Mobile Gaming

Mobile News Consumption

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2020 has been a tumultuous year. A global pandemic claimed the lives of nearly 1.5 million people, a worldwide movement emerged for racial justice, and American political division created widespread concern. With COVID-19 forcing unprecedented social distancing, the mobile app economy has also experienced radical shifts. App consumption has exploded, Gen Z is gaming more than ever, and mobile news consumption dwarfed that of 2019. And Apple’s announcements of impending data policy rule changes have upended an ecosystem. In this report, we’ll revisit the biggest mobile app trends in 2020.

1. Society Ground to a Halt

As COVID-19 began to spread, non-essential business closed, schools transitioned to distance learning, and most recreational activities were paused or canceled. Governments issued stay-at-home orders to further limit the spread, which forced the most people to stay home. The transition to working from home and reduction in travel turned financial districts and airports into ghost towns. And with restaurants closed, many people chose to cook for themselves or order takeout. In fact, while usage of recipe and takeout apps increased during shelter-in-place, usage of restaurant apps declined by 36%. In addition, we analyzed traffic to both airport and financial districts across the United States to gain insights into people’s movement.

In the chart above, we show the percent change in daily mobile app users in U.S. financial districts beginning in March, when the pandemic went into full swing, comparing each month to baseline usage from January. We display this change in blue against the rising number of new coronavirus cases in gray. Starting in April, travel to financial districts plummeted by 60% compared to pre-coronavirus levels. Read the full report here on the dramatic decline of traffic to America’s largest financial districts.

2. App Category Booms and Busts

The onset of COVID-19 forced most Americans to shelter-in-place as non-essential businesses and schools closed. As people suddenly found themselves with more free time, many reached for mobile devices to help pass the time. And while aggregate app usage is up, usage across individual app categories varies wildly. Let’s check out the top movers.

In the chart above we show the percent change in monthly sessions compared to the January 2020 baseline for the top changing app categories. On the right, we rank app categories based on their app usage growth since the beginning of the year. A surge across Investment apps were the result of wildly volatile financial markets. And as gyms and yoga studios closed, Health & Fitness apps spiked by helping people maintain a workout regiment. On the other end, Sports and Food & Drink suffered double-digit declines as sporting events were cancelled and restaurants were forced to close. Read our full analysis of all app categories from January to July.

3. Mobile Gaming Exploded

As people spent unprecedented amounts of time at home, with limited recreational activities, mobile gaming filled the void. In an earlier report, we concluded that the quarantine created such an unusual surge in mobile gaming that every day was like Sunday. The typical weekend spikes were erased, and every day saw elevated usage. On average, mobile gaming sessions were up by 21% compared to the pre-coronavirus levels! Although much of this growth was driven by Gen Z who found themselves with minimal schooling and limited recreational activities, mobile gamers of all generations were gaming more.

In the chart above, we plot 2020 game sessions by user in dark blue. The light blue line represents 2019, to illustrate the increase in usage that occurred this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, mobile gamers averaged 17% more gaming sessions than in 2019. Considering that gaming is one of the largest app categories, even modest increases are remarkable.

4. Mobile News Consumption Soared

The first two months of 2020 began with a standoff with Iran, the impeachment trial of a sitting U.S. President, and the death of a basketball icon. Then COVID-19 began to spread, forcing governments to issue shelter-in-place orders that led to economic uncertainty. As the country attempted to recover from the initial COVID-19 wave, the death of an unarmed African American man at the hands of the Minneapolis police department triggered a global movement calling for racial equality. These headlines culminated with a tumultuous campaign for the United States Presidency that resulted in the most votes ever cast in a U.S. election. All of these stories led to massive spikes in mobile news consumption. Let’s take a look.

In the chart above, we chart daily mobile news app sessions in the U.S. for both 2019 and 2020. We show 2019 in light blue and 2020 in dark blue to demonstrate just how significant this year has been for mobile apps in the News category. You can read our earlier report covering mobile news consumption for the first half of 2020 here and our second report specifically highlighting the leadup to the U.S. Presidential election here.

5. Apps Reduced Ad Revenue Dependence

Many app developers’ bottom lines got hit with a double-whammy in 2020. First, the economic uncertainty due to COVID-19 caused many advertisers to reduce ad spending. And second, Apple announced at WWDC that iOS developers would have to gain permission from end users to share data with third parties, which is expected to reduce CPMs for iOS apps running ads. Although Google has yet to announce similar privacy measures, there is speculation that Android app developers could face a similar fate. Let’s review what changes app developers made to their business model in light of these two shifts.

