Much of the renewed growth seen in the app market in 2023 is set to come from e-commerce, fintech and gaming apps thus far in 2023, despite economic headwinds.
While 2022 marked the industry’s first ever slowdown, 2023 early indicators show a turnaround is already well underway — with mobile app installs trending upward in e-commerce (+4%), fintech (+13%), and gaming (+10%) against their 2022 averages.
So finds the latest data from Adjust in its Mobile App Trends 2023 ebook. The report — based on datasets totaling more than 100,000 apps tracked by Adjust — analyzes long-term trends in installs, sessions, time spent in-app, retention, re-attribution rates, and more, across the globe. These insights enable developers and marketers to better understand their audience and the state of the app economy.
“Global conditions and user needs are evolving rapidly, but the need for growth and ROI in the mobile app marketing industry remains the same,” says Simon “Bobby” Dussart, CEO of Adjust. “Delivering highly customized, seamless user experiences, executing on cross-platform campaigns, and tapping into the potential of new channels, such as connected TV, will prove invaluable for marketers and developers seeking sustained and strategic growth in 2023 and beyond.”
Looking in more detail at the study, we find that The m-commerce boom as revenue consistently trends upward. Sessions and session lengths in m-commerce were both up year-over-year in 2022, and sessions are up another 7% in thus far 2023. In-app revenue for e-commerce was up 4% YoY in 2022, with November coming in as the biggest month ever tracked by Adjust.
Despite economic headwinds, fintech apps grew globally demonstrating the resilience and increasing relevance of mobile financial services. Global installs for fintech apps grew 2% in 2022 while global sessions grew 19% year-over-year — up most notably in LATAM (54%) and EMEA (40%). Fintech in-app revenue also skyrocketed more than 90% from November 2022 through January 2023.
Hyper casual games maintain dominance, accounting for the highest share of gaming app installs. While Hyper casual games make up 25% of gaming app installs, action games represent the highest proportion of sessions at 25%. Gaming app installs and sessions decreased significantly in 2022, but are bouncing back, up 10% and 11%, respectively, in January 2023. In-app revenue is also up, by 14%, compared to Q4 2022.
More specifically, ATT opt-in rates have climbed again. With data-privacy now the norm, user education on the topic is improving, resulting in continually increasing opt-in rates. ATT opt-in rates for Q1 2023 have climbed to an overall industry average of 29%, up four percentage points year-over-year, with gaming reaching a high of 36% and fintech climbing from 11% to 18%.
The report also highlights the top 10 most downloaded apps in 2022 across mobile e-commerce, gaming, and fintech, and provides key insights from leading industry players. Kathleen Gambarelli, Group Product Marketing Manager, Revenue, Snap Inc. notes that: “Maintaining agility in this changing mobile ecosystem is of critical importance. From rapidly introducing product features that better serve our community and advertisers, to diversifying revenue streams and embracing new industry standards around measurement, Snap has proved adaptable and resilient.”
Dussart adds that current trends demonstrate the mobile app ecosystem’s ability to consistently persevere and adapt to the diverse and ever-developing needs of users. “Success in 2023 will be defined by those who are able to cut through the noise to stand out from the competition,” he says. “Maximizing marketing efficiency via centralized data, and investing in the tools needed to make fast and impactful decisions will ultimately result in campaigns that get results.”
