Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Zoom has become a household name, in some markets becoming a verb – people will “zoom” rather than “have a video chat.” Now, as parts of the world slowly emerge from lockdowns – and perhaps return to the office – YouGov data shows just how widespread Zoom is around the globe and how it compares to other competing services.
Close to half (46%) of consumers in 17 markets around the world use Zoom to communicate on a regular basis, while about three in ten (29%) use Microsoft Teams and a quarter (25%) use Skype.
Companies around the world scrambled to quickly set up employees with communication tools to use while working remotely and Zoom came out an early winner and has sustained its position as the most-used service.
Microsoft Teams, which positioned itself as a secure platform on which to make video calls, does have a robust userbase, and our data shows it is widely used in many parts of Europe, beating out Zoom in the United Kingdom (where 49% of workers use it regularly), Sweden (44%), and Denmark (51%) and Poland (29%).chart
Skype, also owned by Microsoft, also has robust numbers and is the preferred service among the top three services in Poland (39%) and Germany (30%). However, Microsoft has given a hard deadline for Skype for Business Online users to migrate to Teams before the service is mothballed on in July 2021.
Looking at other services, YouGov data shows 14% of global consumers use Google Chat on a regular basis, while 7% use Cisco Webex or GoToMeeting and 5% use Slack.
There is no doubt the pandemic will change the workplace in the long-term. For some, that may mean permanently working from home or a hybrid of remote work and in-office time, suggesting the need for video conferencing will be sustained after restrictions are lifted.
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Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 436 and 1,970 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in March 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.
