You are on page 1of 18

PAGE 1

The U.S. Mobile App Report


T U.S.
Mobil App
Repor
PAGE 2
Introduction
It wasnt too long ago when the desktop computer was
the dominant online platform and the central hub for all the
consumers digital activities. But with the proliferation of
smartphones, soon followed by the tremendous success of the
tablet, mobiles rise has been swift and unrelenting. Last year
saw the U.S. become a multi-platform majority, a signicant
milestone in which the majority of digital consumers used both
desktop and mobile devices every month. Around the same time,
mobile rst surpassed desktop in terms of total digital media
engagement. And nally, just this year another key milestone was
reached the app majority where now the majority of all
digital media time spent occurs on mobile apps.
PAGE 3
The U.S. Mobile App Report
While the meteoric growth of apps transpired quickly, this
shouldnt come as too much of a surprise. After all, apps are
the fuel that is driving mobiles growth and where most of the
devices utility comes from. They allow you to perform tasks such
as hailing a cab, checking the weather, posting a Facebook
status, streaming music, watching videos, and so much more.
Without apps, smartphones and tablets are merely shells like
a beautifully designed car equipped with every feature you could
want, but without any gas in the engine.
But despite the fact that engagement is now higher on apps
than on desktop and mobile browser, they have not attracted
the advertising dollars its audience warrants. Like any emerging
advertising medium, it takes time for the ad buying and selling
infrastructure to develop. The good news is that, throughout the
history of media, dollars eventually follow eyeballs, which means
that the future of the mobile app economy is very bright.
PAGE 4
Total U.S. digital media time spent has jumped 24 percent in the past year,
driven by a surge in mobile app usage, which increased 52 percent. While
mobile usage has been growing fast, it has not come at the expense of desktop
computer usage, which still managed to grow by 1 percent.
The strong growth in mobile app usage has propelled it to take over the majority
of digital media time spent at 52 percent. Total mobile activity including mobile
browser usage recently eclipsed 60 percent, as desktop now accounts for the
remaining 40 percent.
Apps drive the vast majority of media consumption activity on mobile devices,
accounting for approximately 7 out of every 8 minutes. Smartphones have a
slightly higher percentage of app activity as compared to browser at 88 percent
vs. 82 percent on tablets.
1
Te Mobile Landscape
Digital Time Spent Growth Driven by Apps
Source: comScore Media Metrix Multi-Platform & Mobile Metrix, U.S., June 2013 - June 2014
Mobile Web
Mobile App
Desktop
Jun 2013 Jun 2014
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
+17%
+24%
+52%
+1%
M
i
n
u
t
e
s

(
B
i
l
l
i
o
n
s
)
PAGE 5
The U.S. Mobile App Report
Mobile App vs. Browser Splits
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
Share of U.S. Digital Media Time Spent by Platform
Source: comScore Media Metrix Multi-Platform & Mobile Metrix, U.S., March 2013 - June 2014
Browser
App
Smartphone Tablet
12%
88%
18%
82%
Desktop
Mobile
Mobile App
65%
60%
55%
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
Mar 2013 Jun 2013 Sep 2013 Dec 2013 Mar 2014 Jun 2014
53%
40%
47%
40%
60%
52%
PAGE 6
More than one-third of all U.S. smartphone owners download at least one
app per month. The average smartphone user within this segment downloads
three apps per month, meaning that the average among the entire smartphone
population comes out to slightly more than one. Moreover, the total number of
app downloads is highly concentrated within a small segment of the smartphone
population, with the top 7 percent of owners accounting for nearly half of all
download activity in a given month.
Americans have a difcult time living without their mobile devices, as evidenced
by the vast majority of consumers using apps on their smartphones and tablets
nearly every day. More than half (57 percent) of smartphone users accessed
apps every single day of the month, while 26 percent of tablet users did so. A
full 79 percent of smartphone users accessed apps at least 26 days per month,
while 52 percent of tablet users did so.
A staggering 42 percent of all app time spent on smartphones occurs on the
individuals single most used app. Nearly three out of every four minutes of app
usage occurs on one of the individuals top 4 apps.
2
App User Habits
Smartphone Users Number of App Downloads Per Month
Source: comScore MobiLens, U.S., Age 18+, 3 Month Average Ending June 2014
0 Apps
Any Apps
1 App
2 Apps
3 Apps
4 Apps
5-7 Apps
8+ Apps

