India grew over 150% in app downloads; tops in spends on video streaming: App Annie report

India witnessed a 165% growth in app downloads across iOS and Android devices in the last two years, revealed research firm App Annie in its yearly “State of Mobile” report. Globally, it grew at 35%. China, which grew 65% which accounted for half of all the app downloads in the world.

Top ten downloads in India

The top apps that were downloaded in India include: Facebook, Messenger, UC browser, WhatsApp, Shareit, TikTok, Vigo video, Hotstar, Truecaller Timesgroup-owned MX player.

The top apps in India in terms of monthly active users included: WhatsApp, Facebook, ShareIt, Messenger, Truecaller, Timesgroup-owned MX player, UC browser, Instagram, Amazon and Paytm.

Streaming apps

India along with countries like Australia, Indonesia saw over 140% growth in time spent in the top 5 video streaming apps in 2018 vs. 2016.

The tops five video streaming apps that topped in India include Youtube, Hotstar, JioTV, Amazon Prime and Voot.

Interestingly, India also topped in the consumer spend category for video streaming apps. The top ones were Netflix, Hotstar, Bigo Live, Live.me and AltBalaji.

Mobile Shopping

The time spent on shopping apps in India, a largely mobile market, grew only 5% where as in the US, it grew 70%. In comparison, Chinese users spent seven times more than Indian users and 11 times more than US users on shopping apps.

Globally, mobile is set to comprise nearly 75%of total e-commerce transactions by 2021.

Food Tech

Time spent on online food delivery apps more than doubled in two years in India. This is fueled by growth in both fast food apps (QSR — Quick Service Restaurants) and the rise of food delivery services, cited the report.

Globally, downloads of the top 5 food delivery apps have grown 115% in 2018 vs. 2016. UberEATS and Zomato, respectively, were the top two food delivery apps by worldwide downloads in 2018. Of the markets analyzed, India saw the strongest growth at 900%, followed by US.

Social and communication

India grew at 40% in the last two years in social and communication apps. The report added that apps such as Instagram, Snapchat andTik Tok have leveraged video in a one-to-one or one-to-many mode to foster deeper engagement, particularly for Gen Z the generation that comes after millennials.

The top five social apps in India include, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook messenger and IMO respectively. Notably, Instagram saw the strongest global growth in its user base at 35% from January 2017 to Dec 2018.

Global view

While China topped the app download market, emerging markets saw a significant growth while US slowed down. Global consumer spend in apps reached $101 billion last year, up 75% since 2016. And 74% of all money spent on apps last year came from games. Apps outside of games accounted for 65% of total global downloads, consistent with two years prior, added the report.