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Timeline: The March to a Billion Users [Chart]

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Timeline: The March to a Billion Users [Chart]

The March to a Billion Users

How long did it take for each app to hit the 1B mark?

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

With approximately 3.3 billion people now using the internet, how hard can it possibly be to reach one billion of them each month?

It turns out that it’s quite a challenge.

Apple, the largest company by market capitalization, doesn’t have a single product with that kind of penetration.

WeChat, which is the most popular mobile messaging app in China, couldn’t reach one billion active users even if it was used by every single person with a smartphone in China. That’s why the app “only” has 650 million active users right now.

Meanwhile, names such as Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram all boast hundreds of millions of users. However, none of these are able to yet have the global market penetration to reach the coveted billion mark.

The Big Three

So far, the only companies in possession of apps or programs with more than one billion active users are Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.

Amazingly, Google alone has seven of them: Search, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Android, Chrome, and Play. The last of these to reach the one billion mark was Gmail, as per Alphabet’s announcement earlier this month during an earnings call.

Google also has the app that reached one billion users the quickest: Android did it in only 5.8 years.

Facebook also has three apps that can make the billion user claim. Facebook itself has the largest audience out of all of these apps, with 1.59 billion monthly active users. WhatsApp, which Facebook bought for $22 billion in October 2014, has also recently announced on its blog that it also surpassed the one billion user mark. This now fulfills a promise that Mark Zuckerberg made to Facebook shareholders at the deal’s outset.

Lastly, there’s Microsoft’s Windows and Office products, which are the only paid products that could crack the list. They took the longest to get there: 25.8 years and 21.7 years respectively.

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Explained: Life in the Metaverse

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist partnered with Scottish Mortgage to explore the incredible potential of the metaverse.

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Teaser graphic of a bubble chart showing growth in market size of the metaverse industry.

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The following content is sponsored by Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust

Life in the Metaverse

By 2026, a quarter of the world’s population will spend an hour daily in a metaverse. 

But what makes the metaverse so exciting? 

In this graphic, we partnered with Scottish Mortgage to understand the opportunities the metaverse presents and learn more about its history. 

But first, let’s explore what the metaverse is.

What is the Metaverse?   

Simply put, the metaverse is a collection of immersive, interactive, and, most importantly, interconnected digital worlds where users can participate in various activities they may not be able to do in reality, from skydiving to sword fighting. 

The possibilities inherent within a digital world are staggering, so it’s no wonder the metaverse’s market size is growing steadily:

YearGlobal Metaverse Market Size
2022$46.1B
2023$56.7B
2024$74.4B
2025$103.6B
2026$150.1B
2027$219.6B
2028$312.5B
2029$415.3B
2030$507.8B

What Makes the Metaverse So Exciting? 

Being immersed in a digital reality has exciting prospects for consumers and organisations. But most people currently view it as an extension of their digital lives.

In a recent survey, people were most interested in the work and entertainment opportunities presented by the metaverse.

Reason to Join% Respondents
Work possibilities52%
Art & Live Events48%
Investments44%
Education40%
Socialising32%
Gaming29%

Note: Study participants selected all the options that suited them.

Companies are leveraging the metaverse differently, however. Many see this as an opportunity to expand their product lines into areas consumers may not expect and develop their advertising reach into new media. 

Coca-Cola, for example, launched its drink Zero Sugar Byte in the metaverse before doing so physically. Hyundai also developed a metaverse game called Hyundai Mobility Adventure that gives consumers a view into the company’s vision for tomorrow’s mobility.

The Potential of Digital Events

Today, however, we can glimpse the metaverse’s potential by looking at the current landscape of digital events. 

While digital events have only just begun on metaverse platforms, digital events can already scale beyond the possibilities of physical events, enabling millions of people from all over the globe to attend live:

RankEvent NameNumber of Peak Viewers
1NASA and SpaceX Launch Astronauts into Space, 202010,123,124
2#PS5 The Future of Gaming Show, 20207,384,771
3League of Legends World Championship, 20236,402,760
4Free Fire World Series Singapore, 20215,415,990
5League of Legends World Championship, 20225,147.701

A Brief History of the Metaverse

Author Neal Stephenson first introduced the metaverse in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. However, the metaverse took a further decade to become a virtual world. Second Life, a virtual reality game released by Linden Lab in 2003, made this concept a reality and helped create an industry worth billions.

The next major milestone for the metaverse was the release of Fortnite in 2017. The game that started as a simple battle royale has expanded to incorporate concerts, brand partnerships, and more. Fortnite had over 230 million active monthly users in January 2024.

Investing in the Metaverse

The metaverse is growing more prominent every year, as is the scope of what these new digital worlds offer. So, it’s no surprise that the metaverse is one of the world’s most fascinating industries. 

Scottish Mortgage exposes you to a portfolio of the world’s most exciting growth companies, like those pioneering the metaverse. 

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Invest in progress today with scottishmortgage.com

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