It is a well-known fact that most of us are attached to our phones almost 24 hours a day. It is so clear that the mobile world is growing rapidly. We are able to get done more and more issues through the mobile.
Right now, communication is not the only feature that mobile meets. We can do shopping, pay bills but also for shopping in the store. The number of opportunities is growing and the recipients are beyond happy to try them all.
So lately App Annie has provided a report named State of Mobile 2021. It covers the mobile market and shows some trends and changes in this area.
Below you can find a few most interesting takeaways from this report. But if you want to read the full piece, feel free to click here.
#1 The whole mobile market has experienced growth
The year-over-year growth is visible in each segment. People downloaded 7% more apps than in 2019 and spend 20% more in App Store. What matters, they spent on average 4.2 hours more using mobiles in 2020 than in 2019. From the providers’ point of view – there were more mobile ad spendings and also there was a 27% increase in venture capital of mobile tech.
These all numbers show that the mobile market is more and more popular among users, but providers see these trends, and they are about to meet the demand.
#2 Mobile has beaten live TV
More and more people stop being such a big fan of TV. It may have many causes but one of them is undoubtedly mobiles’ popularity. The report says that the average American citizen spent 3.7 hours watching TV while they were using mobile for 4 hours last year. But what is significant, during the pandemic period in 2020 they spent 4 hours and 10 minutes in front of the TV.
On the other hand, the chart above shows how long people across the globe spent using their phones in 2019 and 2020. This shows a significant increasing trend.
#3 Not only Gen Z spend their lives scrolling mobiles
It is mostly said that the youngest generation is all about mobiles. But it is not fully true. Yes, Gen Z is spending more time on their phone over the years but the same as Millennials and Gen X and Baby Boomers. To be honest, the first group showed the lowest increase rate from the whole comparison.
There are also some differences when it comes to beloved apps.
Gen Z people loved Snapchat and Twitch, Millennials were all about Discord and LI. Gen X and Baby Boomers preferred Ring and Nextdoor. This showed how various their hobbies and interests of daily life are.
#4 Casual games dominate the global mobile gaming market
Casual games have it all and run the market with games like Among Us! or ROBLOX. It stands for almost 80% of the download numbers last year. 20% belongs to core games and 2% was about casino games.
What is more, consumer spendings in 2021 is about to surpass $120 billion.
It is important to say that Among Us! has conquered global mobile gamers’ hearts. It won first place in the number of downloads across both Americas. Also Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles was quite popular.
#5 Mobile and Finances have much in common
Finances app have a great influence on consumers. They were a great part of the decision-making process while shopping. They were also big support in investments.
What’s more, apps are the preferred channel for participation and this illustrating how financial thinking has evolved over the past years.
What were the most popular financial apps? Across the United States, it was Robinhood, Cash App, and TD Ameritrade. In Canada, the number one was Yahoo Finance, Wealthsimple Trade, and Scotiabank. When it comes to South America – Mercado Pago, Caixa Tem or Banco Nación are on fire.
#6 TikTok run the market
As you may see above, in the United States people was getting more and more in love with social media, but TikTok won their hearts.
TikTok was ranked as the most popular application when it comes to time spent. It grows faster than any other application, in the U.S. this growth accounted for 80% and in the UK it was 70%. It is on the right track to grow over 1.2 billion users this year.
#7 Video streaming has switched to mobile too
Streaming has been getting more and more fans across the globe. It allows real-time watching of some streams providing by various creators. As it is presented above. Due to COVID-19 time spent in streaming apps peaked in Q2 2020. It is assumed that due to pandemic the average mobile streamer in
the US, South Korea, and the UK will download 85%, 80%, and 60% more videos respectively comparing to the previous years (before COVID-19).
The most popular streaming app among South America was Netflix, in the case of the United States, it was Disney+. Also, Amazon Prime Video had many fans. They are streaming apps dedicated to watching shows. Twitch, YouTube Go, and YouTube Kids were also popular streaming apps.
To sum up
Mobile trends have been growing and all of us have been spending more and more time scrolling down social media or buying online. Communication is no longer the major task of mobiles. We can say that our phones are kind of command centers, and it is visible in time spent using smartphones.
As you read above, mobiles are no longer only games entertainment. Many of us them with financial-connected issues. They are a getting a huge part of daily life, and if you are about aiming this market you should be aware of the trends above.
