The video conferencing platform market is so competitive that some people seem to think that Skype is gone, but it’s not.
Skype is still around and is still being used. The topic du jour is about how many people use Skype in 2024.
Skype has been around for nearly 20 years and is owned by Microsoft. It’s still used today, though it’s overshadowed by some of its competitors.
You may be surprised to learn about how many people and businesses all over the globe still use Skype.
Let’s find out how many people are still using Skype.
Post Contents
- 1 Skype Users: How Many People Use Skype in 2024?
- 2 How Many People Visit the Skype Website?
- 3 Where is Skype Used the Most?
- 4 Which Industries Use Skype the Most?
- 5 How Much is Skype Worth?
- 6 Is Skype Profitable?
- 7 Does Skype Compete with Microsoft Teams?
- 8 What are Skypes Other Competitors and Alternatives?
- 9 Where Does Skype Rank in the Video Conferencing Market?
- 10 What is Skype’s History?
- 11 What Happened with Skype?
- 12 What is the Outlook for Skype’s Future?
- 13 Conclusion
- 14 Sources
Skype Users: How Many People Use Skype in 2024?
Skype has more than 300 million active users who engage on the platform each month.
Moreover, over 40 million people use this video conferencing application every day.
What is Skype? It’s a popular video calling and messaging application that lets users connect to family and friends all over the globe.
Skype offers voice calls, video calls, group chats, text messaging, and file sharing for business and personal purposes.
(MSPowerUser)
How Many People Visit the Skype Website?
Similarweb shows that Skype receives an average of 14.5 million visitors as of March 2023.
Most of its visits come from the United States, and then India, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada.
Skype’s most popular page is its home page. After that, its login page and then the Skype download page.
These figures are merely estimates based on Similarweb’s findings. The actual number of Skype website visitors varies.
(Similarweb)
Where is Skype Used the Most?
As per Similarweb, we can share the top five countries (market share) that use Skype as of 2022.
- 12.23% United States: 32 million active users
- 7.25% India: 3.1 million active users
- 6.71% Russian Federation: Unknown (Skype is no longer accepting payments from Russia – Skype Support 2)
- 5.29% Brazil: 1.2 million active users
- 4.10% United Kingdom 6.7 million active users
Again, we can only estimate these figures as Skype is a privately held asset of Microsoft. We use Similarweb as a reliable resource for these estimates.
(Similarweb Skype, Skype Support, Skype Support 2)
Which Industries Use Skype the Most?
According to the most recent data we could find, Skype is used by these top 7 industries.
- Education Customers: 716
- Marketing Customers: 683
- Technology Customers: 588
- Digital Marketing Customers:543
- Software Development Customers: 537
- Consulting Customers: 514
- Engineering Customers: 486
(6Sense)
How Much is Skype Worth?
Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. It is now a division of Microsoft and is not publicly traded. As such, its current value is unknown.
However, it is likely to be worth significantly more than it was when it was acquired, given the growth of the video conferencing market.
It’s estimated that Skype’s current market value is over $22 billion based on its previous growth rate. Skype is still used, so it still generates revenue.
Skype generates revenues through advertising, subscriptions, and calls.
As of February 2023, Skype’s revenue has taken a steep decline. In fact, the report shows that its revenues fell to $184.3 million in 2022, which is a sharp decrease from $722 million in 2013.
Some are saying this has happened due to the cost of calls to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started, though are likely other factors contributing to this decline.
(BigTechWire, What’s Their Net Worth)
Is Skype Profitable?
Skype still offers subscription-based plans to provide its users with premium features like group video calling and unlimited calling.
Calls may incur fees after a user uses up their free call times to mobile phones and landlines. However, Skype-to-Skype calling is free.
Advertising is another way that Skype generates revenue and stays relevant. As with all digital advertising today, Skype ads are based on user interest and location.
However, Skype for Business is no longer available as of 2022, so there are no subscriptions available for this former feature.
(Decographic)
Does Skype Compete with Microsoft Teams?
Yes. In some ways, Skype and Microsoft Teams are competitors within the same company. Each platform has its own unique strengths and weaknesses.
Also, they are directed for use in different target markets.
Skype is known for its consumer use, while Teams is focused more on business use. Since Microsoft removed Skype-for-Business plans, Teams now dominates in that market.
Skype is a free-to-use solution for personal calls and chats. Microsoft Teams is subscription-based for business use.
Moreover, Skype has more personal features like games and video chat filters, while Teams’ features are geared towards business.
(Microsoft Learn 2023)
What are Skypes Other Competitors and Alternatives?
