Tencent's WeChat mini-program daily users hit 450 million

HONG KONG • Tencent Holdings' WeChat super app managed remarkable growth in services from e-commerce to payments to search over the past year, defying a government crackdown that sought to tear down barriers within China's Internet arena.

Daily active users of WeChat mini-programs - lite apps within the main social media and messaging platform - grew about 12.5 per cent to 450 million in 2021, Tencent executives said during the WeChat annual event yesterday.

The app's native search function - a feature once touted as Tencent's answer to Baidu's dominance - added 200 million monthly users over the past year, they added. Having amassed more than a billion users in China and across the globe, WeChat is the payment and smartphone backbone to Tencent's sprawling Internet empire that spans social media, gaming and enterprise software.

The Chinese behemoth's signature creation has evolved over the years, offering new features like download-free lite apps and short-video feeds that encroach on the home turf of rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance.

Tencent's last major innovation was mini-programs in 2017, and industry observers have pondered the future evolution of the seminal service founded by Mr Allen Zhang - particularly as Beijing moves against closed ecosystems like WeChat, which it deems a monopoly.

Yesterday, the company announced that WeChat has started accepting China's digital yuan or e-CNY in its payments service, a major boost for the central bank-led initiative.

Here are the latest figures showcasing WeChat's massive growth:

• Daily active users of mini-programs reached 450 million last year, and they used the lite-app services about 32 per cent more every day.

• Number of active mini-programs grew 41 per cent in 2021, while the number of mini-programs with payment transactions grew 28 per cent.

• More than 700 million people accessed Covid-19 services such as testing and vaccination appointment bookings.

• Transactions in Covid-19-hit sectors like catering, tourism and retail doubled last year after services moved online.

• The number of mini-programs offered by overseas merchants jumped 268 per cent over the past two years; online commerce transaction volume surged 897 per cent.

• Monthly active users of WeChat Search jumped to 700 million in 2021, up 40 per cent from 500 million a year ago.

In November, regulators ordered Tencent to stop rolling out new apps or updates after its products violated data protection rules, though the company has since been permitted to resume updates for some services.

China's premier super app is likely to play a bigger role in Tencent's future growth, at a time when sluggish domestic consumption and regulatory headwinds exert pressure on key businesses like video games and advertising.

WeChat executives signalled during the Guangzhou event that the app's units will work more closely to channel users to one another. WeCom, the enterprise version of WeChat, will soon connect to its Channels video service, and mini programs will continue to bring users to search.

BLOOMBERG