Consumers spent 3.8 trillion hours in mobile apps in 2021

In a word: Consumers are spending more time and money than ever on mobile apps. According to App Annie’s latest State of Mobile report, daily time spent in mobile apps averaged 4.8 hours per user. This represents a 30% increase over a two-year period and represents a third of daily standby hours in the top 10 markets analyzed. Together, that equates to some 3.8 trillion hours.

Of course, the 4.8 hour figure is the average. In Brazil and Indonesia, for example, consumers are approaching the 5.5 hour mark. South Korea is just five hours away, followed by Mexico, India and Japan.

Spending on mobile apps is even more staggering. Last year, consumers collectively shelled out $170 billion in App Store purchases. That equates to more than $320,000 spent every minute of 2021. App Annie also found that 233 apps generated more than $100 million each in spend last year.

For comparison, only 38 movies made over $100 million at the box office in 2021.

Sensor Tower, in its year-end report last month, estimated that consumer spending on app stores would hit $133 billion in 2021, a 19.7% year-over-year increase. other.

Downloads of new apps reached 230 billion, a 5% year-over-year increase. Looked at another way, that equates to more than 435,000 apps downloaded per minute.

Unsurprisingly, advertisers are taking notice. In 2021, advertising spending reached $295 billion. If it was a country, it would be ranked #41 among the largest economies in the world.

Image credit: Tim Douglas