In the first quarter of 2020, global consumer app spending on the Apple App Store increased by 5% year-on-year to $ 15 billion, and spending on Google Play increased by 5% year-on-year to more than $ 8.3 billion.
Editor’s note: This article comes from Tencent Technology , reviewing Golden Deer.
As the epidemic spreads in the first quarter of 2020, consumers around the world are spending more time on mobile devices every day. In China, the average daily time spent by consumers has increased by 30% since 2019, reaching 5 hours per day. Followed by Italy, which was severely affected by the epidemic, the second largest increase was 11%. Globally, in the first quarter of 2020, applications and games on Android phones increased by an average of 20% per week.
As China begins to recover, markets such as France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States are continuing their efforts to control the epidemic. In March, Italian consumers spent 30% more time on applications than in the fourth quarter of 2019, while France, Germany, and the United States increased by 15%, 10%, and 10%, respectively. As governments around the world implement more stringent preventive measures, it is expected that global consumers will spend more time on applications.
At the same time, consumer spending and downloads are growing rapidly. In the first quarter of 2020, consumers spent more than $ 23.4 billion on apps through Apple and Google App Stores, the most consumer spending quarter ever. New app downloads also exceeded 31 billion, a 15% increase from the fourth quarter of 2019.
In the first quarter of 2020, consumers worldwide spent $ 23.4 billion on Apple and Google App Stores.
In the Google Play Store (Google Play), application downloads increased by 5% year-on-year to 22.5 billion times, while Apple App Store application downloads increased by 15% year-on-year, exceeding 9 billion times this quarter. On Google Play, non-gaming applications accounted for 55% of all downloads, while on iOS, the number was slightly higher, reaching 65%.
On Google Play, India and Brazil are the two markets with the most app downloads in the first quarter of 2020. In terms of growth, Brazil, India and Vietnam are the biggest drivers of growth since the fourth quarter of 2019. At the same time, on the Apple App Store, China and the United States are the two largest markets in terms of downloads, and are the main drivers of quarterly download growth.
Italy ’s downloads on Google Play and Apple ’s App Store both have quarter-on-quarter growth of 15%. When it comes to new coronavirus outbreaks, Italy has always been the focus of Europe. As one of the first markets to enter the closed city outside Asia, we expect to see similar effects in other markets such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States in the coming weeks.
At the category level, games, tools, and entertainment are the most downloaded app categories on Google Play. Although the game category is the biggest driver of Google Play’s quarterly download growth, changes in consumer behavior are being translated into strong growth in the often overlooked category of apps. Downloads for health and fitness, education, and business applications all showed strong quarter-on-quarter growth, up 40%, 35%, and 30%, respectively.
As work at home becomes the norm and more and more schools and gyms are closing, we are seeing a surge in downloads of apps that allow consumers to stay home while maintaining normal life and work. Meeting and collaboration tools such as Zoom, Google Hangout Meet, and Microsoft Teams are all growing rapidly. These companies have seen the current mad demand for their products, and many companies are offering consumers free trials of different versions.
Games, photos, videos, and entertainment are still the most downloaded app categories in the Apple App Store. Among them, the game category is still the biggest driver of download growth. Similar to Google Play, education, business, and health and fitness applications have strong quarter-on-quarter growth, which are 40%, 35%, and 30%, respectively. Health and fitness apps, such as 30 Day FitnEss, YAZIO’s Calorie Counter and Keep are all apps with high iOS downloads in the first quarter of 2020.
In the first quarter of 2020, consumers worldwide downloaded more than 31 billion apps in Apple and Google App Stores
In the first quarter of 2020, global consumer app spending on the Apple App Store increased by 5% year-on-year to $ 15 billion, and spending on Google Play increased by 5% year-on-year to more than $ 8.3 billion. In the Apple and Google App Stores, non-gaming apps account for 35% and 15% of consumer spending, respectively.
The United States and China are the largest contributors to Apple ’s app store app spending in the first quarter of 2020, and are the biggest drivers of quarter-on-quarter growth. On Google Play, the United States, Japan, and South Korea are the three largest markets. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2019, the United States and South Korea have driven the largest growth in consumer spending.
On Google Play, games, social and entertainment are the largest consumer spending app categories, and their consumer spending has grown the most year-on-year. Among them, the growth of the entertainment category is driven by Disney + and Twitch. Disney + was recently launched in multiple markets in Europe, so consumer spending is expected to continue to grow, especially after many consumers have completed a 7-day free trial.
At the same time, Discord’s popularity is rising. As a traditional communication application for gamers, its popularity in France soared from 91st on March 1st to 7th on iPhone 30th daily downloads. Similar growth was seen in Discord downloads in Spain and Germany.
On the Apple App Store, games, entertainment, and photos and videos are the three largest app categories for consumer spending. Photos and videos grew strongly year-on-year, and consumer spending has doubled since the first quarter of 2019. TikTok’s sudden rise in 2019 is a key driver in this regard.
Top Popular Apps in the First Quarter of 2020
Disney +, originally launched in the United States on November 12, 2019, has enjoyed strong adoption throughout the first quarter of 2020. It launched in Europe on March 24 and generated about 5 million downloads on 7 new European markets including the UK and Germany on the first day.
With the current requirement to maintain a safe social distance, the video conferencing application Zoom Cloud Meetings has become a household name. It started as a remote calling service and has now gone beyond its original purpose, extended to nights of boarding games, and even supports social networks for playwrights. As of March 31, 2020, Zoom is the # 1 business app for daily iPhone downloads in 141 markets, and it was only available in 1 market at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019.
Houseparty has also seen explosive growth, filling the void created by maintaining a safe social distance. Although apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are increasingly being used for personal life, HouseParty is focused on socializing. The ability to play multiple games during a call is what makes this app truly different. In the week starting March 15, Houseparty’s global downloads have increased 735 times over the previous week.