chat app has attracted a particularly large audience in
Asia-Pacific, where Facebook has struggled to compete
with locally grown social networks and messaging apps.
millions and % change vs. prior year
WhatsApp Users Worldwide, by Region, 2013
Asia-Paciﬁc 101 (189%)
Europe 45 (152%)
Latin America38 (186%)
Middle East & Africa15 (120%)
North America7 (230%)
Worldwide 206 (175%)
Note: ages 16-64; actively used in the past month
Source: GlobalWebIndex as cited in company blog, Feb 20, 2014
Interestingly, WhatsApp’s North American audience is
the smallest compared with other parts of the world.
GlobalWebIndex pinned it at 7 million, half the size of
the app’s audience in the Middle East and Africa and less
than one-tenth the size of its audience in Asia-Pacific.
The lack of widespread enthusiasm in North America,
particularly the US, is not necessarily a reflection on
WhatsApp, however.
What’s Up with the US? (NotWhatsApp—Yet)
US smartphone users as a whole have been slow
to adopt mobile messaging apps. For Simon Khalaf,
president and CEO of Flurry, that sluggishness is not
surprising considering mobile users in the US were
also slow to adopt text messaging.The economics of
wireless plans outside the US tend to drive users toward
nonvoice communication services, he said. Using Europe
as a comparison, Khalaf noted voice calling is cheaper in
the US. “People pick up the phone and call whereas in
Europe data is cheaper than voice so they tend to text
[and message] more often.”
With comparatively less pressure to move away
from voice calling and data plan fees on the rise, the
adoption of mobile messaging has been more gradual
in the US compared with other countries. A July 2013
survey conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Deloitte
showed US smartphone users ranked far behind their
counterparts in most mature countries with respect
to use of mobile messaging services. Just 23% of US
smartphone users polled said they used mobile IM
services, which was also far lower than the shares in the
developing countries surveyed.

% of respondents
Smartphone Users in Mature vs. Developing Countries
Who Use Mobile Instant Messaging, July 2013
Mature countries
Spain 83%
Singapore 76%
South Korea 67%
Netherlands 67%
Germany 43%
Portugal 34%
Japan 32%
UK 30%
Finland 30%
US 23%
Belgium 20%
France 15%
Developing countries
Indonesia 79%
Mexico 78%
Argentina 78%
India 74%
China 59%
Turkey 56%
Brazil 43%
Russia 28%
Note: in the past seven days
Source: Deloitte, "The State of the Global Mobile Consumer 2013:
Divergence Deepens" conducted by Ipsos MORI, Nov 20, 2013
More recent data from comScore, cited in the
“Messaging Apps:The New Face of Social Media and
What It Means for Brands” white paper published by
IPG Media Lab, showed slightly less than one-third of US
mobile users (31%) used mobile IM services in Q4 2013.
According to eMarketer estimates, that would translate to
roughly 62 million “chatterboxes” (smartphone and tablet
users who use an instant messenger service) in the US.
Although a minority group, the rising number of US
mobile messaging users was certainly one of the
forces driving the triple-digit increase noted by Flurry
in messaging app usage worldwide. Like their global
counterparts, US mobile users are sampling a wide range
of apps.
An analysis of app store data on the leading chat apps
conducted by Distimo showed Snapchat, Facebook
Messenger and Kik Messenger attracted the largest
shares of downloads last year among iOS users in the
US. Meanwhile, Android users in the US exhibited slightly
different preferences. Facebook Messenger, Skype and
Kik Messenger generated the largest shares of installs
among that set in 2013.
% of total
Install/Download Share of Select Android and iOS
Mobile Messaging Apps in the US, 2013
Android iOS
Facebook Messenger 22.0% 15.0%
Skype 18.0% 11.0%
Snapchat 13.0% 27.0%
Tango 13.0% 7.0%
WhatsApp 9.0% 8.0%
Viber 4.0% 8.0%
LINE 3.0% 3.0%
WeChat 1.5% 2.0%
BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) 0.7% 2.0%
KakaoTalk 1.0% 1.0%
Google Hangouts 0.4% 3.0%
Source: Distimo, May 1, 2014
With the explosive growth of mobile messaging apps
during the last year, characterizing the field of players
as being in a state of flux is an understatement. While
download data provides insight into app preferences
over a given time, such figures are imperfect indicators
of which app will succeed at building the largest base of
active users.
