The mobile economy has been developing rapidly in the 15 years since its birth, and the epidemic in the past two years has also pushed it to a more prosperous height. The latest insights from data.ai show that in the second quarter of 2022, global users will spend $33 billion on mobile apps; iOS users will increase their user spending by 4% year-on-year to $22 billion, while Android users’ user spending will remain unchanged year-on-year No change, unchanged from $11 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
The data seems to suggest that app users have maintained the mobile “lifestyle” they have adopted during the pandemic and are happy to pay for more advanced in-app experiences and services. Regionally, Google Play’s largest consumer markets are the United States, Japan, and South Korea. However, in terms of growth, Japan, India and Mexico had the greatest impact. The category leading consumer spending remains to be expected. On Google Play, the gaming, entertainment and social categories generate the most revenue. But the biggest month-over-month increases were in Comics, Books & Reference, and Social Dating, up 46%, 37%, and 35%, respectively. Across both app stores, games will account for 65% of all user spending in the second quarter of 2022.
Android users will download 26 billion apps from Google Play in Q2 2022
Despite the slight decline in iOS downloads, Google Play’s downloads continued to rise, up 5% year over year, reaching 26 billion downloads in the quarter. As a result, all new downloads in the second quarter of 2022 are expected to reach 34 billion.
On Google Play, India and Brazil are the two most downloaded markets. Meanwhile, the countries with the largest month-on-month increase were Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria. Leading areas on the iOS platform vary. Of these regions, the U.S. and China had the most downloads overall, with India, Taiwan, and the U.S. seeing the largest quarter-over-quarter increases.
In terms of categories, the Games, Tools and Entertainment categories on Google Play had the largest downloads, while Navigation and Sports saw the largest quarter-over-quarter growth at 21% and 14%, respectively. In iOS, the Gaming, Utility/Productivity and Entertainment categories generated the most downloads. But in absolute terms, the travel, lifestyle and business categories grew the most during the quarter.
WhatsApp Business, Capcut and Bumble enter the first tier
Although the application field is extremely dynamic, the leading products are now very mature. With few exceptions, the social giant dominates the app charts in terms of downloads, spending, and monthly active users. That said, the following rankings still reflect subtle market trend changes.
For example, in the second quarter of 2022, WhatsApp Business entered the top ten download rankings, up three places from the first quarter of 2022. Markets with the highest cumulative downloads include: India, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Nigeria. In fact, India contributed over 40% of downloads. In May 2022 alone, WhatsApp Business had more than 76 billion total opens, an increase of 145% year-on-year. This suggests that the increase in digital “foot traffic” on the platform has led to increased user engagement.
Topping WhatsApp Business in the downloads chart is TikTok’s editing tool, Capcut, which launched globally in April 2020. Its entry into the top ten reflects the democratization of video production software. Video editing, once a professional skill, is now a hobby and a powerful engine for the new creator economy.
A notable new product in the consumer spending charts is Bumble. In December, the dating app for women became one of only 15 non-gaming apps to reach $1 billion in lifetime global revenue. It has continued to thrive ever since.
Sweatcoin and BeReal’s Breakout Moment
To understand the new trends shaking up the app market, there is one obvious point of reference: the top apps breakout list. The list reveals the fastest growing products quarter-over-quarter, and it’s full of surprises.
In the second quarter 2022 download rankings, note that Sweatcoin is in second place. The app combines digital fitness with its own cryptocurrency, rewarding users with “Sweatcoins” for every 1,000 steps taken. Users can exchange them for real products and services, but cannot cash out via Paypal or bank transfers. Sweatcoin is not a “full-fledged currency” at this stage, but primarily as loyalty points redeemed on its platform. Launched in 2014, the app has surged in popularity last year.
In fact, the usage of crypto apps around the world began to decline after peaking in 2021 against the backdrop of the collapse of the cryptocurrency market. However, in the second quarter of 2022, app engagement appears to be driven by a variety of behaviors. The agency noted that in the most recent April and May 2022, the average time spent per user in popular apps rose compared to January-March, which may indicate that users are becoming more frequent during the market downturn Check out their cryptocurrency trading app. However, from the macro trend background, the average monthly usage time of users in May 2022 dropped by 30% year-on-year, and 65% from the peak in March 2021.
As of May 2022, time spent on cryptocurrency trading apps has dropped 20% year over year. The peak usage time is in May and November 2021.
In terms of consumer spending, the leading breakout product is Audible, Amazon’s audiobook and podcast store. The product is following the trend of the booming oral broadcasting market, which has maintained double-digit growth for ten consecutive years in the United States alone.
The most interesting new entrant in the monthly average user breakout list is social media app BeReal, which is also a breakout app in Q1 2022. While the social media space is huge and lucrative, it is also very difficult to enter. Products like Parler, the original YikYak, Google Plus, etc. have all been tried over the past few years and have all fallen off the top charts.
So, will BeReal succeed? The popular France-based app doesn’t support filters or content curation, focusing on “authentic” connections between users. Users can only randomly take and share one photo per day within two minutes of the notification. It’s certainly “new,” with over 14.5 million lifetime downloads as of June 15, 2022, and a massive global user base.
