Of this massive cohort of social networkers, 811.0 million will be WeChat users this year. There is nowhere else in the world where one app has so many users in one market. When a previously offline consumer in China acquires their first ever smartphone, often their very first action is to open a WeChat account (and WeChat was probably preloaded on the phone).

TikTok is now the third-largest worldwide social network, according to our inaugural forecast. It will have 60% more users than Snapchat and twice as many as Twitter this year.

The number of mobile messaging app users worldwide will rise by 6.1% in 2021, and new business features facilitate brand-consumer interactions.

Chinese authorities are reportedly considering roping WeChat Pay into the spin-off, which may further complicate regulatory matters for Tencent.

Payments are transacted directly in the app through WeChat Pay, an integrated payment service that requires users only to input a password to pay with their stored information from WeChat’s mobile wallet. There’s nothing quite like WeChat in the US (or elsewhere in the world). Both the social media and ecommerce landscapes in the West are much more decentralized.

In 2019, 94.5% of internet users in China will be social network users. That amounts to just 59.0% of the country’s population. This report covers the trends shaping the market, as well as our first-ever user forecast for the popular short-video platform Douyin and updated estimates for WeChat and Sina Weibo.

In April 2016, WeCom launched as WeChat Work in China, to only moderate success. The pandemic has turbocharged its user growth, however. The app’s integration with WeChat and arsenal of business features will make it a valuable asset for marketers even after offices reopen.

As WeChat enters its second decade, Allen Zhang Xiaolong, chief architect of the super app, pledged at an annual conference to make videos its cornerstone in the coming years. More specifically, Zhang spotlighted Channels, its short-form video feature, and a more seamless user experience with official accounts and miniprograms (lightweight apps within WeChat that require minimal downloading and disappear after use).

Tencent-owned WeChat will remain China’s leading mobile messaging app with 705.4 million monthly users in 2020, according to our estimates.

Alipay counts an estimated 1.22 billion users (87.3% of the population), and WeChat Pay has 1.02 billion (72.7%), according to 2021 Boku data—reach that allows most users to pay with mobile most of the time. Simple Usage. Alipay and WeChat Pay wallets are embedded in experiences across consumers’ lives.

These lightweight “apps within an app”—similar in concept to WeChat Mini Programs—allow media and commerce app developers to provide an experience all within the platform. There’s a lot of potential, but it hinges on attracting app developers, brands’ willingness to invest in building into the platform, and user adoption of these experiences.

Our new forecast for global mobile messaging app users shows that the pandemic has accelerated adoption of OTT messaging services, though not in every country nor to the same degree for every app.

Minis will allow users to do things like order movie tickets or compare class schedules. Developers can build their own apps, which can be shared between users through Chat. The new feature is reminiscent of Mini Programs on China’s super app WeChat and could help expand social commerce opportunities on Snapchat. Advancements in Lenses tech including voice activation and scan. 

PDD’s ecommerce sales (as listed above) include sales processed via its WeChat Mini Program, which is how the majority of its users access its services. JD also gets a lot of traction from its WeChat Mini Program, although not as much as PDD does. These sales can be defined as social commerce or not social commerce, depending on which bottom line is under discussion.

Within four years, we expect more than 782 million people to be monthly users. Sina Weibo—a service similar to Twitter—is also popular, though it will have about 300 million fewer users than WeChat this year, and a sizable gap will remain between the user groups through the forecast period. More than 41% of China’s internet users will be Weibo users in 2019.

Investment in the social commerce space by Tencent’s WeChat—particularly with the 2017 launch of its lite apps called Mini Programs—has certainly helped garner trust and bolster usage among the general public. To date, many major online retailers and brands in China have created Mini Programs to sell their products directly within the WeChat platform.