At this point in time, marketers interested in engaging US
mobile users within chat apps would be best served by
partnering with the apps that offer features and services
that align with the brand image and objectives, rather
than trying to pin down the leader. Lessons learned from
marketing in any one of these chat apps will likely apply to
marketing in the leading chat app, once one emerges.

CHATTERBOXES IN THE US:
WHY AND HOW THEY USE
MESSAGING APPS
The assumption that younger mobile users are
leading the charge toward chat apps is true, to a
point. But as the population of mobile messaging
users grew larger during the last 18 months, it
also diversified in age. Motivations for usage also
became clearer.
Broadly speaking, US mobile messaging users are drawn
to chat apps less for the cost-savings benefits they offer
(vs. SMS/MMS) and more for the immediate, private and
fun nature of the messaging environment.
“People are looking for a simple, quick way to connect
with each other in a private way and messengers like
Kik are that mechanism,” said Heather Galt, head of
marketing for mobile messaging app Kik. “Whether it
[the message] is for a functional purpose like, ‘Hey, I’m
late,’ or whether it’s for fun, you’re going to catch people
right away.”
Creativity also comes into play when choosing which
chat app to use, particularly among younger users.
Features that let consumers personalize their messages
are a strong draw for college students, according to Ben
Kosinski, founder of Sumpto, a company that rewards
college students based on the level of social influence
they have among their peers. “With Snapchat, for
example, you can type in text with a picture; you can draw
a funny caption; you can make pictures; you can even
switch from text to video,” Kosinski said.
The immediate one-to-one (or one-to-few) nature of the
message delivery also provides instant gratification.
Kosinski contends that because consumers’ digital lives
are saturated with content, there is a heightened desire
to know people are listening. Chat apps, he said, offer
that reassurance more so than traditional social networks.
“If you post something on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram,
Vine, you don’t know who’s read it, who’s seen it or
who’s opened it.You’re basically throwing a ball out to
the crowd and hoping that people will catch it,” Kosinski
said. “Whereas Snapchat has immediate gratification built
into it. If you send a snap to a user, you can see if they’ve
opened it or not, and they’re going to reply directly to
the message.”
These qualities of communication—immediacy, privacy
and fun—are bound to appeal to a broad spectrum of
consumers. So, as word of mobile messaging apps’
qualities and benefits spreads beyond earlier adopters,
the population of users is diversifying.
THEY’RE NOTALLYOUNG
As one would guess, teens and young adults were the
first drawn to mobile chat apps. As Facebook evolved
into “Mombook,” chat apps filled a void by providing
young mobile users with a space to interact freely with
friends. For these users, chat apps are a more private area
where they can share thoughts, feelings and experiences
without exposing themselves to opinions or judgments of
parents, educators, classmates or acquaintances who are
their “friends” on Facebook.
Edwin Wong, senior director of business-to-business
insights forYahoo, studied the digital habits of generation
Y and Z (those under the age of 22) in collaboration with
brand and content strategy firm AudienceTheory. He
found the younger cohort of consumers talked about their
experiences with traditional media and chat apps very
differently. “More traditional social platforms are about
connecting more broadly with communities—sharing
content with kids in class, friends and family, or even
people you don’t know but that you want a connection to,
like celebrities,” Wong said.
By contrast, Wong learned that chat apps were about
sharing moments that matter with the small group of
people that matter most. “Kids told us there are some
things that they simply don’t want shared with everyone
they know or are connected to.There are some things
they want kept just between their closest circle of
friends, and much of that is really about sharing what
inspires them.” Wong said.The desire for digital intimacy
emerged as a powerful motivator for this younger cohort
of consumers and Wong’s research suggests it’s a driving
force behind the growth of chat apps.
