Global mobile app downloads gained a year-on-year increase of 20% to reach a record high of 28.4 billion downloads in the second quarter
The second quarter of 2018 has ended, and many major data analysis agencies have each released their analysis reports, indicating that the second quarter mobile app download count and operational revenue have yet again broken a new record.
According to a new second-quarter study by App Annie this week, a total of more than 28.4 billion apps were downloaded globally on the iOS App Store and Google Play, equivalent to a year on year increase of 15%. This number has exceeded the expectation of many, considering that the number has not yet included reinstallations or updates, but only new app downloads. Moreover, adding the statistics from both the App Store and Google Play, a 20% increase in consumer spending on the apps from the previous year can be observed, bringing it further to $18.5 billion.
China’s iOS App Store revenue accounted for 31% of the global App Store in the second quarter, or an increase in the link relative ratio of 6 % from the first quarter of this year. It then continued to maintain its standing on the first spot for nearly two years. In terms of downloads, China’s App Store has dominated the first place globally for nearly four years.
Google Play is 160 % ahead of iOS in Downloads
In the second quarter, Google Play has taken a large proportion in terms of app downloads. In Google Play, apps have been downloaded more than 20 billion times worldwide, or an increase of 20% year on year. This statistic illustrates the increase of 25 percentage points in the gap between Google Play and iOS App Store, bringing it further to 160 %.
The increase in downloads has also been well distributed among most of Google Play’s app categories, such as games, video players, editors, and sports. Due to the recent World Cup hype, the growth in sports apps downloads has met the expectations of many. Meanwhile, the largest jump in the link relative ratio has been experienced by the social and music/audio apps.
The sports apps were the third largest contributor to the absolute growth in consumer spending and market share for the iOS App Store in the second quarter, while the entertainments and productivity apps were first and second respectively. It has also been observed that in-app subscriptions in sports and entertainment apps have both driven the growth in consumer spending.
India is the fastest growing market for downloads worldwide, while the US has seen a relatively significant increase due to the World Cup
Much of the growth in downloads can be attributed to India. In terms of absolute numbers and market share growths, India has been the biggest driver of the year on year growth in downloads. Indonesia has also played an important role through their Google Play downloads. Meanwhile, the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have seen the fastest growths in iOS App Store downloads.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted in Russia has generated numerous impacts on the download of sports apps. In the first week of the World Cup, the new installations of the five major World Cup channels live and on-demand broadcasting apps rose by 77 % compared to three weeks prior.
Based on the average Megabyte traffic per user in the first three weeks of the World Cup, the top three sports apps for Android phones in the US are Telemundo Deportes, FOX Sports GO, and FOX Sports. The apps have also broken into the Top 10, an accomplishment they have failed to achieve three weeks before the start of the competition.
In the UK, consumers spent more than 6 million hours on the top 10 sports apps on Android in the first three weeks of the World Cup; this has increased by 65 % compared to three weeks before the World Cup began. A sports streaming media service, fuboTV, has benefited the most, experiencing an increase of 713 % in the US, with 309,000 new users. On the contrary, Hulu was influenced the least, with only an 18 % increase. The World Cup has also impacted the consumer spending on apps in the second quarter.
It is worth noting that the market shares of users’ spending in App Store and Google Play in each region of the most involved countries are increasing year by year, which indicates that apps present a great influence on the global scale while bringing value to its users worldwide. For Google Play, South Korea, the US, and Germany have ranked the top three countries in terms of growth in user spending market share in the second quarter of 2018; in case of iOS, the US, Taiwan, and the UK were the ones to make the corresponding top three.
The influence of mobile technology is undeniable in almost every country/region and industry. How mobile apps will play a bigger role in users’ lives in the second half of 2018 and what kind of records will be created by the app distributors deserve our close attention.
