It doesn’t matter where you live, you might have heard of the multi-channel messaging app called “WeChat”. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have clicked on this link, anyway.

What you might not know yet is how it has been performing in recent years. The number of monthly active users, their most widespread behaviors, and why all of this can matter to you.

Glad you asked because we have distilled all the most recent stats about WeChat into this article. We want to provide you with only the most recent and relevant data about this go-to social media platform called WeChat.

Let’s get started, shall we?

 

What is WeChat?

1. 1.15 billion is the number of monthly active users on WeChat;
2. 6% is the increase in the number of WeChat users in 2019 compared to 2018;
3. 1 billion is the number of daily active users, according to Tencent;
4. WeChat is the fifth most popular social networking site, ranking only below the three Facebook platforms and YouTube;
5. WeChat reached the one-billion monthly active users mark one year faster than Facebook;
6. 82.3 billion RMB is the revenue of WeChat and other social media platforms belonging to Tencent;
7. 314.4 billion RMB is Tencent Holding’s worth;
8. 21.58 billion RMB was Tencent’s profit for the first three months of 2020;
9. 10.4% was the year-over-year increase in the downloads of Tencent games in February 2020;
10. 11.8% was the increase in revenue for Tencent Games in the first quarter of 2020;

 

What is WeChat?

 

Why is WeChat relevant?

1. 34% is the percentage of China’s data traffic coming from WeChat;
2. 79% is the market penetration of WeChat in China, where the platform has reached almost total market saturation;
3. 26.1 million is the number of jobs created directly and indirectly by WeChat;
4. 30% is the percentage of mobile Internet spent on WeChat in China;
5. 32.2% was the increase in month-on-month downloads of all Tencent apps in February 2020;
6. 42.9% was the increase in year-on-year growth downloads of all Tencent apps in the first quarter of 2020;
7. 12% was the year-on-year increase in Tencent’s fee-based VAS subscription in 2019, reaching 180 million;
8. 209.7 billion RMB is the WeChat-driven information consumption per year;
9. 333.9 billion is the overall impact of WeChat on traditional consumption for travel, food, shopping, tourism;

 

WeChat User Statistics

1. 98.5% is the percentage of WeChat users aged 50–80 living in China;
2. 63 million was the number of WeChat users registered as 55 years old and above in September 2018;
3. 25% is the yearly growth rate of WeChat for a few years now;
4. WeChat has grown so much that users now have over 100% more contacts than in 2015;
5. 80% is the percentage of data use on WeChat from users 60 years and up;

 

WeChat User Behaviour

1. 45 billion is the number of WeChat messages sent on a daily basis;
2. 15% was the year-on-year increase in the number of daily messages sent during the fourth quarter of 2019;
3. 66 minutes is the length of time the average user spends on WeChat every day;
4. Everyday users spend more time on WeChat than they do on Facebook (about 50 minutes);
5. 6.1 billion is the number of voice messages sent daily on WeChat;
6. 205 million is the number of video messages sent every day;
7. 17 billion is the number of photos shared each month;
8. 81.5% is the percentage of users who spend over an hour on Wechat each day;
9. 17% is the percentage of users who spend more than 4 hours every day communicating, shopping, or entertaining themselves on the platform;
10. 46TB is the data consumed on WeChat over one minute of the morning rush hour;
11. 60% is the percentage of users who open WeChat 10 times a day;
12. 83% is the percentage of WeChat users relying on the app for work purposes;
13. 750 million is the number of daily users of WeChat Moments;
14. 40.3% is the percentage of WeChat users using the platform to donate to charity;
15. 21% is the percentage of users who use the app over 50 times a day;
16. 58% is the percentage of female users who received a hongbao;
17. 42% is the percentage of male users who received a hongbao;
18. 8 pm is the peak time usage for WeChat Mini Games;
19. Peak time general usage (browsing Moments, chatting, etc.) are during the hours preceding launch and after-work hours;
20. Young Chinese WeChat users are more likely to watch animes and cartoons, while middle-aged users like to consume educational content related to parenting and children’s education;
21. WeChat male users like to share games and work-related content to their Moments, while female users prefer to share culinary and emotional content;
22. Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu are the cities where users check their WeChat Moments most often;
23. The most commonly used WeChat emojis are “facepalm”, “grin”, “chuckle”, “thumbs up”, and “rose”;
24. The top 3 songs shared to WeChat Moments in 2019 were “我和我的祖国”, “你笑起来真好看”，and “芒种”;
25. 6932 is the number of steps the average users takes every day as measured with WeChat Run;
26. 12 million is the number of users who take less than 100 steps during the weekend;
27. 23% is the percentage of users who receive likes on WeChat Run for having taken not more than 100 steps during the weekend;
28. 64% is the percentage of WeChat female users who take less than 100 steps during the weekend, as compared to 36% of male users;
29. In 2019, “海淀家具” (Haidian Furniture), “普惠” (generalized system of preferences), and “新能源” (new energy sources) were the 3 most searched keywords on WeChat by users living in Northern China. WeChat users from Southern China searched for “垃圾分类” (garbage classification), “冲鸭” (Go!), and “智能家具” (smart home);
30. 小姐姐, ETC, and 不忘初心 were the most commonly searched keywords by WeChat male users in 2019; female users were more likely to search for 口红 (lipstick), 网红 (influencers), and 吃瓜 (peanut gallery)；
31. The most commonly used words on WeChat in 2019 were 我太难了(It’s so hard for me!), 小姐姐(young lady), 正能量(positive energy), 996, 佛系(Buddha), 单生狗(single man), 雨女无瓜(rain girl), 柠檬精(jealous), 硬核 (hardcore), 妥妥的(don’t worry, it’s all taken care);
32. The most common WeChat news topics of 2019 were 黑洞(black hole), 巴陵圣母院(Notre Dame), 扫黑除恶(fight against evil), 大兴机场(Daxing Airport), 70周年(70th Anniversary of the PRC), 一带一路(One Belt One Road), 中国女排(Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team), 超级月亮(super moon), 垃圾分类(garbage classification), and 贝聿铭(Pei Yuming);
33.  