Most agree that teens and young adults are fueling the
growth of mobile messaging apps, but the average age
of chat app users is ticking upward as the population
of users increases. “The 13-to-24 group is the one that
overindexes [in usage],” said Flurry’s Khalaf. However, as
the adoption of these apps has expanded, the population
has diversified, Khalaf added. “If you do a rollback over
the last three years, you definitely see the audience
is maturing.”

Even a year ago, that maturation was evident. Research
conducted in June 2013 by Informate Mobile Intelligence
showed roughly three out of four US smartphone chat
app users were 25 or older and the rest were between
the ages of 15 and 24.
Gender Age
% of total
Demographic Proﬁle of US Smartphone Chat App
Users, June 2013
Female
68%
Male
32%
15-24
26%
25+
74%
Source: Informate Mobile Intelligence, "Smartphone Insights" as cited in
press release; eMarketer calculations, Aug 22, 2013
The “personality” of each app influences the composition
of the audience. For example, it’s widely believed
Snapchat’s audience is dominated by teens drawn to
the fleeting nature of the app’s messaging style
whereas BlackBerry Messenger’s (BBM) reputation as a
work-centric messaging service attracts a slightly older
crowd. “In markets where BlackBerry historically has
been a stronger enterprise or corporate focus proposition,
the [BBM] audience skews a little bit older and a little
bit male,” said David Proulx, senior director of BBM
business development.
Given chat apps are communication tools at the core, the
user base is expected to diversify over time and ultimately
become as demographically diversified as the population
of text messaging and social network users.
THEY’RE MORE LIKELYTO CHAT
THANTWEET
Looking at the total time spent using apps and mobile
browsers on iOS and Android devices in the US, Flurry
estimates nearly 1 in 10 mobile minutes was spent using
social messaging apps between January and March
2014. Flurry based these estimates on app metrics from
its platform and browser metrics from comScore and
Net Marketshare. Narrowing the focus to just app usage
during the same three-month period, Flurry found the
share of time spent using mobile messaging apps was
nine times that spent using theTwitter app and more than
twice that spent using theYouTube app.
However, Galt pointed out time spent in chat apps is
difficult to measure accurately. “Instant messaging users
don’t necessarily sit and spend hours at a time [in the
app]. It’s not like playing games, and it’s not like scrolling
throughTwitter,Tumblr or Instagram, where you might
measure how long people stay on the app,” Galt said.
Roughly 70% of Kik’s users are in the US, she added,
and in general users tend to leave the app running in the
background, so when messages come in, the user is
immediately notified. “Conversation tends to be [just] one
of the things they’re doing as opposed to the only thing
they’re doing. We know that users multitask—they jump
in and out and back in—so it’s difficult to measure exactly
how long users are in the app.”
On the whole, US smartphone users frequently juggle
multiple communication channels on their phones. For
example, a November 2013 On Device Research survey
of US Android and iOS users showed a near-equal
majority of respondents used four communication
channels on their phone on a daily basis—phone (75%),
SMS (71%), email (69%) and social messaging apps
(72%). It’s worth noting that social messaging apps in the
On Device Research study includedTwitter, which is likely
one reason why the percentage of messaging users was
higher than other research findings mentioned previously
in this report.

Of the four channels noted in the On Device Research
study, social messaging apps were used the most
frequently. Nearly half of the US respondents to the
On Device poll said they used social messaging apps
more than 10 times per day, which was slightly higher
than the share that used SMS with such frequency and
significantly higher than the groups that made voice calls
and used mobile email more than 10 times per day.
% of respondents
Methods of Staying in Touch via Smartphone
According to US Smartphone Users, by Frequency,
Nov 2013
Voice calls
Social messaging apps
SMS
Email
Once
a day
11%
8%
6%
13%
2-3 times
a day
35%
18%
21%
27%
10+ times
a day
29%
46%
44%
29%
Total
75%
72%
71%
69%
Note: Android and iOS smartphone users
Source: On Device Research, "Messenger Wars: How Facebook lost its
lead," Nov 28, 2013
With regard to when chat apps are most often used,
spikes typically occur after hours and on weekends. “We
tend to see a lot of our users on Kik when it’s social time.
