The reliance on video calls during lockdown has seen Zoom profits almost treble over the second quarter.

Profits for the videoconferencing app, which has become part of the lexicon of lockdown, soared to $186million over the three months to July 31 as customers grew by 458 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.

Revenues were up by 355 per cent to $663.5million over the period, beating predictions of around $500million.

The figures have been helped by Zoom's success in adding paying customers to those who use the service for free with 988 businesses generating revenue in excess of $100,000 using it - doubling over the three-month period.

A survey by Stonehouse firm Lister Communications showed 93 per cent of its customers had used video calls since the introduction - 83 per cent of them saying Zoom was among the sites it had used.

Lister survey reveals digital lockdown revolution 

Managing director Rob Lister said: "Lockdown has changed what we are doing and what lots and lots of businesses are doing dramatically.

"The technology has been around for a while but it has been adopted at a rate of knots since the lockdown."

He continued: "Ninety three per cent is an amazing adoption of this technology.

"We may have all tinkered a bit with Facetime and the like before, mainly for family calls, but now it is being used by many people in many businesses."