Appannie’s State of Mobile 2021 report is out and mobile gaming is here to stay. In 2020, There were 218 billion new app downloads across various platforms (iOS, Google Play, and third-party Android), 7% growth year-over-year. Total app store spend across platforms was $143 billion, a whopping 20% y-o-y growth, underpinning the isolation during lock-down and pandemic days. Not surprisingly, a similar 20% growth was seen on daily time spend per user, 4.2 hours. Companies, aiming to take advantage of the screen time, spent $240 billion, 26% increase over last year. Venture capital flows to mobile technology has grown 27% y-o-y to $73 billion.
Some highlights from the report are listed as below:
- Mobile adoption boomed in 2020. Demand for new apps and games are growing.
- Mobile time spent surpassed live TV.
- 25% of more publishers earned over $2 million p.a. on either iOS or Google Play.
- $73 billion investment capital poured into mobile companies, marking 27% y-o-y, led by financial services, transportation, commerce and shopping.
- Mobile affinity varies by market and demographic. In the US, Gen X and baby boomers spent 30% more time y-o-y, whereas Gen Z and millennials spent 16% and 18%, respectively.
- Core gamers generate 66% of total spend and 55% of time spent on mobile games. Casual games dominate downloads. APAC drives a significant portion of spend and time spent among core games, yet console and PC-gone-mobile titles bridge the West into core mobile gaming.
- Mobile gaming moves mainstream. Casual > Simulation > Sandbox games took over the most market share globally.
- Events drove highest gaming ARPU in 2020.
- Mobile is the channel for influencing financial decisions. Mobile fuels 45% more financial engagement.
- TikTok outpaces top social apps in hours per user.
- 40% more hours streamed on mobile in 2020.
- YouTube Sees Up To 6x time spent per user vs. next closest app, up to 38 hours a month
- M-commerce boom changes shopping behavior.
- Global downloads of Pinterest and Instagram worldwide grew 50% and 20% y-o-y, respectively.
- Mobile orders of fast food & food delivery surge.
- Mobile ad placements grew 95% y-o-y in US, 335% in Turkey, 175% Mexico, 165% France, 170% Brazil.
- Time spent in business apps such as Zoom, Google Meet grew 275% y-o-y in Q4 2020.
