When it comes to data usage within apps, YouTube leads the way with Facebook coming in just behind, according to App Annie’s first report looking at how people act inside mobile applications on smartphones and tablets.
The app analytics company – fresh from last week’s acquisition of Mobidia – has released a report analysing trends in the UK, US, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
Apps for communication and social networking in general remain at the forefront of iOS and Android mobile device usage and account for at least 40 per cent of Android smartphone sessions, says the report.
As for overall data consumption per active user, South Korea came out on top, thanks to “its extensively developed telecommunications infrastructure combined with high app engagement,” followed by Japan.
Although communication services and games led app engagement in South Korea, the highest data usage during Q1 2015 came from media and video apps, with YouTube leading the way.
“However, given the recent emphasis on Facebook video plays on mobile devices, Facebook was the second highest consumer of data on Android smartphones in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany in Q1 2015, and ranked third in South Korea,” the study noted.
In January, Facebook acquired QuickFire, a video-compression startup that reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading quality, making it easier to load videos, particularly on mobile devices.
When it comes to top apps by sessions per active user for Android smartphones, Facebook was number one in the US, and number two in the UK and Germany, where WhatsApp took number one spot. In Japan, top place went to LINE and in South Korea KakaoTalk was the winner (click image below to enlarge).
Gaming is most popular in the Asian markets: Android smartphone users in Japan spent, on average, around 4 times as much time in games per month and activated around 3 times more gaming sessions per month than their US counterparts (click image below to enlarge).
In Japan and South Korea, over 90 per cent of iOS and Google Play app store revenue comes from games, whereas games accounted for approximately 70 per cent of app store revenue in the United Kingdom and around 80 per cent in the United States in Q1 2015.
The report also found that while smartphones accounted for the majority of game time spent in Japan, session lengths on tablets were approximately 25 per cent longer for Android.
In contrast, Android smartphone users in Europe and the US tended to spend more time in apps from the social and media and video categories than in games.
“With revenue from app stores and in-app advertising 70 per cent higher in 2014 than the previous year, understanding how individuals interact with apps is a key component of a successful strategy,” the report added.
The data was provided through App Annie’s recently rolled out Usage Intelligence platform, which it claims is the the only mobile usage provider to offer comprehensive data in 60 countries on iOS and Android.
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