They’ll be on Kik when school’s out.They’ll be on Kik on
the weekends when they’re socializing with their friends,”
said Galt. Jen Donahoe, head of marketing and partner
relations for mobile messaging appTango, reported a
similar pattern of usage: “We see peak times in the
morning and evenings. And, weekend use is huge. Friday,
Saturday and Sunday are our peak times.”
All that messaging activity is unlikely to occur in a single
messaging app, however. On average, US smartphone
users have 2.1 messaging apps installed on their phone,
according to the On Device Research survey.The reason
is simple: Different friends use different apps. In On
Device’s poll, 57% of respondents said they used a
variety of chat apps because their friends are spread out.
Given the fragmented nature of the chat app landscape
in the US, this finding is not surprising. Nor is the finding
that 42% of respondents used a variety of apps because
of special features offered.
Over the next 18 months, as mobile chatting spreads
further beyond early adopters to the larger mobile
audience and a clear leader of the US market emerges,
the need to toggle between apps to find different friends
will diminish.
MARKETING VIA CHAT APPS
A new set of media properties with more than
100 million active users is inherently interesting to
marketers.Yet the conversational nature of chat apps
has made them difficult places for brands to infiltrate.
The “no advertising” or “no traditional advertising”
stance taken by some popular chat apps certainly
hasn’t helped. Still, the speed at which this category
of apps is growing is motivating some brands
to experiment.
It is early days in the evolution of chat app marketing
but advances are being made quickly across multiple
areas, particularly content marketing, sponsorships and
native advertising. And some big brands have been
eager to jump into the chat app space to connect with
the early adopter audience and to be perceived as
trendsetters themselves.
Following are examples of marketing tactics used in
several leading chat apps. While most brand marketers
are quick to point out their efforts are experimental,
the insight into their experiences underscores how
marketing within chat apps differs from marketing on
other platforms.
CONTENT MARKETING
McDonald’s, PepsiCo,Taco Bell and fashion designer
Rebecca Minkoff are some of the brands that have
sparked conversations on messaging apps through the
distribution of custom content. McDonald’s and PepsiCo
chose WeChat for two recent campaigns and the goal for
both companies was to raise brand awareness among
WeChat’s large audience base in China.
According to a February 28, 2014 Ad Age article, PepsiCo
created a soundtrack for people to send friends their good
wishes for the Chinese NewYear.Through the WeChat
app, users could record a voice message to mix into the
PepsiCo soundtrack.They could also personalize the song
in other ways with various sound effects provided by
the brand.

McDonald’s similarly leveraged the voice capabilities of
the WeChat app, according to the Ad Age article.The fast
food brand ran a contest asking WeChat users to record
and share their best “Big Mac Rap” performed as the
host of China’s hit singing show, “The Voice of China,”
might sing it.
In both cases, the brands understood the users were
in the WeChat app to communicate and they provided
value to the users by giving them something more to talk
about with their friends and family. In other words, they
enhanced the experience of the app.
Rebecca Minkoff took a different tact on Snapchat.
Instead of creating shareable content, the fashion
designer wanted to create buzz about its Spring 2014
collection by providing a passing glance at some of the
new styles that were to debut during Mercedes-Benz
Fashion Week NewYork.
“Giving access to something that’s fleeting is a great way
to engage our community and energize a microgroup
of ardent supporters,” said Uri Minkoff, CEO of
Rebecca Minkoff.
The transient nature of content on Snapchat is also what
drewTaco Bell to the app. “Our first snap ever was letting
people know that the Beefy Crunch Burrito was going to
be back on a certain date,” said NickTran, social media
lead atTaco Bell. “That product had a cult following and
we knew the best way to give this limited-time offering
a spotlight was to provide this limited-time message
via Snapchat.”
