Baidu: 2014H1 Mobile Distribution Trend Report

On October 14, Baidu officially released the "Baidu Mobile Distribution Report 2014H1", which is the first annual report in China to comprehensively interpret the overall Android application distribution market, involving key data interpretations in multiple dimensions such as user scale, daily distribution volume, and per capita downloads, as well as user behavior analysis such as user population portraits, APP preferences, and download habits. Data shows that in the first half of 2014, the overall user scale of mobile application distribution increased by 27% compared with the end of last year, and the overall distribution volume increased by 25%. Baidu, 360 Mobile Assistant, and Tencent App Store ranked the top three in the market, accounting for more than 70% of the market share, and the Matthew effect was prominent. Among them, Baidu's application distribution capabilities have been ranked first in the industry since it officially acquired 91 Wireless in 2013, and have gradually widened the gap with other competitors. The current market share is about the sum of the second and third places.

The report also pointed out that based on the overall performance of the mobile distribution market in the first half of 2014, mobile distribution is showing four major trends: a younger user structure, content-based application searches, mobile download behaviors, and a closed-loop developer service.

Public data shows that as of the second quarter of 2014, the total user scale of Baidu App Market has reached 600 million, with 130 million distributions per day and more than 1 million developers. With its huge entry traffic and distribution scale, Baidu has become the largest Android application distribution platform in China.

Daily active users increased by 27%; 64% of users used domestic mobile phones

According to the data from Baidu Mobile Distribution Report 2014H1, the Android market continued to grow steadily in the first half of 2014, with daily active users increasing by 27%. However, the growth rate in Q2 2014 was slightly slower than that in Q1, which may indicate that the demographic dividend is gradually disappearing.

The proportion of users using domestic mobile phones has increased by 6 percentage points compared with six months ago, and the proportion of domestic mobile phones such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, and OPPO has increased to 64%. Users are gradually accepting the new version of the Android operating system, and Android 4.2 and above have become the mainstream. In addition, the resolution of mobile phones has gradually increased, and the screen resolution of half of Android phones has reached 720P or above. The optimization of device hardware and operating systems has created a better operating environment for application software installed on Android phones.

The user scale increased by 27%, and the top three accounted for more than 70% of the market share

The overall performance of the mobile application distribution market in the first half of the year was good and it is still in a stable growth period. The report shows that the user scale of the overall mobile application distribution market has increased by 27% compared with the end of last year. The growth of users has also driven the steady increase of the overall download volume. The daily distribution volume of the mobile distribution market in the first half of 2014 increased by about 25% compared with the end of 2013.

Looking at the mobile distribution market in 2014, Baidu App Store, 360 Mobile Assistant and Tencent App Store ranked top 3, accounting for more than 70% of the overall application market, with Baidu App Store accounting for the largest share. Judging from the overall market data, the application distribution industry has entered the era of giants, and small platforms have little chance of breakthrough under the scale effect.

As the number of users grows, there is a clear division into different groups. Among the user segments of the application market, urban white-collar workers and migrant workers account for a large proportion, exceeding 50%, but the proportion of students and rural users is increasing rapidly.

The average number of apps downloaded per person is 2.9 per day, with audio and video apps being the most popular

Due to the popularity of smart phones, the improvement of the download environment, the personalized development of application distribution platforms, and the optimization of platform functional technologies, users' downloading behavior has become increasingly active. As of Q2 2014, 27% of users used application distribution platforms to download applications every day, with an average of 2.9 applications downloaded per day.

Data shows that different user groups have different preferences for app downloads. Urban white-collar workers and students prefer audio and video, social and learning apps, while rural and urban migrant workers prefer communication and consumer apps in addition to audio and video and social apps. Overall, audio and video apps are the most popular category. In addition, students and urban white-collar workers download more software than games, and update apps more than download new apps, while rural users and urban migrant workers are just the opposite.

At the same time, search and browsing, social communication, news and shopping became the four application types with the fastest growth in overall downloads in the first half of 2014.

The market presents four major trends, and Baidu builds a closed loop of developer services

The report points out that the mobile application distribution market is showing four major trends: younger user structure, content-based application search, mobile download behavior, and closed-loop developer services.

From the perspective of user structure, the user group of mobile applications is getting younger. The proportion of student users has increased, and their downloading behavior is the most active, with an average download volume of 3 per day, exceeding the average level of the market. The increase in the proportion of student users will lead to a younger user structure and more active downloads.

According to Baidu's official statistics, the growth rate shows that users' search demand for content in applications has exceeded that for application names. In response to the expansion of content search demand, Baidu's distribution platform provides the InApp search function, which allows users to accurately obtain recommendations for relevant content and related applications. Currently, InApp search has been applied to Baidu's distribution platform and fully integrated into Baidu's mobile search.

With the popularity of Wi-Fi and smart phones, mobile application downloads have become very common. The report pointed out that in Q2 2014, the proportion of users using mobile clients and mobile web pages to download applications was 52% and 25% respectively, an increase of 8% and 2% respectively compared with six months ago, while the use of PC client downloads decreased by 10%. Currently, 94% of downloads occur in Wi-Fi environments.

The rapid development of the industry has driven the evolution of developer services towards a "one-stop" closed-loop. The report shows that the size of newly launched applications has increased by more than 21% compared to six months ago, and its release cycle has shortened by 7%, increasing the competition and pressure on developers. Baidu's distribution platform helps developers improve distribution efficiency by creating a one-stop closed-loop service from distribution, operation, promotion to monetization. The number of downloads of applications that developers choose to launch on Baidu has increased by 2-4 times in six months.

Through the analysis of big data and insight into the market, Baidu App Platform will help developers more accurately grasp user needs and market trends, and take the initiative in the competition in the mobile application market.

(For the full report, please visit: //developer.baidu.com/report )