8.4%
8.9%
6.2%
3.7%
4.8%
2.4%
65.5% 34.5%
PAGE 7
The U.S. Mobile App Report
Share of Time Spent on Apps Across Ranks
Source: comScore Custom Analytics, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11+
12%
1% 1%
2% 2%
3%
4%
6%
10%
17%
42% 45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Individuals Top Ranked App by Usage
Number of App Usage Days Per Month
Source: comScore Custom Analytics, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
Smartphone Tablet
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
30 Days
26-29 Days
21-25 Days
16-20 Days
1-15 Days
57%
23%
111%
5%
5%
26%
27%
119%
13%
16%
PAGE 8
The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40 percent more
than the median Android phone user with an annual income of $61,000. On
average, iPhone users engage with their smartphone apps for nine more hours in
a given month than Android users.
Android ranks as the top smartphone operating system with 83.8 million
U.S. smartphone subscribers, approximately 16.4 million more than Apples
iOS platform. Due to Androids fragmented ecosystem of original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) running its software, Apple remains the largest
smartphone OEM with 67.4 million owners and 100 percent of the iOS market.
iOS users skew younger than their Android counterparts across the smartphone
and tablet segments. 43 percent of iPhone users are between the ages of 18-34
as compared to 39 percent of Android phone users. In addition, 57 percent of
iPad users are under age 45 as compared to 53 percent of Android tablet users.
3
App Usage by Platform
iPhone Android Phone
62.6
Total App Users (MM)
76.1
40
Median Age
40
$85,000
Median Income
$61,000
64
Average Hours per App User
55
Top Line Platform Stats for App Usage
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
PAGE 9
The U.S. Mobile App Report
Mobile Platform App Audience Breakouts by Age
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
Apple Android
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
100%
14%
8%
12%
12%
54%
Other
HTC
Motorola
LG
Samsung
Apple
67.4 MM
83.8 MM
iPhone Android Phone iPad Android Tablet
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Persons: 55+
Persons: 45-54
Persons: 35-44
Persons: 25-34
Persons: 18-24
20%
23%
20%
16%
21%
16%
23%
16%
22%
19%
20%
14%
24%
14%
19%
17%
26%
12%
22%
12%
20%
19%
28%
Market Share of OEMs by Smartphone Platform
Source: comScore MobiLens, U.S., Age 18+, 3 Month Average Ending June 2014
PAGE 10
A majority of mobile app engagement comes from only a select few categories,
with Social Networking, Games and Radio contributing nearly half of the total time
spent on mobile apps. The strength of these categories highlights that mobile
devices are more heavily used for entertainment and communication than their
desktop counterparts.
iPhone users spend a greater share of their app time consuming media, with
General News, Radio, Photos, Social Networking and Weather ranking as the
highest indexing categories on Apples iOS smartphone platform. In contrast,
Android phone users spend a greater share of their time in the Search and Email
categories due to the strong native presence of Google Search and Gmail on
the platform.
Consumers use different devices depending on the digital task they are trying to
accomplish, the type of media content they seek to engage with, and their physical
location at the time of consumption. Some categories such as Radio, Maps and
Instant Messengers achieve much higher reach on mobile, while others such as
Search and News reach a greater percentage of the audience on desktop.
5%
4%
4%
5%
8%
16%
25%
34%
Share of Mobile App Time Spent
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
Social Networking
Games
Radio
Multimedia
Retail
Instant Messengers
Photos
All Others
4
App Category Usage
PAGE 11
The U.S. Mobile App Report

Top Indexing App Categories by Smartphone Platform
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
155
149
141
123
117
General News
Radio
Photos
Social Networking
Weather
Retail
TV
Games
e-mail
Search/Navigation
Android iOS
120
141
144
168
185
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Mobile Skew
Desktop Skew
Radio
Games
Multimedia
Social Networking
Retail
Search/Navigation
General News
Email
Sports
Health
Banking
Maps
Weather
Photos
Instant Messengers
Percent Audience Reach on Desktop and Mobile App by Category
Source: comScore Media Metrix & Mobile Metrix, U.S., June 2014
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

