During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, we here at 42matters wrote a number of blog posts dedicated to tracking the performance of the video conferencing app market. We noted that platforms like Microsoft Teams, ZOOM, and Skype were well positioned during the pandemic since they enabled businesses to remain productive while employees were required by law to work from home.

At the time, we examined the correlation between government-mandated lockdowns and the adoption of video conferencing technologies. According to our data, downloads of the Android version of Microsoft Teams exploded on March 11th, the same date the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a pandemic.

So, in this article, we wanted to revisit these trends. We’ve leveraged our app intelligence tools to analyze three of the most dominant video conferencing apps on the market, comparing global downloads and top chart performances as we approach the waning days of the pandemic.

Click the links below to jump to a particular section:

• Microsoft Teams by Microsoft Corporation
• ZOOM Cloud Meetings by zoom.us
• Skype - free IM & video calls by Skype
• Conclusion
  
  

Microsoft Teams by Microsoft Corporation

During the COVID economy, Microsoft Teams emerged as one of the big winners in the video conferencing market. In fact, downloads for ‘Teams’ came so early and so fast that we were writing about their staggering success as early as April, 2020 — just one month after the beginning of lockdowns!

And, despite some “falling back to earth,” the tech giant’s video conferencing app continues to perform incredibly well globally. Check it out, here are download estimates for the Android version of Microsoft Teams in the period between January 1st, 2020 and June 30th, 2021:

In total, ‘Teams’ racked up a whopping 175,541,392 downloads on Google Play in this timeframe. This includes:

• 28,320,114 in India
• 21,553,665 in the United States
• 19,227,736 in Brazil
• 6,786,595 in Germany
• 5,633,885 in the United Kingdom
• 94,019,397 in the rest of of the world (ROW)

What’s more, ‘Teams’ continues to perform well on Google Play’s global top charts. It’s currently listed in the top 50 overall apps in five different countries:

And it makes the top 100 in 11 more:

It’s also worth drawing your attention to the third column there, labeled ‘Business.’ Despite some downward trending rankings in the ‘Overall’ category, Microsoft Teams is still dominant in the ‘Business’ apps category. Indeed, the app falls below the top 20 in just one country — Iran.

Not too shabby!

For more insight into the performance of Microsoft Teams, set up a meeting!

ZOOM Cloud Meetings by zoom.us

A sure indicator of ZOOM’s success over the past couple of years is the fact that the phrase “jump on a zoom” has wormed its way into the common corporate lexicon, joining the ranks of ‘ping,’ ‘circle back,’ ‘bandwidth,’ and ‘Google’ used as a verb.

All kidding aside, the ZOOM Cloud Meetings app has been a dominant presence in the global app landscape. With shares trading around 390 dollars a pop, the company is currently valued at over 100 billion U.S. dollars. And for good reason, too. The app’s download numbers are absolutely gaudy. Here’s how the Android version of ZOOM performed from January 1st, 2020 and June 30th, 2021:

ZOOM generated an incredible 572,015,331 downloads on Google Play over this period of time, including:

• 94,416,732 in India
• 59,018,391 in the United States
• 53,361,180 in Brazil
• 30,943,998 in Indonesia
• 18,093,056 in Mexico
• 314,181,974 in ROW

As with ‘Teams,’ ZOOM continues to flourish on Google Play’s global top charts. It’s currently listed in the top 50 overall apps in 23 different countries:

And it makes the top 100 in 13 more:

Remarkably, ZOOM even outperforms ‘Teams’ in the ‘Business’ category, where it routinely ranks first and rarely falls below the third spot. Indeed, ZOOM’s lowest marks in this category are 5th place outings in Denmark, Lithuania, and Ukraine.

To learn more about the Android and iOS versions of ZOOM, set up a call!

Skype - free IM & video calls by Skype

Skype is an elder statesman of the instant messaging and video conferencing world. First launched in 2003, the company was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 and quickly became an integral part in numerous of the company’s projects, providing Internet-powered video chat and voice call services for computers, tablets, mobile devices, Xbox gaming consoles, and smartwatches.

While the app didn’t quite achieve ZOOM’s lofty high-water mark, the Android version of Skype still has over one billion total downloads. Here’s how many global downloads it received from January 1st, 2020 to June 30th, 2021:

Skype was downloaded 253,162,205 times on Google Play, including:

• 25,101,115 in the United States
• 21,910,691 in Russia
• 21,883,940 in India
• 18,244,657 in Brazil
• 9,331,496 in the Philippines
• 156,690,306 in ROW

However, unlike its video conferencing compatriots, Skype has not performed well in Google Play’s global top charts. It’s not currently ranked in any of the overall country rankings:

Nevertheless, Skype continues to rank highly among ‘Communication’ apps.

And, quick parenthetical here, if you’re wondering how Skype can generate ~80 million more downloads than ‘Teams’ over the same time period and fail to rank in global top charts, you’re not alone — Google’s ranking system is a bit of a black box. But one thing we know for certain is that pure downloads are not the only factor the company considers. Other things taken into account include download velocity, recent downloads, ratings and reviews, and signs of user retention.

Want more Skype insights? Let's talk!

Conclusion

Of the three major video conferencing solutions, ZOOM had by far the best pandemic performance, drumming up roughly twice as many downloads as Skype and almost three times as many as ‘Teams.’ Still, it’s hard not to view Microsoft’s two contributions as major winners — both more than held their own in an exceptionally competitive market.

It should also be noted that ZOOM, Skype, and ‘Teams’ aren’t alone in the video conferencing game. Other companies, like Slack, Cisco WebEx, GoToMeeting, and Facebook have also carved out sizable niches in the business and communications landscape.

Of course, with so many people hurting, it’s almost perverse to talk about “winners” in the COVID economy. But it’s important to remember that, without these winners, things would have been much, much worse.

Indeed, the pandemic functioned as a sort of stress test, trying the durability of practically every sector of the global economy. Viewed in this context, the fact that video conferencing passed with flying colors is greatly encouraging.

Consider this, back in 2019, the video conferencing market was valued at 4.8 billion U.S. dollars. Today, after 18+ months of COVID, it’s valued at 9.2 billion U.S. dollars, putting it on pace to crack 22.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.

What’s more, with the advent of 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and other such technologies, businesses will be able to build increasingly sophisticated video conferencing and digital communications solutions, promising an even brighter future for digital (and real) life.

More App and App Market Intelligence from 42matters

At 42matters, we provide app data, insights, and analytics via a host of useful APIs, file dumps, and the 42matters Explorer. This includes:

• Developer details
• Downloads
• Ratings, reviews, and top chart rankings
• Categories, genres, and IAB categories
• Technical insights, including SDKs, permissions, and app-ads.txt
• And more

The 42matters Explorer, which you can try free for 14 days, is an app market research tool that offers a comprehensive look at app trends and statistics. This includes data on both iOS and Android apps.

Moreover, our APIs facilitate programmatic access to app intelligence data from Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent MyApp, and a host of connected TV app stores, including the Roku Channel Store, Apple TV tvOS App Store, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV Apps, LG Content Store, and Vizio SmartCast Apps.

To learn more about 42matters, schedule a meeting with one of our app market experts. We'll walk you through everything.