• Mobile apps and games download registered a 10% in the first half of the year compared to second half of last year, topping 64b.
• News apps stand to see sustained engagement throughout the second half of this year as consumers seek to stay informed on Covid-19 and major political events.

Dubai: From gaming to shopping to payments to video conferencing, Covid-19 has reshaped our lives dramatically and the smartphone has taken the centre stage and shifted the consumer landscape to a mobile-first world.

Lexi Sydow, Senior Market Insights Manager at mobile data and analytics platform App Annie, said that the coronavirus has advanced mobile usage by two to three years with the consumer demand for mobile offerings surging in the first half of the year.

“Mobile apps and games download, combining both Android and Apple play stores globally, in the first half of the year topped 64 billion, registering a growth of 10 per cent compared to the second half of last year.”

She said downloads are considered as completely new and not app updates or reinstallation on new devices.

“News apps stand to see sustained engagement throughout the second half of this year as consumers seek to stay informed on Covid-19 and major political events, exploring cross-app usage for partnerships and ad opportunities within traditional news apps and social and video-oriented platforms,” she said.

Global monthly downloads

The demand surged in April and the average monthly downloads of apps and games increased more than 25 per cent compared to the second half of last year. Consumers reached for their smartphones for connection, entertainment, exploration and information during critical times. 

In the first half, consumers spend on apps and games hit $50 billion globally, up 10 per cent compared to the second half of last year. Consumers spend on games peaked in May at $6.8 billion. Consumers set new records for global app store consumer spend in May 2020 at $9.6 billion.

Downloads in 2019 alone topped 12.3 billion while consumer spend hit $120B in 2019.

Weekly average time spend

Consumers spend over 1.6 trillion hours in the first half only on a mobile. It peaked in March, more than 25 per cent from the weekly average in the second half of last year. In 2019, consumers averaged three hours and 40 minutes on mobile. Time spends are likely to soften as countries are easing lockdowns but it will still be better than pre-Covid.

Daily hours spend 

An average user spent 27% of daily waking hours on mobile in April, up 20 per cent from 2019 to four hours and 30 minutes per day. In India, the usage peaked by 37 per cent in the second quarter to 4.8 hours and ranked second compared to Indonesia, which ranked first, where the usage peaked to six hours in the second quarter. Mobile-first emerging markets like Indonesia, China and India continue to spend the most time on mobile each day.

Power users

During Covid, the top 10% of average power users spent 6.5 hours per day. Power users in India, which is ranked third, spent 8.9 hours per day on average while in Indonesia which is ranked first, it is 10.4 hours per day.

Downloads and spend on games

Big growth in emerging markets in the first half of the year. In India, there was a 50 per cent growth in downloads to 4 billion and 55 per cent growth in consumer spending to $105 million when compared to the first half of last year.

Consumers not only turn to their most-loved mobile games for entertainment and connection but to seek out new games to play. Games are also expanding to new categories — Fortnite enabled gamers to watch the movie Inception the movie or attend a Diplo concert.

The biggest market is the US, followed by Germany and the UK.

There was a 35 per cent increase in the number of games played each month by the average user in India. Mobile gamers seek games beyond their go-to titles. Gaming is a huge part of the mobile economy. Mobile games in 2019 saw 25 per cent more spend than in all other gaming combined. Mobile has democratised gaming, allowing for a portable gaming console to be in the pocket of nearly every consumer.

Games by downloads

Hyper-casual games entertained the masses in the first half. In India, it was Hunter Assassin, followed by Ludo King, Ludo Games, Real Commando Secret Mission and Brain Out. In 2019, it was Carrom Pool, Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, Fun Race 3D and Sand Balls in India.

Growth in business apps

Consumers spent 220 per cent more time on mobile conducting work, driven by video conferencing, in the second quarter of this year compared to the fourth quarter of last year. India recorded the fastest growth with 450 per cent, followed by Russia with 355 per cent and South Korea with 325 per cent.

Video streaming

Consumers migrate to the little screen by spending more time than ever in streaming videos on mobile. Globally, consumers spend 25 per cent more time in the second quarter. TikTok saw a 45 per cent quarter-over-quarter growth while Twitch saw 60 per cent quarter-over-quarter growth in the US on iPhones.

Ranking second, there were 30 per cent growths in quarterly time spend in video streaming apps in India.  

Video streaming wars are set to intensify in the second half of this year amidst high profile launches and expansions like Disney+, Quibi and Peacock TV. Expect users to bounce between multiple video streaming apps to access a full suite of content while under Covid restrictions.

Finance apps

Amidst macroeconomic headwinds, consumers increased their engagement in finance apps as consumers turned to mobile to stay informed on financial markets and global economic trends — providing us with daily access to banking, stock markets and payment apps.

Success was driven by prioritizing features that meet consumers’ needs during COVID-19, including PayPal’s addition of QR codes for contactless payments on both Paypal and Venmo, direct deposit and business profiles on Venmo and increasing the scope of business profiles.

Paypal’s mobile growth was the main contributor to their earnings per share growing 86 per cent in the second quarter.

Education apps

As K-12 schools and universities pivot to a remote online-only model, time spent in education apps grew dramatically in markets experiencing surges in Covid cases.

Lifelong learning apps also grew as consumers turned to mobile to learn new skills to make them more competitive in a job market affected by macroeconomic conditions from the pandemic or to fill the increased time at home.

Global downloads of Udemy doubled from the fourth quarter of last year to the second quarter of this year as demand surged for continuing education.

In India, the growth was 70% in the second quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. In Brazil, the growth was 200 per cent.

Health and fitness

Consumer spend in the first half nears $1 billion. India recorded a 105 per cent growth in downloads to 160 million and 50 per cent growth in consumer spending to $10 million in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year. The US recorded a 20 per cent growth in downloads to 210 million and a 5 per cent growth in consumer spend to $360 million.