App Annie’s Danielle Levitas.
App Annie is one of the tech industry’s most important sources for tracking app trends and performance across the globe. For the first time, the firm is leveraging its extensive data to make predictions for the global app landscape in 2016.
Danielle Levitas, App Annie’s senior vice president for research, shared key insights from the company’s just-released report at Infinity Ventures Summit in Kyoto today and sat down with Tech in Asia to elaborate on her predictions for Asia.
Here are five things to keep an eye on in the coming months, from App Annie’s Top Predictions of 2016 report:
1. Asia’s ‘platform messengers’ will continue to lead in terms of average sessions and time spent in-app – but watch out for Facebook
Asia’s ubiquitous messaging giants offer more than cute stickers – they’ve evolved into all-encompassing wonderland of services in a bid to keep users in-app. Line and WeChat now offer ecommerce marketplaces, taxi hailing, games, and much more.
“[They] started as messengers and turned into platforms,” Levitas tells Tech in Asia. “There’s a dramatic difference between Asian and Western messaging apps, but Facebook wants Messenger to become a platform as well.”
App Annie predicts that average sessions per user will increase “incrementally” in western markets, but continue to trail competitors in Asia.
“Asian messengers have more than two-times as many sessions, and that means more opportunities to ultimately monetize,” she continues.
See: The amazing ways WeChat is used in China
2. Move over in-app purchases, subscriptions are the new hotness
Speaking of monetization, App Annie expects to see more loot coming from subscriptions, following the strong performances of music streaming apps, HBO Now’s on-demand video service, and dating kingpin Tinder’s premium “Plus” tier.
“In-app purchases have traditionally been a fantastic revenue driver […] but what we’re starting to see, and expect to see more in 2016, is subscription revenue through the app in the form of premium services and content,” Levitas says. “Dating apps, especially, have seen significant increases in subscriptions over the past year.”
More broadly, in-app advertisements are also set for a boost. Safari ad-blocking in iOS 9 is expected to push mobile ad publishers (at least those targeting iOS) deeper into the app ecosystem, which could translate to dollar signs for app publishers that rely on ads.
3. VR and AR will be big in Asia, especially Japan – but it’s still in the ‘hype’ phase
4. Consolidation coming to the crowded O2O space
5. All eyes on India
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
