Football fans around the world that followed the recently concluded FIFA World Cup in Russia contributed largely to the dominance of sports based mobile applications in the second quarter of 2018.
The mobile apps in that category had a lion share of the total $18.5 billion consumers spent across iOS and Google Play stores. This represents 20 per cent more than any quarter before.
The global app market data was released by AppAnnie, a leading app business provider, in August, 2018.
The data showed that there were over 28.4 billion apps download globally across the iOS and Google Play in the second quarter, up 15 per cent year-on-year. The growth is remarkable largely because it was driven by new downloads that do not include reinstalls or app updates.
Google Play widened its download gap with 25 per cent growth year-on-year over Apple’s iOS. It exceeded 20 billion in the second quarter of 2018, representing a 160 per cent rise in the same quarter.
Partly buoyed by the recently concluded FIFA World Cup in Russia, Games, Video Players & Editors and Sports apps drove growth in Google Play downloads quarter over quarter in the second quarter.
Sports downloads had the most effect on iOS where they were the largest attractions for new users.
“The World Cup presented a unique opportunity for app marketers as soccer fans tuned in around the globe on their mobile devices to live stream matches, check stats and share commentary on social media,” AppAnnie noted.
Although Google Play had the most mobile apps download, consumers spent more in the iOS App Store making its revenue to spike 20 per cent year-on-year.
Sports also dominated growth of consumer spending in the quarter-over-quarter on iOS. Sports mobile apps accounted for the third largest contributors to absolute growth in consumer spend and the third largest growth in market share of consumer spend quarter over quarter in second quarter of 2018.
Games shared the spotlight on Google Play with social, music and audio apps seeing the largest absolute growth in downloads quarter over quarter. Social and Music and Audio also ranked first and second for growth in market share quarter over quarter.
