Each year, App Annie releases its State of Mobile report, providing in-depth analyses for high-growth industries and emerging markets. We’re covering some of the key highlights of this report, including time spent, money spent, growth markets, and app categories.
According to App Annie’s The State of Mobile 2022 report, consumers migrated more of their entertainment and games consumption to mobile. In 2021, over 230 apps and games surpassed $100M in annual consumer spend, with 13 of them surpassing $1 billion. Additionally, $16 billion in gaming consumer spending was added in 2021, bringing the total to $116 billion. Read on for more highlights from this comprehensive report.
Overview of Mobile in 2021
If we look into the mobile landscape as a whole;
- 435,000+ apps are downloaded per minute.
- $320,000+ spent per minute.
- One-third of daily waking hours are spent on mobile.
- Mobile ad spending became the 41st largest countries ranked across global economies.
Among the top 10 markets, the weighted average exceeded 4 hours 48 minutes in 2021, up 30% from 2019, and Users in Brazil surpassed 5 hours per day in mobile apps in 2021. Turkey, Russia, France, the UK, and Germany average f almost 4 hours, which shows the high time spent at a global level.
Mobile usage significantly supports brands to draw a strategic roadmap and investment priorities. While making strategic decisions on advertising spending, corporate prioritization, and resource allocation, this analysis proves that eyes are primarily on mobile!
Top 20 Mobile Markets in 2021
Emerging markets dominated for download growth with standout numbers. Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, and Egypt were among the fastest-growing markets at a high level of year-over-year growth. Mobile adoption boomed in 2021, as proven by numbers with growth across downloads, usage, and app store consumer spend.
The Pandemic Accelerated Existing Mobile Habits
As time increases on mobile in everyday activities, consumers are also more engaging in categories like Gaming, Social, Communication, and Photo & Video apps. While Photo & Video apps have seen an increase in market share of time spent, consumers have turned historically ‘non-mobile’ time into time spent in apps and games worldwide.
Publishers Launched 2 Million Fresh Apps & Games in 2021
There was a massive launch of new iOS and Google Play apps and games, to over 21 million total apps and games. Google Play accounted for 77% of all apps and games released in 2021. Across both iOS and Google Play, Games represented 15% of all new releases in 2021.
The remaining 85% of new apps span all categories of the app stores, from mobile-first movers like social to mobile-forced industries like insurance and healthcare. As smartphones continue providing astronomical reach and access to billions of consumers worldwide, every industry will be considered mobile-focused.
Mobile is Driving Digital Ad Spending Globally
Contrary to fears around adjustments to the IDFA’s availability on iOS, spending flew to mobile ads and reached $295B in 2021, a 23% YoY uplift rate and is expected to hit $350B in 2022! During an economic rebound with GDP up 5.9% in 2021, usual events like the Tokyo Olympics and UEFA Euro Tournament, rooted mobile behaviors, ad dollars spent on mobile as the primary and captive channel for engaging consumers, representing 70% of digital media spend.
$16B Gaming Consumer Spend was Added in 2021, Bringing a Total to $116B
Mobile games continued their strengthened domination since the pandemic surge up. In 2021 hit games such as Roblox and Genshin Impact saw further growth in consumer spending as mobile games developed gameplay experiences.
Hypercasual games like Bridge Race and Hair Challenge were key download drivers but 2021 saw some well-known IPs such as Pokémon UNITE and PUBG: NEW STATE making major gains in downloads and usage.
Astronomical Rise of Hypercasual
Gaming innovations and shifting player priorities allowed hypercasual to settle to the top among the genres. Action and Puzzle hypercasual games became the most popular games category worldwide and reached over 7 billion downloads worldwide.
Worldwide Gaming Genres Towards the Demographics
Gen Z gamers in the markets analyzed are around 2.0x more likely to play Mafia/ Betrayal (Party) games such as Among Us! While Gen X & Baby Boomers in the US and UK are around 1.5x more likely to play more straightforward games like Solitaire (Tabletop) than the average population. Also, in the US, France, and Japan, female gamers are around 1.3x more likely to use 4X M3-Saga (Match) games, and male gamers in the US are 1.7x more likely to play Build-Battle (Strategy) games than the general population.
Worldwide downloads of mobile apps remained high despite in post-pandemic terms for most countries. Each year download volumes have surpassed pre-pandemic levels since 2018 and are still strengthening user experiences.
About the Report
App Annie’s The State of Mobile 2022 report helps brands and publishers transform their business to survive and thrive in today’s mobile-first economy. The report provides in-depth analyses for 17 industries and 30 markets and uses an interactive format allowing readers to dive into the rich data and insights.
Join the Conversation
What mobile trends do you expect to see in 2022? Tweet us at @AdColony. For the latest AdColony mobile news and updates, follow @AdColony on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or connect on Linkedin.
- Continuous Growth of Mobile Leads to Impressive Number of Game App Downloads - June 22, 2022
- How to Succeed in the Attention Economy - June 7, 2022
- Father’s Day Shopping Survey 2022 – Highlights from EMEA & LATAM - May 30, 2022