Skype now competes with a larger pool of video conferencing platforms than in the past. It has several competitors and alternatives for users.
The most popular Skype competitors include:
- Zoom
- Teams (Microsoft)
- Google Meet
- GoToMeeting
- Cisco Webex
- Viber
- FaceTime
- BlueJeans Meetings
These are only the top ten of all of Skype’s global competitors. Each has its own subscription pricing structure and free resources suited to individual preferences.
Always compare these tools before you choose which one you want to use for personal or business purposes.
Naturally, your budget will also play a role in your choice.
Essentially, Skype’s competitors are also the other alternatives. Some are free, while some are subscription-based.
Remember, Skype is free to use between Skype users. In other words, Skype-to-Skype chats, messages, and calls are free.
The only alternatives we can add to the competitor list are Discord, Telegram, Signal, Slack, Element, Wire, and Mumble.
Considering Skype’s number of users today, we can understand the competition in the market.
(AlternativeTo, Similarweb, TechRadar)
Where Does Skype Rank in the Video Conferencing Market?
Unbelievably, Skype has held a top ten rank in the video conferencing market at number 6. It was number 4, but it slipped down a couple of notches over the past year or so.
Due to the fierce competition in this market, Skype has lost a few users and has not gained as many new ones as it was gaining.
As you might expect, Zoom ranks number one, followed by Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
Skype’s strength is in its functional and user-friendly features, which are what’s kept it ranking in this market.
For instance, its global reach, ease of use, and its broad range of features make it a strong asset for Microsoft in this market.
However, if you require a video conferencing platform with more sophisticated and feature-rich options, you should seek other platforms.
(Finances Online, Software Testing Help)
What is Skype’s History?
Skype was founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström in August 2003. Therefore, Skype will be 20 years old in 2023.
Zennström is from Sweden and Friis is from Denmark.
The software for the Skype application was developed by Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla, Toivo Annus and Priit Kasesalu from Estonia.
Because Zennström and Friis created the peer-to-peer file-sharing network Kazaa, they both saw the potential for this new kind of communication application that would give people a way to call each other for free all over the world.
Skype was originally called Skyper, which was short for Sky-Peer-to-Peer, and it was the first version of this program that went public.
It was only used for personal computers to make landline calls with a specified fee schedule.
Skype quickly became very popular before eBay’s acquisition of it in 2005 for $2.6 billion (USD), just two years after its launch. We know that Microsoft acquired it in 2011.
(Encyclopedia Britannica, G2)
What Happened with Skype?
The global pandemic should have given Skype a shining moment as it did across other video conferencing platforms.
However, Zoom took the reins and left Skype in the dust.
Since Skype had turned into a verb among its users for most of its existence, it’s surprising that it didn’t do more to keep its rank.
However, when Microsoft bought it, it’s believed nothing was done to update or upgrade the privately held company.
Now, instead of “Skyping” someone, you now “Zoom” them. It’s the opinion of some that Skype wasn’t given its chance among its many owners.
Instead, it was left to continue its own as-is.
Zoom and other video conferencing competitors to Skype upgraded, updated, and stayed in the spotlight, while Skype was left to its own users to use it and word-of-mouth advertising.
Unfortunately, Skype is among other huge name brands that “blew it”.
(The CEO Magazine)
What is the Outlook for Skype’s Future?
From what we can gather, the future of Skype is unclear.
With the rise in video conferencing platforms and social media messaging, there are many alternatives to Skype for personal and business use.
What does that mean for Skype? The good news is that so far, Microsoft has no clear plans for eliminating Skype.
It still offers a lot of advantages that surpass its competitors such as its compatibility with a wide range of devices and its ease of use.
There are a lot of opinions out there, but nothing concrete about Skype’s future.
Some say that Teams will totally replace Skype and others claim that Microsoft does have major redesigning ideas in the works for Skype.
For instance, they may be planning to give it a new visual look with more vivid colors, themes, and illustrations much like we’ve seen with Edge and other Microsoft products.
Otherwise, Skype’s future remains to be seen.
(Mr. SharePoint, XDA Developers)
Conclusion
Our research discovered that the video conferencing market is expected to surpass $75 billion by 2027.
If Microsoft makes the updates and changes to the Skype application, it could break through into this market in the coming years.
We have learned that Skype still has potential and is still used by several industries across several countries among its over 300 million monthly active users.
However, we may all be left wondering if Microsoft will focus more on Teams development, or if it will make positive and functional changes to Skype as well.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article about Skype’s monthly active users count.
