News, social media, gaming drive Indian millennials’ mobile app consumption, finds study
India has a thriving mobile app economy, mostly driven by millennial men and women. YourStory picks out the top trends from a recent study.
The average Indian user has 50 apps (including pre-installed ones) on their smartphone, a study by MoMAGIC Technologies revealed.
MoMAGIC, a data science-driven mobile tech startup based in New Delhi, surveyed 6,000 Indian millennials to deconstruct their app usage behaviour.
The study found that mobile app consumption in India is evenly distributed across genders, with an average man installing 50.5 apps, and an average woman downloading 49.8.
Earlier this year, India also became the world’s largest market by app downloads, with the consumption primarily driven by millennials.
According to the study, 'foodies' and 'travellers' are the key segments, besides millennials, for app usage. Students and 'fashionistas' follow.
Since 2017, the average app usage time has grown 90 percent, the report stated.
Among the various app categories, shopping, videos, and games are identified as the fastest in acquiring users.
The study also found that digital marketing is driving customer acquisition on apps, and ad spends by companies are slated to grow 20 percent annually until 2021.
Here are some of the top findings from the report:
News and social apps lead in usage
It is a well-known fact that millennials love to stay updated about the latest events and issues. In accordance with this trend, news app downloads have grown 94 percent since Q4 2017.
About 79 percent of all smartphone users have news apps installed on their devices. Social apps are next, registering a growth of 80 percent since 2017.
Also, users of social apps who are active on social networks are more likely to install dating and weather apps too, downloads of which have surged 4.6X and 3.4X, respectively.
“People who have social media apps are not only good at social networking on the internet, but might enjoy outdoor activities too, and hence, often check weather information. These are social masters on the internet,” the report stated.
Millennial parents drive gaming app installs
Gaming apps are the third-most downloaded by Indians. App installs in this category have increased 54 percent in the past two years. According to a separate report by the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming, the country has 300 million online gamers, 60 percent of whom are below the age of 24.
MoMAGIC found that game app users mainly comprise parents who share their devices with their children. The choice of app can depend on “game pictures”, which millennial parents consider as a “critical feature” for their child.
Additionally, these users are also likely to download parenting, comic, and beauty apps on their devices.
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OTT platforms preferred over DTH television
More than half (55 percent) of Indian millennials prefer consuming entertainment on OTT apps over traditional television channels. Nearly 90 percent of these users are paying for OTT content. And, more than two-thirds (69 percent) are “ready to pay more if content is priced economically”.
Hotstar is the most preferred platform, with 41 percent of OTT consumers having the app. Amazon Prime Video (26 percent) and Netflix (nine percent) follow in popularity.
“Going ahead, OTT is expected to get a deeper hold in the market thanks to Gen Z, which is more inclined towards it,” Arun Gupta, Founder and CEO of MoMAGIC Technologies, stated.
Popularity of auto and vehicle apps
Even though auto sales are slowing down in India, partly due to the rising popularity of Ola, Uber, and other app-based taxi services, there is still “a huge group of users who self-drive”.
These users typically have many traffic tool apps (GPS navigation, parking information, highway helper, among others) on their handsets “for them to drive smarter on the roads”.
Auto and vehicle app downloads have increased 4.8X since 2017.
Rise of health and fitness apps
It is no secret that Gen Z is much more fitness-oriented than its preceding generations. As a result, downloads of health and fitness trackers have grown 5.5X in two years.
“Millennials care about any measurement of their body and may use calorie counter and fitness recording apps and more to help them control their health well,” MoMAGIC stated.
With millennials making up nearly 70 percent of the country’s population, it would appear these trends are here to stay.
(Edited by Athirupa Geetha Manichandar)
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