WhatsApp grows by 50% in 2015

WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, shows 50% growth since April

WhatsApp, a cross-platform mobile messaging service, hit more than 900 million active users last quarter, showing record growth since Facebook purchased them for $22 billion in 2014. In the past six months alone, the app has added 100 million users.

This growth milestone represents a 50% increase in WhatsApp’s user base since August of 2014, when it topped 600 million users.

In comparison, Twitter and Instagram each have about 300 million monthly active users, while Facebook Messenger, the social network’s other messaging platform, has 700 million users in total.  Facebook itself recently exceeded 1.5 billion monthly active users. Admittedly, the reliability of monthly active users has been called into question, as it doesn’t account for messages sent or time spent on the app. A user might only spend a few minutes per month on the platform, and still be considered an active user. Still, it’s a major milestone for a relatively new service.

Despite their 50% growth in users, WhatsApp has yet to prove how it will monetize its impressive base. Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg points to the Facebook monetization playbook; the company will look to get people organically interacting with businesses on Messenger and WhatsApp, before allowing companies to pay to reach customers. We’ve seen the beginnings of this strategy rollout with the addition of Facebook Messenger’s personal assistant component in August.

 

Facebook-owned Instagram’s advertising model may be a sign of the success to come down the road. Although Facebook has yet to release figures on how advertising on Instagram is performing, eMarketer estimates Instagram will bring in $595 million in ad revenue in 2015.

WhatsApp grows by 50% in 2015