The coronavirus-influenced lifestyle is taking people closer to their phones now more than ever. Mobile app usage, and consumers spending cash on apps soared to a monthly all-time high.
Average monthly hours spent in mobile apps jumped 40% compared to second quarter ‘19, hitting record 20,000 crore hours in April, according to App Annie, a data analytics firm.
Consumers in US, Brazil and India, the top 3 worst COVID-19 affected countries, had spent the most amount of time in non-gaming apps. India tops the list by spending around 3,500 crore hours monthly in the non-gaming apps, which almost equals the combined time spent by US, Brazil and Indonesia.
Worldwide consumers spending in apps climbed to ₹2 lakh crore ($27 billion) in the second quarter 2020. US and China contributed the most to the consumer spending on iOS.
Consumers spent ₹1.3 lakh crore ($17 billion) on iOS in the second quarter, growing by 15% from the previous year while the spending on Google Play jumped 25% to ₹75,000 crore ($10 billion). Gaming apps grossed more than the non-gaming apps.
Games, entertainment, photo and video apps dominated spending on iOS. Tiktok, the Chinese short-video sharing platform continued its rise to be the top grossing app across iOS and Google play followed by the dating app Tinder, in the second quarter.
Games, and entertainment apps were also the largest grossers in Google Play along with the social apps. Disney+ and Twitch spurred the growth in the entertainment category. Musicians turning to the live streaming platforms like Twitch to leverage on the premium subscriptions also helped growth in this category.
Consumers downloaded about 3,500 crore new apps in the second quarter, non-gaming apps contributing more than the gaming apps across both iOS and Google Play. Google Play accounted for 25 billion downloads, more than double of downloads in iOS.
India and Brazil were the largest markets for Google Play downloads while The US and China contributed the most in iOS downloads. Tiktok topped the list for the most downloaded app followed by Zoom, the video conferencing app. The usage of Zoom expanded beyond business and education to virtual live performances as a greater number of artists turned to live streaming and online performances.