In the chart above, we analyze the change in share of advertising-only revenue models compared to a January 2020 baseline to understand if app developers are in fact moving away from advertising-supported business models. We separate the two operating systems, with Android on the left and iOS on the right. Typically, Android apps rely more on advertising than iOS apps, largely due to Google simplifying the process of incorporating ads into mobile apps. Given this reliance on advertising as a source of monetization, Android developers were much more impacted by the reduction in ad spend due to COVID-19. However, the chart shows consistent recovery throughout the year as advertising spend slowly increased. iOS developers, on the other hand, were less impacted by the reduction in ad spend, but are still moving away from an advertising-only revenue model, likely because of the impending privacy changes Apple is expected to launch in early 2021. You can find our full report on shifting business models for app developers here.

Make sure you subscribe to the Flurry blog and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest reports on the mobile industry, including holiday forecasts and 2021 predictions.

The Flurry blog (https://www.flurry.com/blog/) is an independent blog and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.

Mobile Game Usage Shows Remote Learning Adversely Impacts Low Income Students

edanilo — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 21:48:51 +0000

Mobile Game Usage Shows Remote Learning Adversely Impacts Low Income Students

By Estelle Laziuk, Flurry Analyst

edanilo Tue, 11/10/2020 - 13:48

2020-11-10

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The spread of Coronavirus in the U.S. has not only threatened the economy, but also the American educational system. Over the course of 2020, U.S. schools have radically adapted to meet student needs. For instance, to offset the disruption caused by March school closures, most districts switched to pass-fail grading, with only 23% of districts maintaining the traditional A-F grading scale, according to research from the University of Washington Bothell.

After the summer break, all but four states implemented either hybrid or remote learning models, with some mix of online classes, digital assignments, and reinstated standard grading. At the same time, varied factors at home can create uneven learning experiences for students, such as access to laptops, reliable internet, and parental support to name a few. With some parents working or taking care of siblings, among other factors, would students engage academically? In this report, Flurry measures academic engagement by looking at one of the most common activities that directly competes with classroom and study time —playing mobile games on smartphones.

Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing insights from 2 billion mobile devices per month. For this analysis, Flurry curated a sample of game apps. We excluded users located in the four states that required students to physically attend school: Texas, Florida, Iowa and Arkansas. For household income levels, we used U.S. Census Bureau data and then adjusted each state by its cost of living index using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research. Finally, we used the Pew Research Center disposable income definitions for income tiers. Note that our study looks at Gen Z users between the ages of 13 to 24, since we do not collect data for users under the age of 13.

Mobile Game Usage Reveals Academic Engagement

Let’s first look at how Gen Z engagement with school has changed over the course of 2020, using mobile game usage as a signal.

In the chart above, we show the number of daily Gen Z mobile game app sessions from January through October. That’s represented by the entire span of the blue area. Each rise and fall across that topography shows how game usage cycles between weekdays and weekends, with weekend usage spiking. Within the blue area, there are four time periods. The first section is “Normal Learning” during which students physically attended classes before COVID-19. The second section entitled “School Closures” captures the end of the 2019-2020 school year after schools began closing due to the new pandemic. The third section shows the time period during which most schools were on summer break. Finally, the “New Normal Learning” shows the return to school for the 2020-2021 academic year during which the significant majority of schools are teaching by video conference.

Above the blue area chart are three education categories where we combined the middle two sections, as play behavior was very similar across these two middle periods. They go as follows 1) “In-person Learning” —the normal way school is attended— and which serves as our baseline, 2) “Interrupted Learning” when students had highly varied demands for attending class and doing schoolwork, or were simply on summer break, 3) “Remote Learning” when the standards for school have returned to normal, except that all but four U.S. states started including remote learning.

The key takeaway is that during Coronavirus, academic engagement has varied considerably depending on whether students were attending school in-person, on summer break or learning remotely, as revealed by mobile game usage.

In the “Normal Learning” part of our chart, take a look at how often students played games when they attended school in-person. This time period has the most distinct cyclicality, with lulls during the week and pronounced peaks on the weekends. Comparing weekday to weekend usage during that period shows that students played games 43% less during the week than on the weekend. In other words, as students engage with school during the week, they typically play games significantly less than on weekends.

During the period of "School Closures", most students were suddenly at home on school days. Although many schools began to facilitate distance learning, the transition to a different instruction format in times of economic and health crises required a period of adjustment. Survey data shows that by May 7, only 37% of instructors had interactions with the majority of their students at least once per day when teaching remotely. And 71% of instructors shared that they were spending less time on student instruction than before the pandemic. In another survey, 72% of teachers said that pausing formal evaluations and grading made the most sense during this time. We therefore consider this period as "Interrupted Learning". Without at least daily class sessions supervised by the instructor, many students had additional time to fill. Our data indicates that their usage of game apps during school days surged by 46%, reaching similar levels as during the summer break, when game app usage is only 1% lower on weekdays than weekends. In other words, when students did not have at least daily classes supervised by the instructor, either due to school being interrupted or on summer break, students switched to playing games significantly more on weekdays, and as a result engaged less academically.

