The omni-channel digital funnel is real.
The apps economy presents a false dichotomy to publishers: choose native apps or the mobile Web.
Companies that wish to provide the most thorough experience to their users need to start embracing the omni-channel realities of the digital world. Yes, that means you need website optimized for the desktop. And one for the mobile Web. And a native app … built for iOS and Android.
Executives might say, “yeah, all we hear is that we need an app. That’s where we are going to focus our resources.” They then publish an app and wonder why nobody is downloading it.
Why? Because the digital world has naturally coalesced into a funnel where the majority of people find a brand through the mobile Web … but spend most of their time in the mobile app.
See also: App Retention Rates Plummet, 80% Ditch An App After 3 Months
The numbers tell a pretty clear story. Research and analytics firm comScore published its 2016 U.S. Mobile App Report this week that shows how people interact with the digital economy and where they spend their time.
Web Gets Eyeballs, Apps Keep Them
Several slides in comScore’s report provide evidence for the emergence of the new digital funnel.
First, total time spent in the digital economy clearly favors mobile apps. The desktop Web is declining in total usage but still commands significant user attention. The mobile Web only registers a small amount of time compared to the desktop and mobile apps, but as we will see below, that is not a reason to dismiss the mobile Web as a priority.
Both native apps and the mobile Web are growing in overall usage. When it comes to the pure volume of eyeballs, the mobile Web far outpaces native apps in the ability to cast a wide net for users.
The average mobile Web audience for a top 1,000 website in the United States is about 11.4 million monthly unique visitors, up 82% from June 2014. But those users are actually spending 27% less time on mobile websites than before.
So, if mobile is taking up the majority of digital time spent in the U.S. but people are not spending time on the desktop or the mobile Web, that means they are spending all of their time in apps.
Really, all of their time.
Time spent in apps outpaces time spent on the mobile Web by a ratio of 7:1.
The killer chart from comScore—and the one that app and website publishers always have the hardest time wrapping their heads around—show that mobile websites have three-times as many monthly visitors as mobile apps. But people spending a stunning 20-times more time in those apps (188.6 minutes a month) than the mobile Web (9.3 minutes a month).
The Social And Entertainment Categories Dominate Time Spent
When it comes to digital strategy, there is no one-size-fits-all model for all app and website publishers. Some categories are more naturally suited to mobile engagement than others.Specifically, social and entertainment categories that account for 60% of total time spent in mobile apps.
Social networking is the biggest single category for mobile time spent with 20% of all usage. Music is the second biggest category with 16%. Games (12%), multimedia (7%) and instant messaging (5%) account for the full 60% of time spent within apps.
A few apps dominate time spent in these various categories. For instance, 76% of all social networking time spent in apps is on Facebook. YouTube dominates the multimedia category with 68% of time spent.
Some app categories are now completely driven by mobile usage. For instance, 96% of time spent in digital music is spent in apps, driven primarily by Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music, all three of which are in the top 25 apps by unique monthly visitors. Instant Messengers are driven by 94% app engagement.
The lesson here is that app publishers need to understand their industry. If you have an app that provides communication or an active media purpose (watching video, listening to music, playing games), the apps economy is going to work for you.If you’re in a category that has struggled in the mobile realm, a more diverse strategy is necessary. For instance the news business only sees 2% of total time spent in apps. And only 35% of total time spent in digital news/information comes from mobile apps.
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