Our friends in ProductStar have studied the analytical report of Apptica Intelligence about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the market of mobile applications and decided to tell you about it in detail. From this article, you will learn how quarantine measures have affected this area and what will happen when the outbreak subsides.
Which application categories have grown the most?
To start with, let's see how the pandemic has affected the categories of mobile applications in general. Consider iOS and Android separately.
IOS
The largest growth was shown by programs from the categories "Business" and "Education" - 109.6% and 68.1% respectively. This is due to the desire of business to continue working even in the period of serious limitations: companies started organizing remote offices, establishing contacts between employees, etc.
People who switched to remote work or lost their positions for a while did not lose time in vain and decided to improve their professional skills using special software. Most likely, this trend will continue for some time: some companies will decide to continue working remotely, and people will get used to at least some additional training.
The biggest decrease in downloads is observed in the category "Travel" - 35.5%. With the closure of borders, people stopped visiting other countries, so the popularity of the software for travelers has decreased significantly. After the complete removal of restrictions application of this category, of course, expects rapid growth, after which the indicators will return to the doc-values.
Android
Categories of applications on Android have not shown the same rapid growth as on iOS. The first place in the increase of downloads took educational applications - 13.8%, the second place is occupied by the programs from the section "Business" - 12.3%. It is noteworthy that in the top hit the Internet stores (category "Shopping"), users of Android-devices began to do more online shopping.
The leader in reducing downloads expected became applications from the category of "Travel". In the period from January to March, the downloads became almost two times less - by 47.58%.
How has the popularity of mobile games changed?
Users began to look for ways of remote interaction with colleagues more often, and the free time (which usually took a trip to the office and home) was spent on getting additional education - learning foreign languages, viewing different courses, etc.
But no one has forgotten about rest, so mobile games have become more popular by 17% compared to January values. At the same time, developers' income increased by 131%. AdColony conducted research and came to the conclusion that the greatest growth was in puzzles, cards, and board games.
TOP 5 gamer countries during quarantine:
In terms of launching advertising campaigns and marketing budgets spent during the pandemic, we have not noticed any negative changes. On the contrary, COVID-19 has forced marketers around the world to strain their brains to adapt to change. A large part of the budgets was redistributed to online promotion channels, which, as an agency, could not but make us happy.
It is still difficult to determine whether the pandemic has had a positive or negative impact on marketing. The only thing we can say for sure is that the marketing strategies of many companies have undergone serious changes. We have entered a new era of the digital world, where the struggle for users and the ability to build competent communication with them still plays a major role.
What to expect from the mobile applications market in the near future? By the end of the year, the number of downloads and income of developers will decrease after reaching peak values. If the restrictive measures continue to weaken, then next year the market should return to its usual state and continue the gradual growth.