India is the leading mobile first consumer economy: Report

InMobi’s Annual Mobile Marketing Handbook 2021 declared India as a leading mobile-first consumer economy. The COVID-19 pandemic forced people to shift to the digital world and catapulted India as a leading mobile-first consumer economy.

The report, titled ‘Marketing in the era of Mobile’ read that India, accounted for around 14% of the global app installs in 2020, which was four times higher than the global average. India stood next only to Indonesia in terms of average time spent on mobile with a 37% spike in usage, last year as compared to 2019. While app downloads in the country grew by 28% year on year.

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2020 saw the addition of 321 million new internet users worldwide and a 25% spike in app downloads in H1 2020 as compared to H2 2019. Global spending in app stores amounted to over $143 billion in the year 2020. Consumers across the globe spent on an average 4.2 hours per day just in the month of April 2020 while overall around 1.6 trillion hours were spent on mobile in H1 2020.

Vasuta Agarwal Managing Director, Asia Pacific, InMobi, said, “Undeniably, 2020 has been a cataclysmic year for individuals, organizations and marketers across the globe.” “Several brands have pivoted admirably to meet their consumers’ demand. Whether it is embracing m-commerce, building click to mortar capabilities, or creating custom mobile experiences, brands have prioritized consumer needs above all. The clear demand for mobile-first services from consumers has laid the foundation for India’s app economy. Depending on headwinds, 2021 promises to be a positive year for the Indian mobile marketing sector marching steadily towards the next decade of advertising and marketing innovation,” she further added.

AppAnnie, an app analytics platform reported that Indian consumer spending in apps stood at almost $500 million last year.

Several new categories of apps such as Health & Fitness, Gaming, Entertainment, Long-form & Short-form video content, Hyperlocal delivery and Learning & Education gained prominence.  From Jan to Apr 2020, Indian’s spent on entertainment apps grew by over 22%, resulting to a growth of around 47% in OTT subscription and over 26% growth in revenue, read the InMobi Annual Mobile Marketing Handbook.

According to an InMobi survey, e-commerce and BFSI segments continued to lead the way when it comes to digital marketing maturity, emerging as the more connected and multi-moment sectors. Further, 69% of marketers increased their spend in digital channels in 2020 with 87% of them planning to increase their investments in in-app advertising by up to 40%, the survey findings said.

The report further revealed that 1 out of 10 gamers across the globe is Indian and there was 368% growth in Arcade games, 198% growth in casual games and 160% growth in Casino games since pandemic, not only this the report suggests that Indians spent 40 minutes daily on short video content formats.

Jayesh Ullattil, vice president & general manager for India at InMobi said, “COVID-19 has caused a major shift in the way consumers think, feel, and act. With market disruption dramatically shifting long-conditioned behaviour in just a matter of weeks, digital has become the first prerogative in the way consumers choose to interact with the world. Marketers today are re-evaluating their priorities and strategies to not only survive but thrive in a post-COVID-19 world.”