Online in Corona times: How media consumption is evolving
Due to restrictions in countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the nature of communication is changing. Within the home, mobile devices are becoming more important than ever. The analytics service App Annie shows how app usage is changing in countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
The first ten weeks of 2020 have dramatically changed life for virtually every country and almost every person. COVID-19 has the world in its grip - people are moving to home office, the virus is dominating the news, upending financial markets and having a dramatic impact on industries from travel to healthcare to hospitality. Mobile is no exception. App Annie has taken a look at apps for business, education, gaming, social, finance and dating and shows how media consumption is evolving.
Time spent on the cell phone increases enormously
Overall, daily smartphone use has risen significantly in the most affected countries. In China, consumers spent an average of 5 hours a day on their cell phones in February during the crisis, an increase of 30% compared to the 2019 average. In Italy, the figure rose by 11%, i.e. to 2.7 hours a day.
Office and educational apps: doubling the duration of use
The amount of time Chinese people spend using office apps has doubled since the lockdown and the associated social distancing policy. Before the outbreak, it was around 10 hours a week, after the outbreak around 20 hours.
The most popular apps included Huawei Cloud WeLink, DingTalk and Zoom Cloud Meetings. In the week starting February 23, around 761,000 downloads of office apps were made in the App Store and on Google Play in Italy, an increase of 135 percent compared to the average of the previous 52 weeks.
Gaming: China records growth of 80 percent
Game downloads also rose rapidly. In China, there was an 80% increase in February compared to the average from the previous year.
Social media and entertainment apps: alone together
In China, TikTok recorded an increase in average time per user and total time spent on the app on Android phones after the first COVID-19 outbreak. In total, users spent more than 3 billion hours on the app in the week starting March 1, 2020. A 130% increase compared to the weekly average in 2019.
Fintech apps: Usage time in Japan doubles
The economic instability of the stock market has also led to an increase in the use of fintech apps. Weekly usage in Japan, for example, has increased by more than half since the end of December. In Italy, South Korea, China, the United States and Germany, a double-digit percentage increase can also be observed.
Dating: online flirting remains popular
Within dating apps, users can still actively exchange information without meeting in person. After Valentine's Day, the use of dating apps in the United States declined. However, this observation can be made every year.
* App Annie is a mobile data analytics service that provides trusted app data and insights to help companies position themselves for success in the global app market. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with 12 offices worldwide.