But it’s the intimate nature of the app that broughtTaco
Bell back for more. “Once we started working in the
platform, we recognized that it was a way for users to feel
like they were a friend to the brand,”Tran said. “Rather
than it being a public-facing platform like other [social]
ones that we’ve used, it’s a one-to-one message in
most cases.”
To engage with fans in the way that fits the chat
environment,Taco Bell launched Snapchat Fridays. “Every
Friday we would release snaps and then let our friends on
the platform know that if they sent us a snap, we would
snap them back,”Tran said.Then, after the launch of the
Snapchat Stories feature,Taco Bell began sharing stories
in a broadcast fashion to a larger fan base.
With some experience under their belts, the brand
marketers and digital agency executives consulted for this
report had the following insights to share about content
marketing within mobile messaging apps.
Traditional social media is a valuable launch vehicle
for chat app campaigns: “BetweenTwitter, Facebook
and Instagram, we probably have north of 900,000 people
that have engaged with us. So those platforms were a
good announcement vehicle to drive people to our new
Snapchat experience,” said Minkoff.
The unique environment demands a unique content
strategy: “These new platforms are a whole new breed
of community platforms that require a new strategy,” said
Ron Peterson, general manager of digital agency AKQA.
“They require a new way of thinking and a new way of
approaching [users]—you have to be even more delicate
in terms of intruding into their conversations.”
An “and” not “or” mindset is needed: “We have
different fans on different platforms. At times we share
news with all of our fans and friends across all the
platforms,”Tran said. “Facebook is a broad-reach play
andTwitter is about that quick, witty engagement where
people can tweet toTaco Bell and we are able to create a
sort of conversation. Snapchat extends that relationship
further and provides the ability to do images, video, text,
as well as drawings or doodles,” he added.
Sometimes brands have to pay to play: “With a lot
of these mobile messaging services you have to post
on a platform and you can only send a few messages
per month,” said Peterson. “For instance with LINE, you
have to pay for every message that you typically send
out to your audience base.That really changes the game
for brands in the social space. Whereas in Facebook you
can post as much as you want, LINE makes a barrier
where you have to pay every time you’re going to want to
reach your audience. So you want to make sure that the
message is really sharp and it’s going to resonate with
your users.”

STICKER SPONSORSHIPS
Mobile messaging app users, particularly those who have
WeChat, KakaoTalk or LINE on their phone, converse in a
visual language based on “stickers”—imagery that is far
more sophisticated than emoticons or emoji, the preset
pictographs that can be added to text messages.
LINE has generated significant revenue by selling sticker
packages directly to its growing user base. Part of that
revenue comes from sponsored stickers, which are
stickers created by a brand.The sponsored stickers can
either be offered free to LINE users (in that case the
brand pays LINE a fee to distribute the stickers) or they
can be sold in LINE’s sticker shop, with a percentage
of the sales going to LINE. Sir Paul McCartney released
eight stickers on LINE, each selling for $1.90.
“What LINE has been doing is rather than coming up with
another banner ad [model], they’re saying ‘help us create
a new sticker pack; you can distribute that branded sticker
pack, but we’ll charge you for it,’” said AKQA’s Peterson.
“It’s a completely different model and the success
of LINE has been predicated on these sticker packs,”
Peterson said.
In August 2013, LINE announced it earned $10 million per
month from stickers.The company did not disclose what
portion of its $143 million in Q1 2014 revenue came from
its sticker business.
BlackBerry was so impressed with the revenue-generating
power of stickers, it launched its own sticker packs in April
2014.These are available in the new BBM Shop. “Stickers
are one opportunity for marketers to introduce their brand
directly into the messaging experience,” said BlackBerry’s
Proulx. “It’s probably the most intimate engagement
opportunity because [stickers are] brought in at the users’
election and they’re then directed out from the user to
their social graph of contacts inside BBM.”
Brands looking to engage BBM users can sponsor
stickers in much the same way as they can on LINE. “The
packs are either sold a la carte, or they are free of charge
at the discretion of the content owner or marketer,” Proulx
said. “In some cases, there is a publishing fee between
us and the content owner.”The WWE was among the first
brands to introduce limited-edition stickers on BBM just
prior to WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014.
