Turkish BiP Messenger Audience in Russia Surges 650 Times in One Year Amid Foreign App Adoption
Russian users continue exploring foreign messaging services even as initial hype subsides. According to MTS AdTech, demand for overseas platforms rose 50 percent in the first quarter and 26 percent in the second quarter. The desire for backup communication channels remains, yet users now install apps more selectively rather than downloading everything available.
The standout performer of the quarter, according to Kommersant, was the Turkish messenger BiP. Between April and July its Russian monthly active audience grew 120 percent, reaching 4.3 million users. For comparison, only 6,600 Russians used the service a year earlier, meaning BiP has moved far beyond statistical noise.
KakaoTalk from South Korea added 80 percent and now counts 1.26 million users. WeChat grew 17 percent while Gem Space increased 11 percent. Mobile operators report similar trends, though with varying figures: MegaFon recorded 32 percent growth for BiP and 98 percent for KakaoTalk, while T2 observed fivefold and 3.5-fold increases respectively.
The most popular foreign messenger remains American Imo with 12.2 million users, though it added just 1 percent over the quarter. Blocked services SimpleX and Discord fared worse, losing 41 percent and 8 percent of their audiences. No mass exodus from familiar platforms has occurred yet.
Domestic services continue to dominate: VKontakte reaches 94.8 million monthly users, MAX has 86.2 million, and Telegram counts 75.7 million. Russians typically install foreign messengers to stay in touch with relatives abroad, for experimentation, or as backup options. Experts predict further audience fragmentation, with users keeping multiple messengers on their devices, so no single winner has emerged.
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