Yota reported an increase in Internet traffic in ten messengers from January 10 to March 13 of 2022. The sample consisted of five foreign messengers: WhatsApp, Viber, Signal, WeChat and Facebook Messenger, and five Russian messengers: Telegram, Tam Tam, TenChat, Yandex.Messenger and Agent.Mail.ru.

A sharp increase in the volume of Internet traffic in all messengers was reported on February 24. There was a 1.9-fold increase in the volume, compared to the day before. By March 8, the traffic decreased, and by the end of the period under review it returned to the previous figures.

Telegram still shows the largest increase in Internet traffic from January to March, followed by Viber and WhatsApp. WeChat and Tam Tam are also in the top five. Facebook Messenger was the only messenger in the sample that saw a decline in both traffic and audience.

According to Yota’s Marketing Director Irina Pyuskyulyan, the traffic in messengers has increased because “after some social networks were blocked, people switched to communication in messengers”.

Original (in Russian)