How Apps Have Performed Through 2022
We all know apps are big business‚ the tech has grown exponentially over the past 10 years (frighteningly the first iPhone was released in 2007!)
We have taken a retrospective look (via data.ai) at how the tech has moved forward (and back in some instances) in 2022.
App usage over the past year is at an all-time high‚ although the digital environment is starting to feel the effects of inflation as game app spend is showing decline as peoples disposable income decreases. Productive apps have proven to be resilient against the drop in spend.
Key Global Headlines
- 255 Billion New App Downloads (+11% YoY Growth)
- 485‚000 apps downloaded per minute
- $167 Billion spent in the app store (-2% YoY Decline)
- $336 Billion Mobile Add Spend (+14% YoY Growth)
- 5 Hours Spent a Day on Apps Per User (+3% YoY Growth)
We have broken results from 2022 down into sectors‚ some with interesting findings.
Headline: Trading has taken a downturn‚ saving and borrowing are on the rise
Mobile app adoption across top subgenres like Mobile Banking‚ Digital Wallets‚ and Personal Loans saw rapid growth in 2022‚ continuing the accelerated push to mobile that began at the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Consumers Win: Pressure from Neobanks Drives Traditional Banks in The UK to Improve Their App Experience
While the user bases for traditional banks still dwarf those from neobanks‚ the rising banking innovators have managed to close the gap in user engagement.
It’s not all positive news‚ the average monthly time spent per user for top neobanks still trails that of traditional banks by approximately 4 minutes.
With the new source of competition vying for consumers increasingly open to online banking‚ traditional banks have needed to improve their mobile offerings as well.
Similar to the UK‚ most mobile banking apps in the US saw a climb in both active users and average time spent between 2020 and 2021‚ consumers become increasingly comfortable using their mobile devices for banking. The growth in time spent on the app slowed in 2022 as the US continued to open up‚ though banking apps were able to maintain positive momentum in terms of adding active users.
Headline: Travel is Back! All Top Subgenres Have Surpassed Pre-Pandemic Levels
The travel floodgates are open‚ pent-up demand reshapes consumer spending priorities.
In 2022‚ each of the top five travel subgenres surpassed their 2019 totals‚ revealing an overall healthy travel market after two rough years. Interestingly‚ growth for hotel booking and integrated travel service apps lagged that from airline and transportation apps‚ at least
globally.
The return of travel varied significantly by country which has been heavily impacted on their management of the return through COVID.
Headline: Fitness and health trackers including on-demand workout and wellness programs top downloads and spend charts.
The US remained the key market for Health and Fitness apps in terms of consumer spending‚ controlling more than half of all spending across the App Store and Google Play.
‘More than Half of Health & Fitness Consumer Spending Comes from the U.S.’
8 of the top 10 apps by consumer spending in 2022 are based in the US‚ including each of the top 3 (MyFitnessPal‚ Fitbit‚ and Calm). The challenge for Health and Fitness publishers continues to be monetizing outside of the US.
Plenty of other countries have large user bases. However‚ among the top 20 markets by downloads‚ only the US‚ the UK‚ Germany‚ and Canada averaged more than $1 in consumer spend per download in 2022.
Sports Apps
Headline: Unmissable action! Sports TV apps tap into latent demand for live matches; Sports Betting expands in the US — opening a large lucrative market for mobile apps.
Major sporting events drove download spikes in 2022‚ including the FIFA World Cup starting in November 2022. FOX Sports (United States) and TSN GO (Canada) saw huge increases in adoption as a result.
‘Sports TV Apps – Battle for Exclusive Streaming Content’
DAZN and ESPN are the clear standouts in terms of consumer spending‚ earning more in 2022 than the rest of the top 10 Sports apps combined. Nearly all of ESPN’s revenue comes from the US‚ while DAZN has managed to monetise across more markets by casting a wide net in terms of its sports coverage in different markets. Some of DAZN’s content includes Series A in Italy and Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan‚ as well as pay-per-view boxing.
‘Sports Betting Continues to Expand in the US’
In the year following the US Supreme Court overturning of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA)‚ states have rolled out new sports betting laws and mobile apps have rolled out in these new markets.
Sports betting apps downloads peak at the start of the NFL season each year and the Super Bowl. Sports betting installs reached 4.3 million at the start of the 2022-2023 NFL season‚ up 8 percent YoY and more than 4 times the total from September through October 2018. FanDuel has emerged as the clear market leader in 2022‚ with BetMGM‚ DraftKings‚ and William Hill vying for the number 2 spot.
‘Sports Betting Apps Have a High Affinity with Finance Apps’
Sports fans in the United States have been flooded with sports betting ads in recent years with the expansion of legalised sports gambling‚ and the ever-rising installs show that the market still has more growth potential.
Key Takeaways
It increasingly critical for brands to proactively invest in developing robust app-based insights and app capabilities to make the most of the surge in user attention and time.
There is not going to be a better time to invest into a digital product that delivers what your customers are looking for.
The market will continue to expand but so will the wastage from under performing apps. Users have become conditioned to simple to use apps that have excellent user experience‚ anything less is unlikely to pass muster.
It will certainly be interesting and exciting to see the progression through 2023.
