The number of people using over-the-top (OTT) messaging applications worldwide is projected to surpass 5.2 billion by 2028, representing more than half of the global population, according to a new study released by Juniper Research.
The research indicates that global OTT messaging users will rise by about 16 percent from the estimated 4.4 billion users recorded in 2025. Analysts attribute the projected growth largely to increasing smartphone penetration and continued investment in telecommunications infrastructure across emerging markets.
OTT messaging platforms, which allow users to send messages via the internet rather than traditional cellular networks, have grown rapidly over the past decade as mobile users shift toward richer, more interactive communication channels. Popular applications within this category include WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber and iMessage.
According to the study, the rapid expansion of these platforms is expected to reshape how enterprises communicate with customers, particularly in the areas of marketing, customer engagement and digital commerce.
Growing enterprise reliance on OTT platforms
As OTT messaging adoption expands, businesses are increasingly integrating these platforms into their communication strategies to reach customers through the channels they use most frequently.
The research suggests that companies are taking advantage of the advanced capabilities offered by OTT messaging, such as multimedia content, interactive features and real-time engagement, to strengthen marketing campaigns and customer interactions.
However, industry analysts caution that OTT platforms are likely to place limits on excessive promotional messaging to preserve the core value of personal communication between users.
Ardit Ballhysa, senior research analyst at Juniper Research, explained that although enterprise messaging via OTT channels is expected to increase, platform providers will likely restrict marketing activities in order to protect the integrity of person-to-person communication.
He noted that brands may need to adopt alternative engagement strategies to fully benefit from the growing popularity of OTT messaging.
“While enterprise use of Application-to-Person messaging through OTT channels will continue to grow, platforms will look to restrict marketing usage in order to maintain the value of person-to-person communication,” Ballhysa said.
He added that businesses may increasingly rely on tools such as click-to-chat features to initiate conversations with customers without violating messaging restrictions imposed by platform operators.
Click-to-chat expected to gain momentum
Juniper Research expects click-to-chat functionality to play a central role in the future of digital customer engagement. The feature enables users to initiate conversations directly with a business by clicking a link embedded in websites, advertisements or social media posts.
This approach allows companies to begin interactive conversations with customers without sending unsolicited messages that could be perceived as spam.
Industry analysts believe that click-to-chat tools will also help businesses gather customer insights and support the growth of conversational commerce, where transactions and service interactions occur directly within messaging platforms.
Despite its potential benefits, the study notes that some companies may hesitate to deploy click-to-chat solutions due to concerns about managing increased volumes of inbound customer messages.
To address this challenge, Juniper Research recommends that mobile messaging vendors provide integrated automation tools such as chatbots that can handle routine customer queries and scale responses efficiently.
Ballhysa emphasised that automation technologies will become essential as customer engagement through messaging channels continues to expand.
“Enterprises may hesitate to implement click-to-chat if they do not have the systems and resources to handle the increase in incoming messaging traffic,” he said, noting that messaging providers must make chatbot solutions easier for businesses to deploy and manage.
Smartphone growth driving messaging expansion
The report also highlighted the strong link between rising smartphone adoption and the continued expansion of mobile messaging services.
Affordable smartphones have played a major role in accelerating connectivity in developing regions, allowing millions of new users to access internet-based communication platforms.
As smartphone usage increases, consumers are gravitating toward messaging services that offer richer communication experiences compared with traditional text messaging services such as SMS and MMS.
These internet-based platforms allow users to share multimedia content, voice notes, files and video messages, features that have contributed significantly to their widespread adoption.
The research firm noted that by the end of 2025, OTT messaging platforms had already accounted for the majority of global mobile messaging traffic.
The dominance of these platforms is particularly evident in countries where specific apps have become the primary communication channel for large segments of the population. For instance, WeChat remains the dominant messaging platform in China, while WhatsApp has achieved widespread adoption in India.
Together, these two countries account for roughly 35 percent of the world’s population, significantly influencing the overall volume of global OTT messaging traffic.
Email and social media messaging remain key channels
While OTT messaging dominates overall mobile messaging traffic, the report indicates that email continues to play a major role in digital communication, particularly in corporate and formal business environments.
In 2025, email ranked as the second-largest contributor to global messaging traffic. Despite the growth of OTT channels, businesses still rely heavily on email for business-to-consumer communication, especially for official notifications, account updates and transactional messages.
Email also remains the primary communication channel for business-to-business interactions due to its reliability, documentation capabilities and universal accessibility.
Following email, social media messaging emerged as the next largest segment of digital messaging traffic.
Applications such as Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok and X are increasingly being used not only for social interaction but also for customer engagement between businesses and consumers.
Juniper Research noted that the growing number of digital-native users, particularly younger consumers, is accelerating the adoption of social media messaging platforms.
These users are drawn to features such as content sharing, direct messaging and interactive engagement tools that are deeply integrated into social media ecosystems.
To retain users within their platforms, many social media companies have expanded messaging functionalities, transforming their services into comprehensive communication hubs.
Declining reliance on traditional SMS
According to the study, the expansion of OTT and social media messaging is gradually reducing reliance on traditional SMS messaging.
Both consumers and enterprises are increasingly migrating to internet-based messaging platforms that offer richer communication features and more engaging experiences.
Juniper Research expects this shift to continue as mobile network infrastructure improves and smartphone access expands across developing regions.
The study concludes that investments in network infrastructure and affordable mobile devices will remain critical drivers of messaging growth globally, particularly in emerging markets where millions of new smartphone users are coming online each year.