At this point, stickers are far more popular among mobile
messaging users internationally, particularly those in
Asia-Pacific. Whether US consumers will flock to stickers
as enthusiastically as their international counterparts
remains to be seen. But it’s clear stickers are proving
to be a less intrusive means of engaging consumers in
mobile messaging apps.
The brand and digital agency executives consulted for
this report had the following insights to share regarding
sticker marketing.
The most effective sponsored stickers convey
emotions: “If a marketer is going to utilize stickers, they
need to think about how their brand identity is translating
in a way that is communicative, emotive and relevant to
the chat experience,” said Proulx. “You can’t think, ‘How
do I exploit that impression to present my logo or present
my iconography?’”
Speak and expand the chat language: “If consumers
are speaking in a specific way in WeChat or on LINE, or if
they’re using emojis [stickers], we can help create a new
language or help add more characters so they can speak
their language better,” said Peterson. “The No. 1 best
practice is to find a way to not just talk at our consumers
but make their [chat] experiences better.That’s the
fundamental learning that a lot of brands can take across
these new platforms.”
DISPLAYADVERTISING
Serving banners or other traditional display ad formats
within messaging apps poses several unique challenges.
On a fundamental level, injecting an ad into a live
conversation violates the basic tenets—intimacy and
privacy—ascribed to by many apps in this new category.
David Berkowitz, CMO at agency MRY, advises marketers
to be very respectful of how consumers use these
apps. Compared with posts sent to large groups on
traditional social media apps, Berkowitz contends,
“Consumers are more protective over private messaging
and [more particular about] where they’ll welcome
brand experiences.”
Likening the messaging environment to a bar setting,
Peterson underscored how unwelcome a brand
interruption can be to a conversation: “When you’re at
a bar and you’re with your friends and having a drink,
the last thing you want is a brand coming at you and
selling something.”

Audience targeting, which has been a challenge in
mobile advertising in general, is even more difficult in
chat apps. Again, the apps’ promises of privacy fly in the
face of tracking behaviors and storing data for advertising
purposes. Moreover, users have less of a need to
maintain a detailed profile—valuable demographic insight
for ad targeting—given messaging apps are less about
discovering new friends and more about chatting with
people they already know.
Lastly, the form factor of traditional display ads (banners
and rich media) is not a natural fit for one-to-one
messaging interfaces.This concerns some app developers.
For example,Tango serves only native ad formats (ads
that look like the message content). “We were really
concerned about our user experience so we decided not
to do traditional display,” saidTango’s Donahoe. Instead,
“we chose to do a native ad integration so that the
experience was as pleasant as possible to the consumers.”
Following is an example of a native ad in the messages
view of theTango app.
The insight shared by marketers consulted for this report
aligns withTango’s thinking: For display advertising to
work in a messaging environment, the form factor of
a brand’s message needs to be tailored to the chat
style. Also, given the newness of the environment, key
performance indicators used in other channels may
not apply or may be difficult to measure. Following are
some insights shared by those experienced with paid
advertising in the chat app environment.
Not all messaging apps are the same, know their
audience: “Marketers need to look into whether their
brand fits with the audience of the messaging app. Every
one of these apps … has a special consumer base,” said
Donahoe. She noted: “Tango is a very Western-oriented
messaging app. A third of our audience is in the US.
LINE, Kakao and WeChat are predominantly Eastern
or Asian-oriented messaging apps. So some of what they
do doesn’t necessarily translate as well to this
[US] audience.”
Adopt a new philosophy: “It’s a mistake for brands to
take the same philosophy, methodology and approach
that they’ve taken with Facebook andTwitter, and
other forms of advertising for that matter, and just
replicate that towards LINE, WeChat, WhatsApp,” said
AKQA’s Peterson.
Get comfortable with the analytics, or lack thereof:
“When developers build a peer-to-peer messaging
service, they’re not thinking about, ‘How do I provide
the reporting a big brand advertiser expects when they
do a mobile messaging campaign?’” said James Citron,
president of messaging platform provider Outspoken.
