Flat app use means tighter competition for attention, higher ad prices: report?
The use of applications has remained relatively steady even as the number and variety of apps continues to expand and smartphone adoption grows, according to a new report from Parks Associates.
The findings in ?Consumer Segmentation: Mobile App Users,? underscore one of the primary challenges facing app developers, which is how to become an app that consumers spend time with. At the same time, it suggests that ad inventory in the more popular apps is likely to increase.
?For mobile marketers, our data means the price of premium ad inventory inside these apps is likely to go up while those inside less popular apps will see cost of showing ads decreases,? said Harry Wang, director of research at Parks Associates, Dallas, TX.
Social apps rule
Park Associates? research found that mobile users regularly engage with nearly eight apps on their smartphone and nearly seven apps on their tablet.
The average user spends 3.3 hours per week on social networking apps on a smartphone, according to the research, making them the most popular category of apps.
In fact, 70 percent of smartphone users and 56 percent of tablet users use social networking apps on a monthly basis.
Gaming and music apps are also popular, with users spending 2.7 hours per week on gaming apps and 2.6 hours per week on music apps.
Health apps
One potential area of opportunity pinpointed by the report is health-related apps, with 19 percent of smartphone owners and 20 percent of tablet owners finding a master health app that aggregates data from all health apps very appealing.
Other key findings include that 14 percent of smartphone users and 26 percent of tablet users do not regularly use an app.
The report also points to the rapid growth in smartphone penetration over the past years, with smartphone ownership among broadband households with mobile phone service increasing from 8 percent in 2005 to over 80 percent in 2014.
Tablet adoption has increased by approximately 30 percent since 2012 to exceed 60 percent of U.S. broadband households.
App marketing
The growing competition for mobile app users is an important reason why the use of app install ads is being adopted by developers at a higher rate.
Savvy marketers are also exploring deep linking to enable easy movement across apps.
Marketers should also connect their apps to the customer relationship management programs to provide more personalization and contextualized experiences.
The results from Park Associates? research echo recent findings from Forrester Research, that consumers spend 80 percent of their time with apps in their five most time-consuming apps (see story).
?Marketers are likely to become more sensitive to ad metrics about user engagement, and scrutinize app publishers on ad inventory quality,? Mr. Wang said.
Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York