AppAnnie says we’re a TikTok planet as mobile beats TV

we’re spending $320,000 per minute on apps and 4.8 hours each day on our mobile devices

Fourteen short years since Apple introduced the App Store and we’re spending $320,000 per minute on apps and 4.8 hours each day on our mobile devices, according to App Anne’s new ‘State of Mobile 2022’ report.

We’re hooked on mobile apps

The report tells us app spending climbed 19% on the year with consumers installing around 230 billion apps, with a lot of this growth coming from emerging markets such as India. But the most important metric is time spent in the app.

US users now spend more time on their iPhone or other smartphone (4.1 hours) than they do watching TV (3.1 hours). In Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea, people are spending 5 or more hours every day in mobile apps. Perhaps in reaction to social distancing, lots of this time is being spent in social, phot and video apps.

TikTok is the ticking over 

The app that seems to be gathering the most momentum now appears to be TikTok (the world’s most downloaded app on Christmas Day), which has picked up a lot of converts, particularly among you ger Gen Z demographics. Older folks spend too much time in news, medical and shopping apps.

[Also read: Apple has over 745m paid service subscribers, company claims]

The scale of interest is perhaps best reflected in news that 233 apps and games pulled in over $100 million in 2021. That sounds great, but this revenue is dwarfed when you learn that 13 titles hit over a billion dollars that year.

Globally, the top five most downloaded apps in 2021 are TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. In consumer spend, it was TikTok, YouTube, Tinder, Tencent Video, Disney+ and Tencent Video.

Apple’s social media team may want to breathe a little life into the official TikTok accounts the company seems to have left orphaned there. Here’s a recent clip I found from what purports to be an Apple account.

https://www.tiktok.com/@appleinc/video/138708430202130432?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7038932921645975045

Ads spend is booming

Of course, with all this attention focused on apps, ads spending is also growing as advertisers pivot from television to online, going where audiences are. App-based ads spending has shot up from $155 billion in 2018 to a colossal $295 billion in 2021. App Annie predicts this will hit $350 billion this year.

What about the split between iOS and Android? The report tells us 1.8 million apps are available on iOS with 3.6 million on Google Play.

Fitness, games and employment

App Annie’s report also provides huge insight into what games and apps are being downloaded, while also showing a big spike in interest in employment and gig economy apps as the Great Resignation effect continues to reverberate. The report also proves Apple hit the right time to introduce Fitness+, with interest in health and fitness apps growing beyond pre-Covid levels as health and wellbeing become more important to people as we go through the pandemic.

Take a look at the report for yourself.

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