Viber reports 8 million users in Philippines and 8 million in Vietnam too

According to a tweet from the CEO of Viber, Talmon Marco, the chat app has over eight million users in the Philippines and another eight million in Vietnam.

8MM users in Vietnam, 8MM in the Philippines. $0 on advertising. #Viber

— Talmon Marco (@duras) November 28, 2013

But of course, since Whatsapp has never given out regional numbers, it is not clear where the world’s top chat app fits into the Southeast Asian picture.

The thrilla in Manila

In the Philippines, Viber has not been aggressive on advertising. Viber’s strongest point in the country is that it was the first chat app to arrive in the country. It has even partnered with a Philippine telco to allow people to use Viber over mobile data for free.

In comparison, its competitors such as Line, WeChat and KakaoTalk, have been very bullish on TV advertisements, using celebrities to pull in new users. We’ve even seen a spike of downloads on KakaoTalk after it rolled out TV ads.

As for WeChat, Tencent is now looking into opening an office in the Philippines.

Viber zings Zalo in Vietnam

In Vietnam, Viber might be at the head of the pack. Zalo, Vietnam’s homegrown messaging app, reported over five million users in September, and my source at VNG, the company behind Zalo, confirmed with me that Zalo is nearing seven million users right now. In other words, Zalo is a close second. Apps like WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk were eager to post nation-by-nation numbers this summer, but have since staved off publicly disclosing numbers. This may be due to a slowdown in growth in the face of local competitors and Viber.

Looking forward, we may be seeing a fierce battle between Viber and Zalo. Zalo has been very aggressive in marketing via TV and offline ads for its chat service, and Viber has indicated a new focus on Asia. The latest tweet from the CEO of Viber, as well as their attendance at our Startup Asia Jakarta event last week, clearly indicates that the company is looking more intently at Asia. After all, more than a third of its users are now here.

(With contributions from Phoebe Magdrilla. Edited by Steven Millward)