KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is seeing a faster-than-average shift towards conversational commerce, with total platform interactions rising 17 per cent in 2025, according to Infobip's Messaging Trends Report 2026.
Mobile messaging app interactions surged 240 per cent during the year, while WhatsApp usage rose 40 per cent and Viber increased 107 per cent.
Voice and video interactions grew 38 per cent, and email rose 20 per cent, signalling rising demand for multi-channel communication strategies.
Infobip said the findings were based on 628 billion mobile interactions recorded in 2025, alongside a historical dataset of 3.8 trillion messages over the past 20 years.
The data highlights a broader shift from single-channel messaging to artificial intelligence (AI)-powered omnichannel engagement, as businesses adopt richer conversational platforms.
Short message service continues to account for 62 per cent of global messaging traffic due to its reliability.
In the Asia-Pacific region, rich communication services (RCS) traffic rose more than 500 per cent over the past year, while WhatsApp accounted for 91 per cent of conversational AI interactions on Infobip's platform.
Infobip vice-president and general manager for Asia Pacific, Ruslana Reznikova, said the sharp rise in mobile messaging interactions in Malaysia shows consumers increasingly prefer to engage with brands on the same platforms they use to communicate with friends and family.
"As we move into the era of agentic AI, the goal for businesses across Asia Pacific is to transition from simple notifications to meaningful, two-way conversations that drive loyalty and measurable business outcomes," she said.
Infobip chief revenue officer Ante Pamuković said the company's 20-year dataset offers a unique perspective on how the industry is evolving.
"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 landscape, Infobip provides the infrastructure enabling businesses to reach customers on the right channel, at the right time, with the right message," he said.