By Charlie Cummins – bbmm.ie
Today’s Google Breakfast Briefing (on “Apps Ecosystem and Smart Monetisation”) was something of a milestone for Google’s briefings in that over 10,000 attendees in total over the 3 years of the series was achieved with today’s session. So congratulations to Google on their consistency in delivering worthwhile, informative sessions on a monthly basis and sharing their knowledge.
The session today looked at mobile apps: the trends in app growth, what users want and how to monitise apps. The session opened with an overview of the current status of the app market and the challenges faced by app developers in bringing new apps to the market, with the odds somewhat stacked against them in getting new apps accepted. The following stats provide an interesting overview:
- One Million apps were introduced in 2015
- There are more than 3 million apps available in the “play stores”
- 60% of all apps have never been downloaded
- 20% of all downloaded apps are used only once
- 95% of downloaded apps are abandoned within one month
The bottom line is that for an app to become successful it must engage with its users.
App Trends
App users tend to graduate to gaming, video and sports app. The image below shows which apps get downloaded first with the first week of buying a mobile device.
Users:
Users typically want apps to be free – though they appear to be willing to accept some level of in-app advertising in exchange. Currently, 90% of all downloaded apps are free. Users typically spend about 37 hours per month engaged with apps (a 63% growth in 2 years)
Options to Monetise:
Successful app developers are diversifying in how they monitise their apps, using some, or a combination of, the following:
- Ad network advertising
- Direct in-app ads
- Paid/Subscription downloadable apps
- In-app purchase.
