New study sheds light on app usage

New research from Google and Ipsos Mori reveals that 93% of smartphone users engage with apps they’ve installed themselves, using on average 30 apps per month.

According to the report, news, games, entertainment or sports apps make up the bulk of that activity (68%) – with gaming apps the most widely used of the four categories.

A third of smartphone users play a games app daily and 96% of app users engage with games apps every week, while 78% of games app users claim to spend six and a half hours a week within the apps.

They are especially popular among women, who make up 51% of total usage time. Usage is highest among female smartphone users aged 18-34 (49%), with the figure for the oldest age group measured (55-64 years) decreasing only slightly by just seven percentage points (42%).

In contrast, games apps usage among men halves as users get older, dropping from 51% in the 18-34 age group to 26% in the 55-64 age group.

Out of games, news, entertainment and sport, sports apps were found to be the least popular – with men accounting for 75% of users.

The gender split across news and entertainment is more equal, however, with men accounting for 57% and 55%, respectively.

Thomas Jacques, director at Google AdExchange EMEA, said: “This new research suggests apps offer marketers a unique opportunity to achieve reach, frequency and engagement by offering broad reach across nearly all smartphone users, frequency through return ‘snacking’ behaviour, unique times of day to reach consumers, and hours-long engagement.”

The findings are based on 12,301 smartphone users, aged 18-64, across the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.