Most recently, with the return to school in a remote capacity, daily teaching time supervised by the instructor picked up again. Survey data shows that compared to the Spring 2020 semester, real-time remote instruction this Fall grew from being adopted by 21% to 92% of U.S. school districts. With more class time guided by instructors, game app usage during school days has gradually decreased, which suggests a return to normal academic engagement.

Remote Learning Drives Elevated Gaming

Let's next find out whether Gen Z users engage more with school when it is in-person or remote, using mobile game usage as a signal.

Comparing in-person learning in early Spring to remote learning in early Fall may introduce some seasonal variations in game usage between Spring and Fall semesters that are not due to the shift in instruction type. To better isolate this change, we next compare this year’s Fall 2020, when learning is remote, to the same time period last year in Fall 2019, when learning was conducted in-person. Additionally, in order to factor out the change in users over time, we look at game usage per user, as opposed to usage across all users.

In the chart above, the light blue area shows the number of daily game app sessions per user during Fall 2019, when classes were still held in-person. The bold blue line shows the same metric this Fall 2020, when learning has shifted online. Compared to last year, students have more time to fill, and our data shows that they’re playing games an average of 15% more during school days than last year. In other words, in-person learning curbs smartphone game usage more than remote learning. This suggests that students better engage with school when it is in-person.

Remote Learning Adversely Impacts Low Income Students

Let’s next look at how academic engagement has changed during Coronavirus by student income level.

In this last chart, we show the change in game usage during school days (Monday - Friday) throughout 2020 by student income level. We represent the upper income level in orange, middle income in grey, and lower income in blue. For this chart, we set usage for each income segment against its respective January baseline.

During the in-person learning time period, all income levels exhibit similar usage. After schools closed in mid-March, all students —regardless of their income level— increased their usage of game apps, with the largest surge in usage coming from the upper income student segment. During the summer break, only the lower income segment continued to play games at this elevated level, while upper and middle income students decreased their usage. With many parents working from home during weekdays this summer, the upper and middle income students may have benefited from more at-home parental supervision or restrictions on playing games compared to lower income students, whose parents may have been more concerned and affected by the economic downturn.

Most recently, with the return to school remotely, lower income students play games 87% more than in January, while the middle and upper income segments play games only 2% more and 22% less respectively. This suggests that during the pandemic 1) remote learning leaves lower income students behind, who in turn play games during school days more than their peers 2) the lower the student’s household income, the greater the increase in mobile game usage is during remote learning, indicating lower academic engagement.

Note that during in-person learning in February and March, when class time was the most continuously supervised by the instructor, there was very little disparity in game usage during school across the three income groups. This suggests that more guided and supervised class instruction effectively curbs smartphone game usage across all income levels.

The primary takeaway from this study is that Gen Z mobile game usage has changed considerably during the school year marked by COVID-19. Our data shows that remote learning has adversely impacted student academic engagement, as their game usage during the week has increased by 15% compared to last year. This adverse effect is especially strong for lower income students, who have increased their usage of games by 87% compared to last January. Lastly, we found that during remote learning, the lower the students' household income, the more likely they are to increase their usage of mobile games, and therefore to engage less academically. For more reports covering important trends during the pandemic, subscribe to the Flurry Analytics blog and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Mobile Gaming’s Endless Summer

LisaMoshfegh — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:03:27 +0000

Mobile Gaming’s Endless Summer

By Peter Farago, Flurry GM, and Estelle Laziuk, Flurry Analyst

LisaMoshfegh Mon, 10/19/2020 - 10:03

2020-10-19

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Mobile game usage in the U.S. has increased substantially during COVID-19. In a previous report, we showed that mobile game sessions surged by 21% after stay-at-home orders took hold, on weekdays no less! In other words, as people began to work and attend school from home, they also reached for their phones more often to game. In this follow-on installment, we look at what time of the day people are gaming during the week, and the results are surprising.

Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing insights from 2 billion mobile devices per month. For this analysis, Flurry hand-curated a sample of gaming apps from a cross-section of subcategories including puzzle, card, arcade, action, player-vs-player and more. Distributing game sessions by hour, we created a daypart view. Note that the time of each game session reflects the time zone in which the session took place. Let’s have a look and then discuss.

In the chart above, we show the percent of game app sessions played each hour of an average weekday in the United States. The grey line shows the daypart curve from September 2019, about one year ago, before COVID-19 dramatically changed societal behavior. And the blue line shows usage in September 2020, reflecting how consumers are playing games now during the ongoing pandemic. Adding up the percent usage of each hour across the day, for either curve, totals 100%.

