Data.ai report: AI, games and other mobile market trends

Analytical platform Data.ai presented the State of Mobile 2024 report , which identified some development trends in the field of mobile applications.

The study allowed us to make the following observations:

Competing for Attention:  Mobile ad spending reached $362 billion, up 8%, driven by short-form video and video-sharing apps.

Gaming spending declined to $107 billion (-2% YoY) while downloads remained stable at 88 billion, driven by hyper-casual, simulation and action game genres.

Shopping app competition is heating up : Chinese apps Temu and SHEIN have broken into the West, growing 140%, with Temu leading downloads in 125 countries.

Video is still king : Social media and entertainment apps saw double-digit growth, with time spent on them rising 12% to 3 trillion hours and spending up 10% to $29 billion.

"Revenge travel" is still going strong ( Revenge travel [rɪˈvendʒ ˈtræv(ə)l] - trips to catch up after the pandemic ): downloads of travel apps grew sharply in the sector by 13%, with integrated travel services (26% ), tour bookings (80%) and flight bookings (43%) led the growth.

Soaring demand for live events : Ticketing apps across the sector have seen explosive demand, growing by 31% in 2023.

Time spent in mobile applications

In 2023, the average time spent by users in mobile apps exceeded the five-hour threshold, up 6% year-on-year, setting a new record.

In 2023, users in Indonesia exceeded 6 hours per day, and four other markets including Thailand, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Brazil exceeded 5 hours per day on mobile apps.

Since 2020, the most significant increases in time spent on mobile apps have been seen in Japan, Australia and Canada, with increases of 18%, 16% and 16% respectively.

AI in mobile phones

Generative AI saw explosive growth in 2023, increasing its presence sevenfold, leading to the emergence of new sectors such as AI chatbots and image generators. Artificial intelligence has spanned the entire spectrum of mobile applications, from social media (Snapchat) to education (Duolingo) to finance (Wells Fargo). The 20 apps listed below include eight different categories and 14 subcategories.