Snapshot
Mobile media consumption is on the rise as the growth in app usage among mobile users exceeded that of the mobile browser audience in 2011, for both the US and EU5 (UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy). Mobile browser usage was almost equivalent to that of the app users audience, around 47% for the US and 38% for the EU5. Both mobile browsers and apps are important when it comes to accessing brands, as a majority of UK users used their browser to reach BBC sites and those that visited Sky sites mostly used an app. Of the top 16 most visited apps by total unique users on Android and iPhone, half of the apps were on both lists.

 

Key Points

  • Mobile browser or app usage was carried out by 127.6 million and 108 million mobile users in the US and EU5, respectively, in 2011.
  • In Q4 2011, app usage by all US mobile users was carried out by 47.6%, a 13.3% increase from Q4 2010, while in the EU5 app usage penetration reached 38.2%, a 10.1% increased from Q4 2010.

 

Apps versus browser, Percent Share of Browser and App Users Among Total Mobile Audience.

 

  • 47.5% of US mobile users used their mobile browser in Q4 2011, an 11.1% increased from Q4 2010, while mobile browser usage was carried out by 38.1% of EU5 mobile users, a 9.2% increase.
  • When looking at how users access brands on their mobile devices via their browsers or apps, an analysis in December 2011 of UK users that visited BBC sites found that most used their mobile browser (75.5%), with only 42.2% using an app and 17% using both (an app or browser), while those that visited Sky sites mostly used their app (63.4%), with 48% using their browser and 11% using both.

 

Apps vs browser, UK Mobile Access Method by Share of Total Visitors to BBC Sites and Sky Sites

 

  • Based on December 2011 data YouTube was the most visited app in terms of total unique active users on iPhone devices, followed by Google Maps, Facebook, Yahoo! Weather, Pandora Radio, Angry Birds, Yahoo! Stocks, ESPN ScoreCenter, The Weather Channel, Google Search, Words With Friends, Netflix, Fruit Ninja, Twitter, Movies by Flixster and Facebook Messenger.
  • On Android devices Google Search had the most total unique active user visits, followed by Gmail, Google Maps, Facebook, Google News and Weather, YouTube, Pandora Radio, Angry Birds, Adobe Reader, Words With Friends, Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, Amazon Appstore, Yahoo! Mail, Google Talk and the The Weather Channel.
  • Of the top 16 most visited apps by total unique iPhone and Android users, half of the apps were found in both lists and Google apps also dominated in the top half both platform lists. Also, Twitter and Facebook were the only social network apps in the top 15 lists of both platforms.

 

Apps vs browser Top Mobile Apps for iPhone and Android

 

 

Source  comScore (February 23, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of age 13+ US (10,000 mobile phone owners), UK (5,000 mobile phone owners), France (4,000 mobile phone owners), Germany (5,000 mobile phone owners), Spain (4,000 mobile phone owners), Italy (4,000 mobile phone owners), Canada (5,000 mobile phone owners, reported quarterly), Japan (4,000 mobile phone owners) mobile subscribers

Reference comScore

Image Arm wrestling in Bricklane II By fabbio

 

 

 

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