According to an annual report by research firm App Annie called ‘State of Mobile 2019’, India alone saw a whopping 165% growth in the last two years in app downloads for both iOS and Android devices. While the global numbers came to a 35% growth, China, measured a 65% growth, a number that covers half of the total app downloads worldwide.
In India downloads were most witnessed on popular apps like Facebook, Messenger, UC browser, WhatsApp, Shareit, TikTok, Vigo video, Hotstar, Truecaller, and Timesgroup-owned MX player. Apps with the most monthly active users in India included WhatsApp, Facebook, ShareIt, Messenger, Truecaller, MX player, UC browser, Instagram, Amazon, and Paytm.
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Video streaming apps saw a growth of 140% in countries like India, Australia, and Indonesia, in terms of time spent in the top 5 video streaming apps in 2018 as opposed to 2016. Indians seemed to favour Youtube, Hotstar, JioTV, Amazon Prime, and Voot as video streaming apps. In fact, India is also at the top in the consumer spend category for video streaming apps with Netflix, Hotstar, Bigo Live, Live.me and AltBalaji.
Shopping apps recorded more popularity in the US with a 70% growth, while India recorded a mere 5% growth. China, on the other hand, spent much more on shopping apps, recording seven times more than Indian users and 11 times more than US users. On a global scale, mobile e-commerce is projected to take up close to 75% of the total e-commerce transactions by 2021.
These two years have also seen a major growth in time spent on online food delivery apps in India, which has recorded twice as much. The report has attributed the reasons for these numbers to rise in fast food apps or Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and food delivery services.
Even worldwide, the top 5 food delivery apps have seen a rise of 115% in 2018 in contrast to 2016. 2018 put UberEATS and Zomato at the top of the food delivery apps download list. However, amongst all the markets that were covered, India witnessed the highest growth at 900%, followed by US.
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Social and communication apps saw a 40% rise in India. According to the report, India grew at 40% in the last two years in social and communication apps. The report added that apps like Instagram, Snapchat andTik Tok have taken advantage of video in a one-to-one or one-to-many mode leading to better engagement, especially for Gen Z.
At the top of the social apps list are WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook messenger and IMO. In fact, Instagram witnessed the highest growth worldwide, its user base rising 35% from January 2017 to Dec 2018.
While US seems to have shown a slack in the app download market, emerging markets have shown a significant growth. Overall, users have spent USD 101 billion in 2018 itself, taking the number up by 75% since 2016. Also, of all that was spent on apps in 2018, 74% is accounted for by games. Non-gaming apps covered 65% of the total global downloads, a number that has remained the same in the two years prior.
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