Instagram what? Snapchat who? YouTube huh? Say hello to your new app Daddy, TikTok. According to The State of Mobile 2020 report just released by App Annie, the mobile data and analytics company, out of the 204 billion apps downloaded by consumers last year, TikTok left them in the dust. Time spent on the app, mostly popular among Gen Z, exceeded 68 billion hours in 2019.
TikTok has grown to become both a social networking app and a source of entertainment, showcasing short, user-generated videos, often featuring lip-syncing or comedy. Musician Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” started as a meme on TikTok and went viral on the platform, landing at #1 and breaking Billboard Hot 100 records.
Global time spent in TikTok grew 210% year over year in 2019, both from expanding user bases and increasing time spent per user. TikTok’s advertising platform positions this engaged and growing audience for
brands to reach through videos designed to show value and entertain.
What it breaks down to is this – 8 of every 10 minutes spent in TikTok in 2019 were by users in China, but the app’s usage has also skyrocketed in other markets.
App Annie’s State of Mobile 2020 examines macro mobile trends; identifies which leading brands and publishers across gaming, fintech, retail, social, video, and others are winning on mobile; and shows how businesses can navigate and reach key demographics. The analysis and data in this report is based off of data from App Annie’s Intelligence platform.
Overall, mobile is now the Central Nervous System of our connected lives. In the US, there were over 106 million downloads of the top 20 IoT (Internet of Things) apps in 2019 alone.
Mobile is set to be the brain for all devices and screens everywhere — whether streaming to Apple TV or Chromecast or controlling features in your car.
The new decade ushers in the next phase of mobile, with smartphones serving as the primary interface through which we interact with the world around us.
With major players in the industry working together to create IoT standardization, the industry is primed for growth. By 2025, there will be 25.2 billion connected devices, up 177% from 2018.
“For brands and publishers worldwide, mobile is fueling digital transformation,” said Theodore Krantz, Chief Executive Officer of App Annie. “We uniquely surface both market data and critical advertising insights to optimize monetization and help our customers thrive on mobile.”
What is important for brands and their agencies to note is Gen Z is becoming an increasingly strategic segment to business. Mobile is Gen Z’s native language. This demographic is highly engaged with apps: they have 60% more sessions per user in the most popular apps when compared to older generations.
“Snapchat continues to double down on mobile experiences that help real friends communicate visually. As our audience has expanded, so have our app’s capabilities,” said Kathleen Gambarelli, Group Product Marketing Manager for Performance at Snap. “We continue to develop powerful advertising technology that enables brands to efficiently engage with and convert our valuable Gen Z and Millennial audience. As a product marketer, my goal is to verify product-market fit and grow adoption of effective solutions for our customers. App Annie and its Intelligence platform have been instrumental throughout this process, from initial research all the way to launch.”
Brands will continue to embrace the unprecedented reach and value of mobile, bolstering the success of Snap, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and TikTok. Advertisers will pour more than $240 billion into ad spend in 2020—up 26% from 2019.
204 Billion Apps Downloaded
In 2019, App Annie reported that consumers downloaded a record 204 Billion. That translates to an annual worldwide increase of 45% since 2016 and 6% year over year, which is particularly impressive given this excludes
re-installs and app updates.
These downloads are largely fueled by emerging markets, including India, Brazil and Indonesia. Consumers in mature markets like the US, Japan and Korea have seen download growth level off, but are still seeking out new apps. Downloads in 2019 alone topped 12.3B, 2.5B and 2B in the US, Japan and South Korea.
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Other Key Findings
Mobile Creates Company Value
Mobile-focused companies, including Uber and Alibaba, had a combined IPO valuation of $544B, 6.5x higher than companies without a mobile focus. Consumers averaged 3 hours and 40 minutes on mobile in 2019, up 35% since 2017, and downloaded 204 billion apps.
Massive Year for Mobile Advertising:
Brands continue to embrace the unprecedented reach and value of mobile, bolstering the success of Snap, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and TikTok. Advertisers will pour more than $240 billion into ad spend in 2020—up 26% from 2019.
Subscriptions Contribute to 95% of Spend:
3 out of 4 top non-gaming apps monetize via subscriptions, with video and dating categories propelling app store spend as adoption of Tinder, Tencent Video, iQIYI, and YouTube climbs.
Mobile Games Increase Share
Global spend on mobile games reached 56% of all game software in 2019. Spend on mobile games across all app stores projected to top $100 billion in 2020. Tencent’s Honour of Kings, Sony’s Fate/Grand Order, and Activision Blizzard’s Candy Crush Saga are examples of games that are dominating on mobile.
Video Streaming Wars Heat Up
Nearly 25% of Netflix’s iPhone users also used Disney+ in Q4 2019, the highest overlap of users among top video streaming apps in the US, demonstrating consumers pay for multiple services.
Tinder Dominates Dating Apps
Over $2.2B in DatingTinder dominates for global consumer spend in dating apps. Tinder was the 2nd highest non-gaming app for consumer spend over the last decade, seeing strong success from in-app subscriptions.
Consumers Turned to Mobile to Stream Sports
Globally, time spent in sports apps has grown 30% from 2017 to 2019.
However, during the same time period, total megabytes used has grown 80%. This indicates that sports fans are increasingly turning to mobile to stream matches — whether from a connected device casting to a TV or
on-the-go from their always-on device: their smartphone.
In the US, ESPN and MLB.com at Bat were the top two sports streaming apps, respectively, by time spent on Android phones in 2019. In the UK, the top two were BBC Sport and Sky Sports, and in Japan the top two were
Sports Navi and DAZN.
5G stands to lead to advancements in augmented sports viewing in 2020 and the years to come.
For the full report click here.
SOURCE: App Annie
