San Francisco, April, 2020 — Rakuten Viber, one of the world’s largest communication platforms, has increased its capacity for core features and created a number of initiatives around togetherness and positive mental attitude during the global COVID-19 outbreak. The result is a significant increase in usage worldwide.
The most popular features right now are group messages and calls. The number of group messages sent rose 134%, and the number of group calls received by the average Viber user rose 370% in the past two weeks. The average number of Сommunity engagement rose 78%, with initiatives such as providing Washington Post news updates and helping to spread valuable information on safety procedures to Viber’s user base during periods of isolation.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19:
- The number of new daily active Viber users increased by 18% in March
- The number of new users registering for the app daily rose 25%
- People are making longer calls – call duration increased by 35%
- Users sent 75% more videos
“During this challenging time, we are adapting and responding to help keep friends and families, students and teachers, coworkers and partners, in constant contact with each other. Our users rely on us, and we will continue enhancing their experience while keeping people connected freely and safely,” said Rakuten Viber CEO, Djamel Agaoua.
In particular, the following changes have also occurred in the application:
- The number of participants in audio calls on Viber increased from 5 to 20 people at a time;
- To spread the word about the importance of current healthcare guidance, Viber sent a message with safety instructions from WHO to several million people in 22 languages;
- To help people separate fact from fiction about the coronavirus, Viber is launching an official WHO bot and is working with Unicef U-Reports to deliver real-time updates and information about the coronavirus in multiple languages to help people separate fact from fiction about the coronavirus;
- To disseminate official information about COVID-19, Viber, together with local health authorities, launched official communities in 12 countries where users can receive official and trusted information about the pandemic and precautionary measures;
- The app launched a new “stay home” sticker campaign to keep people entertained to get through these trying times.
