Zoom cloud meetings, Hangouts Meet and other video conferencing apps have seen a high increase in downloads following the adoption of remote working by businesses.
According to a new report by App Annie, global downloads of business conferencing apps hit a record growth of 62 million in the third week of March (14-21).
Ever since the Covid-19 virus broke out a few months ago, the world has seen a rapid change that has affected how people and businesses carry out their day to day activities.
From remote working and social distancing to government lockdown, several measures are being taken to curb the spread of the virus. These measures have consequently increased the adoption of mobile for businesses and people.
As more countries adopt lockdown and quarantine measures, businesses and staff have turned to video conferencing apps for work collaboration and meetings.
As a result, the number of downloads of video conferencing apps spiked exponentially, recording the highest growth among any category across
iOS and Google Play store between March 14 and March 21, 2020.
According to the report, the frequency of download rose 45% from the prior week in march and up 90% from the weekly average recorded in 2019.
Zoom has the highest number of downloads globally
Zoom Cloud Meetings topped the download charts worldwide in the months of February and March. During the week of March 15-21, its downloads rose 14 times more than the weekly average during Q4 2019 in the US. In the UK, it rose 20 times more, 22 times more in France and 55 times more in Italy.
As more employees work from home globally, the demand for tools like video conferencing apps which provide communication and foster collaboration is expected to increase.
Presently, Google is giving access to its Hangouts Meet premium paid features for free. Microsoft is also offering a free 6-month subscription to Microsoft Teams and Zoom is offering K-12 students free. These offerings give businesses that haven’t ordinarily paid for these services access to its essential tools especially with the work from home policy being adopted globally.
With uncertainty surrounding the length of social isolation caused by the virus and when lockdowns will be lifted, video conferencing apps have the potential to help businesses keep running.
Yetunde Adegoke
