Asia-Pacific region leads the world in mobile app growth: Adjust

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region leads the world in mobile app growth, reveals a report by Adjust, a mobile marketing analytics platform. The report shows just how fast the mobile app market is growing, as more and more people in APAC are using apps to manage their daily tasks and keep themselves entertained.

As per the Adjust APAC Mobile App Trends Report 2021, installs across all verticals in the region increased by 31% YoY in 2020, and are continuing to grow steadily in 2021, up by another 4%. Growing 54% YoY, sessions also boomed in 2020 — largely due to the shift to mobile during lockdowns. Consequently, growth in sessions has not been as impressive in 2020 so far.

“While APAC’s overall sessions growth in H1 2021 has only increased by 1%, it is slowly building momentum and has almost reached 2020’s Q1 peak,” said April Tayson, Regional VP, INSEA, Adjust. “This shows that the app industry is retaining users acquired during the recent lockdowns — and continues to bring new users,” she said.

Installs and sessions increased dramatically in every country in 2020 — all continuing to grow in 2021.

The report is based on Adjust’s top 910 apps from APAC. It draws data from India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to the study, India and Vietnam came closely behind Japan with 27% YoY growth on install rate in 2020, ranking second amongst the APAC countries. Japan’s installs grew the most in 2020, climbing 32% YoY, just above the regional average of 31%. Singapore’s sessions have increased by 34% this year, compared to the 1% growth in 2020. Vietnam, the only country that didn’t grow in 2020, decreasing 9%, is seeing the inverse in 2021 — with sessions increasing by 12%.

The report also takes a close look at the growth of three verticals: gaming (hyper-casual and non-hyper casual), fintech and e-commerce in APAC in 2020 — and their continued growth in 2021.  Hyper casual gaming grew the most out of all verticals, with installs climbing 66% YoY in 2020, and 49% in 2021. Fintech takes second place (36% and 18%), followed by ecommerce (27% and 8%) and non-hyper casual games (23% and 4%).

Additional takeaways

Gaming saw impressive growth in APAC. For gaming overall, Vietnam was the top-performing market in 2020, with a 37% boost in installs YoY, followed closely by Indonesia (34%) and India (33%). In H1 2021, Singapore (80%), Vietnam (51%) and Japan (41%) are leading the pack in installs.

For hyper-casual gaming specifically, Singapore saw the most YoY growth in installs (112%) in 2020, followed by Indonesia (101%) and Thailand (74%). This year, however, Indonesia (64%), India (61%) and Thailand (54%) are enjoying the highest install growth rates.

Fintech in APAC excelled in 2020, as people increasingly turned to mobile banking and payments. The trend continues in 2021. India ranked third alongside Singapore with a 72% growth rate in fintech installs in 2020, while Thailand and Vietnam led the way with 100% and 97% respectively. So far in 2021, fintech app installs are surging in all markets, with standout growth in Indonesia (89%), Singapore (70%) and South Korea (62%). India currently ranks fourth at 24%.

The report also shows that the time users spent in-app, the amount of sessions they had per day and the length of each of those sessions all grew. This is evidenced by very consistent retention rates throughout the year despite the impacts of the pandemic. In Q4, the day 30 average was 5.68%.

With iOS14.5+ redefining the industry’s approach to user acquisition, and Android 12 on the horizon, collecting granular data points on user behaviors and in-app patterns is becoming increasingly important. With this data, developers and marketers can do A/B testing to understand what users expect and how to optimize the in-app experience to better meet their needs.