42matters | Impact of COVID-19 on Video Conferencing Apps Downloads

(18 January 2021) On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization officially labeled the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a pandemic. In response, governments across the globe issued a variety of edicts aimed at attenuating the spread of the disease. However, as pragmatic as national quarantines may be, they nevertheless impose substantial economic consequences. App download statistics provide some intriguing insights into the ramifications of such measures.

During an era of social distancing and “Shelter in Place” orders, technologies like video chat, instant messaging, webcams, and high-speed Wi-Fi give people the ability to stay connected to family, friends, and colleagues all over the world. Moreover, platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype and others enable businesses to remain productive while employees are required by law to work from home. For this reason, 42matters has kept an eye on the trajectory of video conferencing apps as the pandemic has unfolded.

• 42 Matters analyzed app download statistics from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and confirmed the extreme popularity of video conferencing apps. In March 2020, video conferencing apps saw a record 58 million downloads - 23 times the download volume in January 2020.
• Zoom was the most downloaded video conferencing app globally. In March 2020, Zoom accounted for 8 of  every 10 video conferencing apps downloads.