80% of U.S. mobile users spend 3 apps on their mobile devices

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On September 28, market research company comScore released the latest report on US mobile user behavior last week. The report shows that US users are increasingly engaging in cross-platform activities. However, although desktop and mobile websites have a wider coverage of the population, apps attract the vast majority of user engagement.

Data shows that desktop Internet is not dead. User usage has continued to rise since 2013. However, this growth rate is slower than that of mobile Internet.

62% of all time spent consuming digital media now happens on mobile, with the majority of that time coming from apps. Recently, time spent on mobile apps has surpassed time spent on TV. In comparison, desktop has dropped from 49% to 38% since 2013.

It is worth noting that the time users spend on mobile devices is concentrated in applications, which has now reached 90%. However, compared with mobile websites, mobile applications attract fewer users. In other words, mobile websites cover more users, but mobile applications attract more user engagement.

Among mobile apps, Facebook leads in terms of both user coverage and user engagement. Among the top five apps in the United States, Facebook has two, while Google has three, namely YouTube, Search, and Google Play. Google Maps ranks sixth.

The limited number of apps used by users is due to a number of reasons, such as limited storage capacity on smartphones and small screen space. The report states that it is easier to attract users on desktop and mobile websites, but users of mobile apps are more meaningful. "Users spend 18 times more time in apps than mobile website visitors," comScore reported.

The report also pointed out that half of the time users spend on mobile apps is concentrated in the most frequently used apps, and about 80% of the time is concentrated in the three most frequently used apps. However, users use 25 apps per month.

Based on this data, it is clear that the time users spend with digital media is becoming increasingly concentrated in a few heavyweight apps. In addition, apps should be at the core of media strategies for brands, retailers and publishers. However, acquiring and retaining app users is becoming increasingly challenging.