Time Spent In Apps Up 63 Percent Over Past Two Years, But Apps Used Monthly Show Little Change

Today’s app stores each may host well over a million apps, but consumers only use roughly 26 or 27 of these per month, according to new data from Nielsen out today. However, the time they spend engaging with those apps is increasing – up 63 percent over the past two years, the study found.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, consumers spent 23 hours and two minutes per month engaging with apps. That climbed to 37 hours and 28 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2014.

In other words, for those apps that make it into the lucky two dozen-plus per month that actually get used, then they’re likely being used fairly heavily.

This is not the first time Nielsen has suggested that there’s an upper limit to how many apps consumers can use on a monthly basis. The firm reported last summer that the number of apps seeing monthly use has only slightly increased over the years. On average, consumers used 23.3 apps per month in 2011, 26.5 apps in 2012 and 26.8 apps in 2013.

The most recent numbers for Q4 2014 are broken down by gender: men use 27.2 apps per month compared with 26.3 apps per month for women. Or, on average, consumers today use 26.7 apps per month.

The data is collected with permission from U.S. smartphone users by way of a background app on Android, and on iOS, Nielsen logs data as iOS traffic is routed through a proxy. Its panel distribution is 58 percent Android and 42 percent iOS users, and is collected from a sizable group of 5,000 panelists across various demographic groups, races and ethnicities.

Another notable finding relates to how the different races and ethnicities engage with apps. The firm found that African-Americans use the most apps per month (30.3), but they’re also the most heavily engaged users, spending nearly 43 hours per month in apps. Hispanics, meanwhile, spend 41 hours and 31 minutes per month across 27.9 apps on average. Asian-Americans spend 27 hours and 14 minutes per month, while white non-Hispanic users spend 35 hours and 25 minutes per month in apps.

Nielsen says the “entertainment” category of apps is driving the most usage. However, it defines this group of apps rather broadly, saying that entertainment apps can be mobile games or even apps where users check the weather or sports scores.

That being said, this group of apps saw a 13 percent increase in unique audience year-over-year as of fourth-quarter 2014. And that audience is spend nearly three hours more on apps over the same period – up 26 percent from the prior year.

The gaming subcategory, unsurprisingly, saw the most usage, with 76 percent of entertainment apps users playing at least one game in Q4 2014, and time spent increase by 1:35 per month to 10:02. Music was the second most popular subcategory, followed by video and movies.

Yet, despite the growth of the app marketplaces themselves, which has introduced a ever-expanding selection of apps to choose from, app makers are still having to fight each other to be one of the small handful of apps that get used regularly. While some apps, like Facebook, are always in this short list, others, like games, are played then disposed of, freeing up space for a new title to snag a spot.

The disposable nature of gaming apps has also begun to spread to the wider App Store in recent months, where some titles – think Yo, or that brief MyIdol craze – are wildly popular for months, weeks or sometimes only days, before being forgotten on back screens.

Comments

eGym raises $45M Series C for cloud-connected gym equipment and fitness software

eGym , the Munich-based startup that offers cloud-connected gym equipment and supporting cloud software and app for the fitness training floor, has closed $45 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor HPE Growth Capital, while existing investors, including Highland Europe, also participated. The problem that eGym is looking to solve is that, whilst gyms have moved from a bodybuilder market to a mass market in the last 20 years, the technology in gyms lags behind. That’s despite the fact that better use of technology can help to reduce customer churn, the biggest pain-point of both gym operator and gym users. Comprising of an app for both gym user and trainer, combined with the company’s connected strength machines, the eGym Cloud makes it possible for gym members to receive better fitness instruction and an evolving and personalised fitness plan based on data collected as they workout. And by providing a better workout feedback loop, gym goers can get an i...

What will a driverless future actually look like?

There is a growing consensus that autonomous vehicles (AVs) will soon be a reality. The debate today centers not on whether, but how soon, AVs will be commonplace on our roads. But for all the buzz surrounding AVs, many details about what a driverless future will look like remain unclear. Which business models will work best for the commercialization of AVs? Which AV usage models will be most appealing for consumers? Which companies are best positioned to win in this new market? These are big questions, and no certain answers can be given at this stage. Nonetheless, it is valuable to reflect, in a concrete way, on how this transformative technology might develop. This article will present some conjectures. The end of private car ownership? At a high level, two possible paradigms seem most likely for how society will use AVs. The first is private AV ownership. Under this model, individuals or families would continue to own their own vehicles and use them to get a...

Interview Question

1 = 5 2 = 25 3 = 125 4 = 625 5 = ?

Airbnb will open its Cuba listings to users outside the United States

Airbnb will now let travelers from outside the U.S. to book properties in Cuba after receiving authorization from the U.S. government, reports the Associated Press . Previously, only Americans were allowed to reserve the site’s Cuban listings . They will open to international users on April 2. Airbnb launched its Cuban operations in April 2014 , four months after the Obama administration revealed that it will begin to restore diplomatic relations with the Communist country . The historic policy change means that travel and trade sanctions will be lifted , which is expected to boost tourism to Cuba dramatically because Americans no longer need licenses to visit. In fact, President Obama is currently on an official visit to Cuba , the first president since Calvin Coolidge to do so. According to the AP, Cuba is currently Airbnb’s fastest-growing market, with about 4,000 homes added since it opened listings. Other travel businesses...

Oculus’ New $99 Samsung Gear VR Makes Serious Virtual Reality Affordable

At half the price of its last mobile VR headset, the new $99 Oculus-made Samsung Gear VR is cheap enough to unlock virtual reality for the mainstream. Revealed today at the Oculus Connect conference, it works with the whole 2015 line of Samsung Smartphones including the Note 5, S6, S6 Edge, and S6 Edge+. It will ship in November in time for Black Friday. Compared to the $199 previous Gear VRs that only worked with fewer phones, this headset will be a lot more accessible. The new Gear VR is 22% lighter, making it more comfortable to wear. The trackpad on the temple of the headset also now has a tactile directional pad on it so your finger will know where it’s touching. The previous Gear VRs had a smooth trackpad and sometimes it was to tough to know if you were touching it or just the unsensitive shell of the headset when you couldn’t see for yourself. There’s also a new Gear VR Gamepad which all the Oculus Connect conference attendees will get for free. It features an...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog