The mobile app industry is at the heart of significant and far-reaching dynamic trends, according to a report recently released by Adjust, the analytics firm. The Mobile App Trends 2024 report, produced in collaboration with AppLovin, presents a view of the industry's growing prospective opportunities informed by global app data and techniques of identifying growth sectors, notably with the incorporation of AI-driven personalisation.
Despite the industry having experienced a downward trend in 2022, the report reveals that app installs globally rose 4% in 2023. This improvement underscores the ongoing strength and undeniable potential of mobile platforms to continuously generate impressive returns. Significantly, user consent rates also grew from 29% to 32% in 2023 across the industry, with gaming apps recording the highest global rate of 39%, while fintech and e-commerce sectors marked the largest increases of 7 percentage point each.
The importance of predictive analytics in mobile app marketing and campaign optimisation is emphasised unequivocally by Simon Bobby Dussart, the CEO of Adjust. He states, "By incorporating predictive analytics into cross-device and cross-channel marketing efforts, mobile marketers and developers can unlock the data and insights needed to make fast, smart decisions on budget allocation and to scale confidently."
The report highlights how employing effective AI-driven personalisation can significantly enhance user retention and boost revenue, as evidenced by the gaming hybrid casual genre. It suggests that e-commerce and finance sectors would be well-served to adopt a similarly data-centric approach, personalising in-app experiences to optimise user engagement and business returns.
Daniel Tchernahovsky, VP of International Business Development at AppLovin, underscores this, saying, "The best way for gaming developers to increase long-term retention is to make their game or app feel like it's designed especially for their players. AI enables developers to segment users and customise game progression so it feels as if the game's level of difficulty has been uniquely calibrated to a user."
Further key insights from the Mobile App Trends 2024 study pertain to the rise of fintech app adoption, driven by mobile payments. Approximately one-third of total fintech app sessions in 2023 involved payment apps. Fintech apps experienced an extraordinary 118% year-on-year surge in in-app revenue, while app installs and sessions rose by 42% and 24%, respectively. The largest uptick in fintech app installs – 48% – was reported in the APAC region, which also saw gaming app session lengths averaging at over 35 minutes.
The report's findings affirm an emerging trend in e-commerce, with shopping app installs in 2023 growing by 56%, and overall global e-commerce app installs rising by 43%. The study also suggests that CTV and new channels like PC and console may become the next frontier for advertisers. Andrey Kazakov, VP of Demand, Non-Gaming at AppLovin, concludes, "Acquiring high-value users begins with an effective channel acquisition strategy. Marketers must understand the channels compatible with their specific app's audience and goals, and determine how much they need to spend to hit a critical mass of experiments that can drive more efficient performance."