R
e
a
c
h

o
n

M
o
b
i
l
e

A
p
p
Percent Reach on Desktop
PAGE 12
The ranking of top apps is dominated by app constellations of some of the
largest digital media brands; specically, Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo,
Amazon and eBay. These six brands account for 9 of the top 10 most used apps,
16 of the top 25, and 24 of the top 50.
Facebook is the #1 app in both audience size and share of time spent among
each of the different demographic segments broken out, highlighting the breadth
and depth of its popularity and importance to the mobile media landscape.
Across all age segments, the most time is spent on leisure-oriented apps in
the Social Networking, Entertainment and Messaging categories. The younger
the age segment the higher the concentration of this activity, while older age
segments also allocate their time to more functional apps, such as Mail and
Maps, in addition to Games.
5
Top Apps
PAGE 13
The U.S. Mobile App Report
Top 25 Mobile Apps by Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+, June 2014
115,370
83,392
72,245
70,163
69,000
64,485
60,320
46,637
42,070
42,069
40,544
39,210
36,071
34,702
29,993
28,821
27,615
26,469
26,454
24,586
22,194
18,849
18,372
17,599
17,225
Facebook
YouTube
Google Play
Google Search
Pandora Radio
Google Maps
Gmail
Instagram
Apple Maps
Yahoo Stocks
iTunes Radio/iCloud
Facebook Messenger
Yahoo Weather Widget
Twitter
The Weather Channel
Google+
Netix
Snapchat
Amazon Mobile
Pinterest
eBay
Skype
Shazam
Yahoo Mail
Kik Messenger
PAGE 14
14.8%
9.1%
6.6%
5.2%
3.4%
2.9%
2.5%
2.4%
2.3%
1.9%
Share of Mobile App Time Spent
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., June 2014
Facebook
Pandora Radio
Instagram
YouTube
Snapchat
Twitter
Kik Messenger
Facebook Messenger
Netix
Ifunny :)
Facebook
Pandora Radio
YouTube
Instagram
Netix
Facebook Messenger
Skype
Gmail
Pinterest
Google Maps
Age 18-24
Age 25-34
18.5%
7.5%
3.6%
2.7%
2.6%
2.5%
1.6%
1.3%
1.2%
1.2%
PAGE 15
The U.S. Mobile App Report
16.3%
4.0%
2.5%
1.6%
1.5%
1.3%
1.1%
1.1%
1.0%
0.9%
18.4%
4.1%
3.6%
2.5%
1.5%
1.4%
1.2%
1.2%
1.2%
1.1%
Facebook
Pandora Radio
Facebook Messenger
YouTube
Netix
Viggle
Instagram
Gmail
Candy Crush Saga
Pinterest
Facebook
Facebook Messenger
Pandora Radio
YouTube
Yahoo Mail
Skype
Words With Friends (Free)
Solitaire by Mobilityware
Google Maps
Pinterest
Age 35-54
Age 55+
PAGE 16
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HOW, WHEN AND WHERE YOUR AUDIENCES
ARE ENGAGING WITH YOUR CONTENT AND CAMPAIGNS?
COMSCORE CAN GIVE YOU A TOTAL VIEW OF THE CONSUMER, HELPING YOU MAKE
SMARTER BUSINESS DECISIONS AND DISCERN THE TRUE VALUE OF MEDIA.
CONTACT US TODAY TO LEARN MORE.
PAGE 17
The U.S. Mobile App Report
STAY CONNECTED
www.facebook.com/comscoreinc
Follow us @comscore
www.linkedin.com/company/comscore
www.youtube.com/user/comscore
2014 comScore, Inc.
comScore, Media Metrix Multi-Platform, Mobile Metrix, MobiLens and Media Metrix, are the trademarks of comScore, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their owners. For information about the proprietary technology used in comScore products, please
refer to http://www.comscore.com/About_comScore/Patents.
PAGE 18

You might also like