 

WeChat Official Accounts

1. 20 million is the number of active Official Accounts on WeChat;
2. 72% is the percentage of users following Official Accounts for news;
3. 41% is the percentage of users following Official Accounts for promotions;
4. 34% is the percentage of business users cutting costs considerably due to their effective and convenient Official Accounts marketing strategy;
5. 83% is the percentage of businesses satisfied with their WeChat Official Accounts;
6. 9 pm is the peak time usage for WeChat Official Accounts;

 

WeChat International

1. 70 million is the number of WeChat accounts registered outside of China;
2. 60 is the number of countries where WeChat Pay is currently available;
3. 56.9% is the percentage of Mini Programs used outside in China that are available in Europe and Russia;
4. 4.4% is the percentage of Mini Programs available in South East Asia, Oceania, South America, and North America;
5. 44% is the penetration rate of WeChat in Hong Kong;
6. 24% is the penetration rate of WeChat in Singapore;
7. 1.48 million users are using WeChat in the United States;
8. 24.28% of WeChat traffic comes from China;
9. 15.8% of WeChat traffic is generated from the US;
10. Seoul, Osaka, Jeju Island, Bangkok, and Singapore are the locations where most international users check their WeChat Moments;

 

WeChat Mini Programs

1. 450 million is the total daily active user number of WeChat Mini Programs;
2. 3.9 million is the number of Mini Programs available on WeChat;
3. 1.1 billion is the number of daily transactions on WeChat Mini Programs;
4. 93% is the increase in the number of times users are relying on WeChat Mini Programs for food delivery services during the weekend compared to the average usage during business days;
5. 53% is the increase in the number of times users using e-commerce WeChat Mini Programs during the weekend compared to the average usage during business days;
6. 53% is the percentage of users who use WeChat Mini Programs temporarily;
7. 40% is the percentage of users who use a Mini Program to avoid downloading mobile apps;
8. 67% is the percentage of e-commerce Mini Programs who are female;
9. 4 is the number of Mini Programs the average WeChat user opens every day;
10. In the first half of 2019, the number of e-commerce transactions on WeChat Mini Programs increased by 27 times compared to the same period of the previous year;
11. Peak time usage for Mini Programs are before and after lunch, as well as after work and after dinner;
12. Young Chinese female users rely on WeChat Mini Programs for e-commerce shopping, while middle-aged female users are more likely to use them for entertainment;

 

WeChat Pay

1. 900 million is the number of monthly active users of WeChat Pay;
2. Over 50% is the percentage of users of WeChat Pay compared to AliPay users;
3. 50 million is the number of businesses using WeChat Pay in China on a total of 72 million registered businesses;
4. 2.5 million is the number of convenience stores using WeChat Pay;
5. 70% is the percentage of small and medium-sized merchants covered by WeChat Pay;
6. 76% was the year-on-year increase in the daily average number of WeChat cross-border payments in 2019;
7. 70% was the year-on-year increase in the daily average number of users of WeChat Pay in 2019;
8. 79.4% is the percentage of outlets in China using WeChat Pay;
9. 100 million is the number of users who have bought WeChat’s personal finance products;
10. 45% is the percentage of users using WeChat Pay for online shopping;
11. Half of the users use WeChat Pay for necessities like food and grocery shopping;
12. 40% is the survival rate of WeChat Stores per year;
13. 35.90% is the percentage of users born after the 90s who are using WeChat Wallet regularly, and 30% is the usage percentage for those born after the 80s;
14. 59% is the percentage of male WeChat users paying for their meals, compared to 41% of female users;
15. 57% is the percentage of supermarket purchases made by female users, compared to 43% of male users;
16. In 2019, the top 3 industries to see the highest increase in the number of payments made with WeChat Pay were government services (+190%), healthcare (+107%), and education (+80%);

 

WeChat Work Stats

1. 80% is the percentage of top 500 businesses in China that are corporate users on WeChat Work;
2. 2.5 million companies are served by WeChat Work;
3. 60 million is the number of monthly active users on WeChat Work;

 

What’s Up Next

Leverage the potential of WeChat marketing for your business!

We are a Google Ads Experience Center operating through all Southern China. Our brand’s name is EhaiTech but we are a Google Premier Partner. We have helped more than 500 Chinese and international brands to reach their target audience, both in China and overseas.

We are ready to help you get the most out of WeChat marketing. Are you ready too?

Contact us today!