Infobip’s 20-year analysis of 3.8 trillion messages reveals key trends
Vodnjan, Croatia – AI-first cloud communication platform Infobip has released its Messaging Trends Report 2026, offering a comprehensive analysis of the current state of business communication. Drawing on data from 628 billion mobile interactions in 2025 and a historical review of 3.8 trillion messages over the past 20 years, the report charts the evolution from single-channel messaging to complex, AI-powered omnichannel experiences.
The data reveals a shift in how brands engage with customers. While SMS remains a critical pillar for reliability, accounting for 62% of traffic, the growth of rich, conversational channels is accelerating. RCS traffic grew 3x globally last year, with 70x increase in North America. Meanwhile, WhatsApp continues to dominate the conversational landscape, facilitating 91% of all conversational AI interactions on the platform, marking a 25% increase year over year.
Key findings:
- Agentic AI is enabling the next major steps in business messaging. Moving beyond simple chatbots, AI agents are now capable of autonomous, goal-driven interactions, orchestrating complex customer journeys across channels.
- Single-channel communication is now obsolete for global brands. Ten years ago, 73% of platform traffic was single-channel. By 2025, that figure has dropped to just 2.3%, as 98% of interactions now span multiple channels.
- RCS is now mainstream in many regions. Beyond the growth in North America, Latin America saw a 7x increase, and APAC grew by over five times.
"Our 20-year anniversary data set gives us a unique vantage point to see not just where we are, but where we are going. The story is clear, the era of the simple notification is over. We are shifting towards a diverse ecosystem where brands orchestrate conversations across WhatsApp, RCS, Email and Voice. The future is omnichannel, conversational, and increasingly powered by Agentic AI. In this new world, Infobip provides the infrastructure enabling businesses to meet their customers on the right channel, at the right time, with the right message.” - Ante Pamuković, Chief Revenue Officer at Infobip
As Infobip marks 20 years of innovation, the launch of the Messaging Trends Report 2026 sets the stage for the company’s next evolution, enabling autonomous, AI-driven customer experiences through its new AgentOS platform.
For more insights, see the Messaging Trends Report 2026 here: https://www.infobip.com/messaging-trends-report.
About Infobip
Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey, with AI as the driving force of innovation. Through a single, natively built platform, Infobip delivers omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions that help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications while driving growth and increasing customer loyalty. Infobip is focused on enabling and accelerating AI adoption as it continues its transformation into an AI-first company. Infobip’s technology has the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices in 6 continents connected to over 10k+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. The company was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and Izabel Jelenić.
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