Surprise! Viber surpasses Line in monthly active users

Viber received a prominent spot in Rakuten’s latest financial report and for good reason. The messaging app, which has struggled to escape Line’s shadow, is finally standing in the sun. With 209 million monthly active users (MAU) as of October 2014, Viber is trouncing Line’s 170 million. Total unique IDs are sitting at 449 million, well shy of Line’s 560 million.

Viber also seems to be doing a more effective job of spreading around the world. 12 percent of smart mobile device owners globally use Viber, compared to Line’s 10 percent. Viber’s user base also appears to be well spread out. It’s strongest region is APAC, where about 30 percent of its users reside. Western Europe, with just a tick under 20 percent of users, is its number two region.

The diffusion means it is climbing the app revenue charts around the world. Rakuten says Viber is the top grossing iOS messaging app in 34 countries, compared to Line’s eight.

The statistic is impressive but a bit distorting. App Annie’s most recent worldwide roundup shows Line is still king of app revenue for iOS and Google Play. Viber is not found in the top 10 for revenue under either operating app store.

Revenue related to Viber could rise over the next three months, however. It has integrated with Rakuten IDs in Japan, where the company recorded approximately US$1.29 billion in revenue this past quarter. Getting monthly active users is nice but Rakuten did not pay US$900 million just for vanity metrics.

Adding Rakuten IDs comes at a perfect time, since Line is about to add services like payments, taxi hailing, and food delivery, as well as content like music, manga, and gaming.

Disclosure: The writer is a former employee of Rakuten, Inc. For more, please see our Statement of Ethics.
See: Rakuten: Viber has 608 million registered accounts, is the future of our company