According to a study by Juniper Research, the total number of over-the-top (OTT) messages will increase from 120 billion in 2023 to over 175 billion in 2025, a substantial growth of over 70 per cent in two years.
The study notes that WhatsApp will introduce third-party interoperability in early March 2024 to align with the European Union’s (EU) Digital Markets Act. Through this interoperability, users will be able to exchange messages from WhatsApp to other messaging channels. This will reduce the constraint of siloed ecosystems on messaging growth.
The report predicts that interoperability in the EU will drive similar legislation in countries outside of the region. Global third-party interoperability will reduce issues of regional fragmentation on OTT applications, and increase the value proposition of OTT channels for enterprise users of business messaging.
Further, the study forecasts that by 2028, the global number of unique OTT messaging app users will reach 4.3 billion. However, with a large number of users, the report predicts that mobile messaging scams prevalent over SMS, such as smishing attacks, will migrate to OTT channels. Smishing attacks occur when fraudulent actors imitate well-known and trusted brands to manipulate users into revealing sensitive information.
Commenting on the report, Alex Webb, research analyst, Juniper Research, said, “OTT messaging apps must take responsibility for the levels of fraud over their channels. Authenticating brands before conversations are initiated is the first critical step to ensure that OTT networks remain clean and minimise any potentially fraudulent traffic.”
