Baidu 2014 Mobile Distribution Trend Report: The demographic dividend is disappearing

On October 14, Baidu released the "Baidu Mobile Distribution Report 2014H1", which showed that the overall user scale of mobile application distribution in the first half of 2014 increased by 27% compared with the end of last year, and the overall distribution volume increased by 25%. The report also showed that currently, 94% of downloads occur in Wi-Fi environments.

64% of users use domestic mobile phones

Data shows that the Android market continued to grow steadily in the first half of 2014, with daily active users increasing by 27%. However, the growth rate in Q2 2014 was slightly slower than in Q1, which may indicate that the demographic dividend is gradually disappearing.

The proportion of users using domestic mobile phones increased by 6 percentage points compared with six months ago, with Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and other domestic mobile phones accounting for 64%. Users are accepting the new version of the Android operating system faster, and Android 4.2 and above versions have become the mainstream.

In addition, the resolution of mobile phones has gradually increased, and the screen resolution of half of Android phones has reached 720P or above. The optimization of device hardware and operating system creates a better operating environment for application software installed on Android phones.

Audio and video APP***

Due to the popularity of smart phones, improved download environment, personalized development of application distribution platforms, and optimization of platform functions and technologies, users' downloading behavior has become increasingly active. As of Q2 2014, 27% of users used application distribution platforms to download applications every day, with an average of 2.9 applications downloaded per day.

Data shows that different user groups have different preferences for app downloads. Urban white-collar workers and students prefer audio and video, social and learning apps, while rural and urban migrant workers prefer communication and consumer apps in addition to audio and video and social apps. Overall, audio and video apps are the most popular category.

In addition, students and urban white-collar workers download more software than games, and update applications more than download new applications, while rural users and urban migrant workers are just the opposite. At the same time, search and browsing, social communication, news and shopping have become the four fastest-growing application types in terms of overall download volume in the first half of 2014.

The market shows four major trends

The report points out that the mobile application distribution market is showing four major trends: younger user structure, content-based application search, mobile download behavior, and closed-loop developer services.

From the perspective of user structure, the mobile application user group is getting younger. The proportion of student users has increased, and their downloading behavior is the most active, with an average of 3 downloads per day, exceeding the average level of the market. The increase in the proportion of student users will lead to a younger user structure and more active downloads. According to Baidu's official statistics, in terms of growth rate, users' search demand for content in applications has exceeded that of application names.

With the popularity of Wi-Fi and smart phones, mobile application downloads have become very common. The report pointed out that in Q2 2014, the proportion of users using mobile clients and mobile web pages to download applications was 52% and 25% respectively, an increase of 8% and 2% respectively compared with six months ago, while the use of PC client downloads decreased by 10%. Currently, 94% of downloads occur in Wi-Fi environments.

The rapid development of the industry has driven the evolution of developer services towards a "one-stop" closed loop. The report shows that the size of newly launched applications has increased by more than 21% compared to six months ago, and its release cycle has shortened by 7%, increasing the competition and pressure on developers.