Mediaboss Marketing

Globally, time spent in apps during Q1 2017 rose 25% YoY to nearly 1.7 billion hours, according to recent data released by App Annie. 'Utility and Tools' was found to be the most-used app category, but this was largely due to many being pre-installed. This is followed by the 'Social Networking, Communication and Social' category which make up the largest in terms of apps used.

New data from Verto Analytics concurs. The survey of 5,000 UK adults revealed that the monthly time spent on apps in the communications and social media category increased by 38% (11.2 billion minutes) in the six months to March, 2017. Not only does that make it the fastest growing app category but it now also accounts for 44% of all mobile app time.

"The continuous growth of messaging and social apps mean that the total app time is becoming dominated by just a few sectors, with the top three categories accounting for 78% of all mobile app time spent," says Dr. Hannu Verkasalo, Verto Analytics' CEO.

"This leaves the rest fighting over the scraps, which is going to get harder as app downloads are plateauing and there's the impending rise of "hub apps," where people do more tasks within one app - be it messaging, shopping or ordering a taxi. For example, while games have performed really well over recent years, it seems even they may be being substituted by new offerings across the entertainment category."

Tags: apps, mobile, social, trends, UK

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UK: Communications and social increasingly dominate app time ... - BizReport