Flurry: Social network ends 40-month domination of mobile app market by games

Flurry, a mobile application analysis agency, published an article on the development of mobile applications in the first quarter of 2012 on its official blog. The article mentioned that there are more than 500 million iOS and Android devices, and mobile applications have become a new battlefield to attract consumers. The App revolution has changed the way software is distributed and used among consumers. With free content and powerful touch screen devices, the success of mobile applications has subverted industries such as telecommunications, games, music, and news. Games are the most successful mobile applications.

The following chart shows the changes in the time spent on various types of applications every day. It can be seen from the chart that in the first quarter of 2012, social networks and games have been on par with each other, both of which are 24 minutes (31%). Next are news and entertainment, which are 12 minutes (15%) and 10 minutes (13%) respectively. Other types of applications only account for 7 minutes (10%). The average time users spend on mobile applications every day has reached 77 minutes. The biggest trend change is that the game category of applications finally has a strong opponent - social networks. The compound annual growth rate of social networks is surprisingly high, and the time spent has increased by 60%. Flurry believes that this can be regarded as a sign of the maturity of the mobile platform.

Mobile applications are booming, and advertising revenue is also rising. The following figure shows the revenue of each publisher of Flurry AppCircle advertising network in the first three months of the year. Flurry AppCircle tracks more than 300 million devices, so its data is convincing enough. According to statistics, Flurry AppCircle's advertising revenue increased by 23% in three months.

As can be seen from the above figure, advertising revenues from games and social networking applications account for the majority. From January to March, advertising revenues from games accounted for 35%, 35%, and 36% of total revenues, respectively. Advertising revenues from social networking applications grew even faster, at 24%, 25%, and 37%, respectively. In Flurry's statistical history, this is the first time that the ranking of game advertising revenues has been surpassed by other categories of applications.

Mobile devices have brought SoLoMo's advantages to full play. As long as they are properly matched, the next Pinterest or Instagram will inevitably be born. For venture capital institutions, the ability of social networking applications to attract consumers is driving a wave of investment, and their valuations are also rising.

The article mentioned that although the free + in-app sales model has been a great success in game applications, the development of games seems to have reached its peak. Although various applications will continue to develop with the continuous growth of mobile devices, due to the limited attention and time of consumers, games will inevitably play a "zero-sum" game with social networking applications. However, it is very likely that social networking applications will continue to absorb game users. In order to maintain its dominance, games must come up with innovative ways.