Mobile is growing very quickly as many consumers with fast smartphones are trade in their in laptops and computers for a purely mobile experience. With 5G networks rolling out globally this trend will continue to grow. One thing is clear, mobile is the new world of advertising, streaming and more for many companies.

A new report which looks at the trends and economics behind mobile communication shows just how dramatic this shift is. The State of Mobile 2020 report provides insight into mobile’s expansive impact across industries and the global economy, highlighting publishers and brands that are outperforming their peers.

• Mobile Creates Company Value: Mobile-focused companies, including Uber and Alibaba, had a combined IPO valuation of $544B, 6.5x higher than companies without a mobile focus. Consumers averaged 3 hours and 40 minutes on mobile in 2019, up 35% since 2017, and downloaded 204 billion apps.
• Massive Year for Mobile Advertising: Brands continue to embrace the unprecedented reach and value of mobile, bolstering the success of Snap, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and TikTok. Advertisers will pour more than $240 billion into ad spend in 2020—up 26% from 2019.
• Subscriptions Contribute to 95% of Spend: 3 out of 4 top non-gaming apps monetize via subscriptions, with video and dating categories propelling app store spend as adoption of Tinder, Tencent Video, iQIYI, and YouTube climbs.
• Mobile Games Increase Share: Global spend on mobile games reached 56% of all game software in 2019. Spend on mobile games across all app stores projected to top $100 billion in 2020. Tencent’s Honour of Kings, Sony’s Fate/Grand Order, and Activision Blizzard’s Candy Crush Saga are examples of games that are dominating on mobile.
• Video Streaming Wars Heat Up: Nearly 25% of Netflix’s iPhone users also used Disney+ in Q4 2019, the highest overlap of users among top video streaming apps in the US, demonstrating consumers pay for multiple services.

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Furthermore, Gen Z is becoming an increasingly strategic segment to business. Mobile is Gen Z’s native language. This demographic is highly engaged with apps: they have 60% more sessions per user in the most popular apps when compared to older generations.

“Snapchat continues to double down on mobile experiences that help real friends communicate visually. As our audience has expanded, so have our app’s capabilities,” said Kathleen Gambarelli, Group Product Marketing Manager for Performance at Snap. “We continue to develop powerful advertising technology that enables brands to efficiently engage with and convert our valuable Gen Z and Millennial audience. As a product marketer, my goal is to verify product-market fit and grow adoption of effective solutions for our customers. App Annie and its Intelligence platform have been instrumental throughout this process, from initial research all the way to launch.”

“For brands and publishers worldwide, mobile is fueling digital transformation,” said Theodore Krantz, Chief Executive Officer of App Annie. “We uniquely surface both market data and critical advertising insights to optimize monetization and help our customers thrive on mobile.”

The State of Mobile 2020 examines macro mobile trends; identifies which leading brands and publishers across gaming, fintech, retail, social, video, and others are winning on mobile; and shows how businesses can navigate and reach key demographics. The analysis and data in this report is based off of data from App Annie’s Intelligence platform.