Comparing the two curves, you’ll notice that last year’s usage has an “S” shape with a lull in the earlier part of the day, presumably as Americans rushed off to school and work, followed by a surge in the late afternoon and evening. This year, usage steps at a similar time in the morning and then steadily increases all the way through prime-time. The result is that usage is 3.9 percentage points greater during the majority of work and school hours this year, from 8 AM to 2 PM, and 4.5 percentage points less during the late afternoon and evening. With decreased in-person interactions, it appears that people are reaching for their phones throughout the day and continuing to game. Let’s next compare game usage this Fall to earlier in the Summer.

For this chart, we show September of this year, still in blue, versus earlier in the Summer in orange. Both periods took place during the pandemic. What is surprising is how much closer September usage this year looks to July. Both September and July 2020 show a relatively even distribution of gaming app sessions throughout waking hours with a steadily increasing trend as the day progresses. Despite summer vacations ending and school resuming, people’s play patterns are very similar to that of Summer.

With remote work and school, gaming usage patterns have flattened out, regardless of the season, losing the distinct “S-curve” displayed during 2019. With most schools and offices still without plans to reopen, we don’t anticipate this trend to change anytime soon. We’ll keep you updated on future important trends in the mobile game industry. For the latest reports, subscribe to the Flurry Analytics blog and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to get the latest industry analyses.

Mobile Gaming During Coronavirus: Everyday is Like Sunday

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 17:31:30 +0000

Mobile Gaming During Coronavirus: Everyday is Like Sunday

By Peter Farago, Flurry GM, and Estelle Laziuk, Flurry Analyst

Anonymous Fri, 07/10/2020 - 10:31

2020-07-10

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Coronavirus has changed the way Americans live. As shelter-in-place orders rolled out across the country during March, schools closed and many adults began working from home. In a previous report, we showed how mobile gaming usage grew as a result of Coronavirus. In this second installment focused on the mobile game category, we look at how day-of-week usage has changed in a surprising and significant way.

Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, sees app usage on 1 million mobile applications across all major app categories, with a broad cohort of game applications. For this analysis, Flurry curated a sample of game apps that cover various subcategories including puzzle, card, arcade, action, player-vs-player and more. We measured U.S. daily game app usage using the number of sessions across the curated game apps combined. Let’s first review daily mobile game usage pre- and post-shelter-in-place to see how users' playing behavior evolved.

The chart above shows daily game app sessions for the first six months of 2020. What’s remarkable is that as shelter-in-place orders rolled out, game usage changed dramatically from a distinct weekday-weekend usage cycle to both increasing overall and then holding steady. In other words, people seem to be playing games every day of the week like they do on the weekend – everyday is like Sunday. At Flurry, we have never seen anything quite like this in app behavior. Before shelter-in-place orders took place, the number of weekend sessions was, on average, 17% higher than weekday sessions. However, as schools and businesses closed, both children and parents suddenly found themselves at home with additional time to fill. Around March 16, 2020 —when the majority of shelter-in-place orders and school closures took hold— weekend spikes disappeared completely. Let’s next take a closer look at the usage growth for each day of the week.

The chart above shows average game sessions per each day of the week, before versus after shelter-in-place orders. The light blue columns show the per day average game sessions for the 4 weeks prior to shelter-in-place, and dark blue columns show the same for the 4 weeks after shelter-in-place orders were issued. We chose March 16, 2020 as the cut-off date, since that is when the majority of shelter-in-place orders and school closures took effect in the United States.

During COVID-19 shelter-in-place, users are gaming more overall. While every day of the week has seen an uptick in gaming usage, the growth rate on weekdays is higher than on weekends. Game app sessions increased by an average of 21% on weekdays and 8.5% on weekend days. Weekend usage has increased, but less so than on weekdays, because it was already much higher before Coronavirus, leaving less additional time for mobile game usage to grow. This means that during shelter-in-place, there was more “found time” to play mobile games on weekdays than on weekends. On weekdays, commute time was reclaimed, school work loads decreased, and work time was disrupted. And on weekends, extracurricular events were suspended and entertainment venues were closed.

Another interesting note is that Monday and Friday normal pre-Coronavirus usage levels are slightly higher than during the middle of the week. As a result, we speculate that users are typically more focused and productive Tuesday - Thursday, and start transitioning into “weekend mode” on Friday as well as taking longer to settle into the week on Mondays.

As we write this report, many states have lifted shelter-in-place orders, and the school year has ended, making way for typical summer activities that will once again compete with time spent on mobile game apps. We will monitor whether the surge in game app usage on weekdays continues, and will keep you informed about important mobile trends.

Gen Z Mobile Game App Usage Surges Amid Coronavirus

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 16:56:35 +0000

Gen Z Mobile Game App Usage Surges Amid Coronavirus

By Peter Farago, Flurry GM, and Estelle Laziuk, Flurry Analyst

Anonymous Tue, 07/07/2020 - 09:56

2020-07-07

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