“So the No. 1 question that we get asked [by advertisers
considering chat apps] is, ‘If I do insert my brand in that
conversation, how do I actually track whether I’m getting
the impressions, whether I’m getting the lift?’”
Experiment: “Chat apps offer prime environments to
reach a captive audience, specifically the millennial set,”
said Dale Carr, president and CEO of mobile ad network
Leadbolt. “By participating in these popular apps with
campaigns designed to fit, complement and play back
the chat app etiquette and environment, brands have
a unique opportunity to demonstrate their relevance in
the lives of these consumers and relate to this highly
coveted audience.”

EMARKETER INTERVIEWS
Messaging Apps Bring Fun Back to Social Networking
Ben Kosinski
Founder
Sumpto
Interviewed conducted on May 9, 2104
Rebecca Minkoff Debuts Runway Collection
on Snapchat
Uri Minkoff
CEO
Rebecca Minkoff
Interview conducted on May 6, 2014
BlackBerry Calls BBM Marketing ‘Branded Inbox
Inside the Messaging Experience’
David Proulx
Senior Director, BBM Business Development
BlackBerry
Interview conducted on April 25, 2014
Got a Second? Juicy Couture on Branding Efforts
via Snapchat
Michelle Ryan
Vice President, Global Digital and Social Strategy
Juicy Couture
Snapchat Grabs Attention of Karmaloop’s
Young Shoppers
Malcolm Gray
Marketing Manager
Karmaloop
Kate Welton
Affiliate Specialist
Karmaloop
Raj Aggarwal
CEO
Localytics
David Berkowitz
CMO
MRY
Dale Carr
President and CEO
LeadBolt
James Citron
President
Outspoken
Jen Donahoe
Head of Marketing and Partner Relations
Tango
Mike Evans
Founder
ChatAds
Simon Khalaf
President and CEO
Flurry
Craig Palli
Chief Strategy Officer
Fiksu
Ron Peterson
General Manager
AKQA
Jeremy Sacco
Manager, Content and Communications
Fiksu
Interview conducted by on May 1, 2014
Marcos Sanchez
Vice President, Global Corporate
Communications
App Annie
Christel Schoger
Data Analyst
Distimo

Andy Shirey
Senior Product Manager
OpenMarket
Len Shneyder
Marketing Manager
OtherLevels
NickTran
Social Media Lead
Taco Bell
Ryan Unger
Co-founder and ChiefTechnology Officer
Punchkick
Edwin Wong
Senior Director, B2B Insights
Yahoo
RachelYouens
Social Commerce Evangelist
Wanelo
Heather Galt
Head, Marketing
Kik
RELATED EMARKETER REPORTS
Global Mobile Landscape 2014
Mobile AdTargeting: AfterYears of ‘Spray and Pray,’
Signs of Sophistication Appear
Mobile App Marketing: 10Tactics Used by Successful
App Marketers
Social Media Advertising: SevenTrends for 2014
RELATED LINKS
Analysis International
App Annie
Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de
Comunicación (AIMC)
comScore
Convergencia Research
Distimo
Facebook
Flurry
GlobalWebIndex
Informate Mobile Intelligence
Ipsos
IPG Media Lab
Juniper Research
LINE
Nielsen//NetRatings
NTTCom Research
On Device Research
Portio Research
Rakuten
Tencent
WhatsApp
EDITORIAL AND
PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTORS
Cliff Annicelli Managing Editor, Reports
Ben Clague Chart Data Specialist
Joanne DiCamillo Senior Production Artist
Noah Elkin Executive Editor
Stephanie Meyer Senior Production Artist
Dana Hill Director of Production
Kris Oser Deputy Editorial Director
Ezra Palmer Editorial Director
Heather Price Copy Editor
Katharine Ulrich Copy Editor

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Mobil Messaging Apps 2014: Digital Intimacy Attracts Users, Challenges Marketers

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