MSN overtakes AOL worldwide
UpsideToday.

March 17, 2001 12:00 AM ET
by Ryan Tate

The company announced today it has extended its dominance beyond the computer desktop, this time into instant messaging over the Internet.

Statistics from Media Metrix show that, for the first time in the year that Media Metrix has been tracking, more people used Microsoft's MSN Messenger in February than AOL Time Warner's (AOL) AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft said. The numbers reflect worldwide instant messaging use, rather than just U.S. use.

Worldwide, MSN Messenger garnered 29.5 million unique users, compared with 29.1 million for AOL and 24.5 million for AOL's ICQ.

To be sure, AOL Time Warner still comes out on top when you add in users of its ICQ instant messaging platforms, which does not connect with the AOL Instant Messenger system.

Reversal of fortune

But Microsoft's latest showing in the instant messaging battle still marks a surprising upset for the company, which has lagged AOL badly.

For instance, Media Metrix numbers for the U.S. had MSN Messenger trailing AOL Instant Messenger 21.5 million to 10.3 million in November. Even that was thought to be a significant uptick from earlier industry estimates, which had AOL controlling 90 percent of the IM market through AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ.

"We're thrilled; it's kind of like election night over here," said Bob Visse, MSN's group product manager. Visse said non-U.S. user growth for MSN Messenger has grown more than 300 percent in the past 12 months.

Across borders

Visse chalks up Messenger's success to a strong localization effort that has seen the program adapted for 12 different languages and distributed in 50 different countries.

Also fueling its growth, he said, is the overall success of MSN, which both Media Metrix and Nielsen//Netratings said is leading both AOL and Yahoo (YHOO) in Europe and which Microsoft claims is the leader worldwide.

But another factor surely fueling MSN Messenger's popularity abroad is the program's ability to facilitate free long distance calls -- a capability of paramount importance to people who face high tolls from local phone monopolies.

Microsoft won't give details about sales of advertising carried on MSN Messenger, but Visse said sales are up year-over-year.