Looking for Love? Viber Stickers Reveal Where Romance Reigns

Valentine’s Day has long been considered a festival of romance around the world, but when it comes to declaring love, nations choose to express themselves differently. Viber, the leading OTT mobile communications app offering free messaging and HD-quality calls, has analyzed its sticker sales data across a period of one year to determine which countries are the most romantic.

Stickers have become a fun, fast way for chat app users to keep in touch with friends and family, with more than 22 billion stickers sent worldwide last year on Viber. A picture can say a thousand words and when it comes to saying “I love you” more and people are choosing to say it with a sticker. Viber analyzed the 10 best-selling stickers in each country in 2014 to determine how many were love-related.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Latin countries were the leaders in the love department. Spain took the number one spot with seven love-related stickers in the top 10 and a ‘Besote’ sticker, meaning ‘big kiss,’ at number one. Italy and France were tied in second place, with kisses also taking the top spot, and love themes dominating six out of the top 10 stickers.

Not far behind were Brazil, India, Japan and Germany, each with five love stickers in the top 10. Whilst in Japan, India and Germany, a kissing couple was the most popular sticker, Brazilians preferred to show their love with two hands making the shape of a heart. Poland’s top sticker was a kiss, but they only had two other love stickers in their top 10.

The United States was one of only three countries that did not have a love-related message in first place. The most popular sticker in America was Freddie, a cartoon fox, saying ‘Hi’, with only two love-related stickers in its top 10 overall. Love didn’t make it to the top of the charts in The Philippines or Singapore either, although kiss stickers came in second and fourth place respectively.

A kissing couple was the most popular sticker in both the UK and Thailand – one of just two love stickers in the top ten for each country. Russia and Vietnam had similar tastes, with a kissing couple in the top spot, but no other love stickers in the top 10.

According to the data, romance was not on the agenda in Myanmar – without a single love-sticker in the top 10.

From a global standpoint however, love is definitely in the air. The most used sticker across the world in 2014 was a kissing couple. And, with day-to-day chat becoming more and more romantic, 2015 could well see the ‘Virtual Valentine’ taking over from the traditional greetings card. Find your own Valentine’s vibe - visit the sticker market to download the latest love-related stickers, and let one of Viber’s characters help you to share the love.