What you need to know about App Annie’s ‘State of Mobile’ Report
Our Senior Director of Planning, Ella Kersey, joined App Annie experts this month to discuss their 2020 ‘State of Mobile’ report. The report is an annual review providing insights into the expansive impact of mobile marketing across industries and the global economy. Ella spoke with Paul Barnes, the EMEA Managing Director at App Annie, and Adithya Venkatraman, Market Insights Manager at App Annie, on their most recent webinar. Key takeaways include:
- Consumers averaged 3 hours and 40 minutes on mobile in 2019, up 35% since 2017
- Mobile Games Reach 56% Market Share: Spend on mobile games across all app stores projected to top $100 billion in 2020.
- Advertisers will pour more than $240 billion into mobile marketing spend in 2020—up 26% from 2019
Ella discusses her perspective on the report:
Another year of record app downloads may not be surprising as we’re seeing emerging markets become increasingly ‘mobile-first’, skipping the desktop generation entirely. We’re also seeing apps become the first port of call for consumers when engaging with a brand, whether that’s to shop, date, or even manage their finances. Improved user experiences and mobile capabilities are making apps more attractive than ever for consumers.
The rise in-app activity is reflective of changing user behaviour. Consumers are trusting mobile more than ever, influencing how much they are willing to spend – consumer spend has hit $120B in 2020, up 2.1x from 2016. Apps that may not have been created with a retail focus have adapted to become more shopping-friendly to capitalise on this trend. Both Instagram and Pinterest have invested in improved eCommerce features with Pinterest launching an AR ‘try on’ feature and Instagram introducing Instagram Shopping.
With more money moving to mobile marketing, Fintech Apps have seized the opportunity to take on traditional banks. Downloads of ‘Fintech’ apps has increased by 50% between 2017 to 2019, topping 4 billion app downloads worldwide. Their success is down to them providing ease of access to services the traditional models have typically kept restricted. Whether this is transferring money with just a phone number, educating users on finances, or integrating with other services. Some have gone further by bringing in a social element. Venmo makes it easy to see what your friends are up to, creating a fun and engaging side to a traditionally private activity.
From finance to entertainment platforms, many of the most popular apps are encouraging engagement through social interaction. One of the biggest success stories of 2019 has been TikTok which has perfectly captured the Gen Z audience with its use of video, easy engagement, and creative content. Apps like TikTok that are gaining consumer attention need to make sure their models are fit for revenue purpose. TikTok has faced issues with brand safety but recent changes have made it more attractive to advertisers with many jumping on the TikTok bandwagon to reach the elusive ‘Gen Z’.
Apps are becoming more agile to the changing behaviours of their audiences helping them capture more of the consumers time
20% of consumers waking time is now spent on mobile, taking up a total of 1.8 trillion hours globally in 2019. An increase in streaming has had a big impact on this. Larger data packages, improved visual hardware, and the popularity of subscription services have made mobile the first port of call when watching entertainment. Consumers have a high expectation for mobile streaming wanting to jump from one device to another seamlessly, for example, pausing their show on their smart TV to only pick it up exactly where they left off via their mobile on their commute to work, later to finish it off on their desktop. 5G is going to make this even more commonplace, and we can expect to see time on mobile grow even further.”
Hear more about how we see the industry changing. Talk to us today.
