From October 2017, the growth of Snapchat seems to have levelled off. This could be related to the new interface introduced at the beginning of the year and which was criticised by many Snapchat users.
In the Netherlands, young people mainly use Snapchat. About 73 percent of all youth 12-19 years old has the app installed on the smartphone. The use of Snapchat is considerably lower in older age groups.
iMessage grows 44 percent in 2.5 years
IMessage, the messaging platform of Apple, has also grown rapidly in two years. The rise is attributed to the increasing use of iPhones among the youngest age categories. The use of iPhones among youth of 12-19 lifted by 13 percentage points to 52 percent in the last quarter of 2017, compared to the first quarter of 2016. In 2.5 years, iMessage has grown by 44 percent.
Penetration for WhatsApp hits 96 percent
WhatsApp is by far the most used messaging app in the Netherlands. WhatsApp was installed on 12,260,000 smartphones in the Netherlands in April, or 96 percent of all Dutch smartphones. In recent years, there has been a clear connection in the absolute growth of WhatsApp and the growth of smartphone penetration in the Netherlands. Installation of WhatsApp seems to have hit its plateau at 96 percent, relative to its installed base. If it grows further, that will be thanks to the growing use of smartphones among the elderly.
Installed base of Skype drops 28 percent in 2 years
Skype and Facebook Messenger have both lost ground. Skype has fallen the hardest. Two and a half years ago, Skype was in the top three among the most installed messaging apps; in April of this year, that ranking fell to the bottom of the five messaging apps on the market, in terms of installation. At its peak in July 2016, Skype had almost 3.5 million installations. In April of this year, that number fell to just under 2.5 million. Recent changes in the Skype interface seem to be the main cause of the decline.
Dutch accelerate removal of Facebook Messenger from their smartphones
The Dutch have been removing Facebook Messenger more from their smartphones over the past two quarters. In October 2017, Facebook Messenger was installed on 8,010,000 Dutch smartphones; the number is falling. In January of this year, the number of Facebook Messenger installations was almost 2 percent lower than in October 2017. In April, the decline was 6.5 percent compared to October. The accelerated decline in the use of the app is likely due to the recent data scandals at Facebook. Also, the use of Facebook Messenger is much below that of WhatsApp.
