The news: Over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps—including WhatsApp, WeChat, and Telegram—will reach 5.2 billion users globally by 2028, surpassing half of the world’s population, per Juniper Research.

That’s a 16% jump from 4.4 billion in 2025, fueled by smartphone adoption and expanding network infrastructure in emerging markets. Juniper forecasts global OTT traffic will rise from 103.9 trillion in 2025 to 216.6 trillion in 2030.

Why it matters: We forecast US daily time spent on OTT messaging will remain at 25 minutes between 2024 and 2027—indicating saturation in mature markets even as global user counts climb due to OTT’s growth in emerging markets.

With attention capped, brands can’t rely on time-spent growth and must compete for quality engagement within a fixed window.

Another roadblock arises as application-to-person (A2P) marketing restrictions tighten and apps prioritize user conversations over brand messages.

The opportunity: Enter click-to-chat. Rather than fighting platform restrictions, brands can drive engagement through customer-initiated touchpoints like website buttons, ads, and QR codes. These are captive interfaces that improve conversion potential and data quality without triggering marketing limits:

• Click-to-chat enables first-party data capture while preserving user experience.
• Conversational commerce becomes viable without flooding OTT channels with promotional traffic.

Recommendations for brands: Flat US OTT messaging engagement confirms volume-based strategies have hit their ceiling.

• CMOs must pivot from reach metrics to conversation quality. Deploy click-to-chat entry points for consumers, such as pre-purchase guidance, checkout, and post-purchase support.
• Automation is essential. The volume of incoming messages could become overwhelming, particularly for lean teams. Prepare chatbots for specific use cases, backed by CRM data for personalization.

Brands treating OTT as a dialogue channel, not a broadcast medium, can capture disproportionate loyalty in an attention-constrained environment.