The multimedia capabilities of this generation of mobile devices have increased manifold. This has resulted in a tremendous increase in the consumption of digital content in the form of apps, videos, and websites on the mobile.

Mobile usage as a whole accounts for 60 per cent time spent in consuming new-age media content. Interestingly, today, mobile apps make up about 47 per cent of internet traffic and 8 per cent of digital consumption traffic originates from mobile browsers. It is projected that the number of smartphone users will grow from 150 to 250 million by 2020.

Growth in the usage of mobile phones is primarily driven by social media, surfing and app downloads. Here’s a look at the various media and their consumption trends on the mobile.

Apps and gaming

There are about 1.6 million apps in Google Play store while App Store has 1.5 million apps. People spend about 42 per cent of their app time on smartphones on their most frequently used apps. It is estimated that 7 out of every 8 minutes of media consumption are on mobile devices. On an average, every smartphone user downloads three apps every month.

In India, there is a huge penetration of those playing downloaded games on mobile and it drives the most revenue on both Google Play and App Store, in comparison with other categories of apps.

According to research, nearly 52 per cent of the overall population downloads games on mobiles. Moreover, people spend 43 per cent of their time playing games on their smartphones. In 2014, games accounted for an enormous 85 per cent of the 700 highest grossing apps on the App Store and Google Play. Due to the rise in the sales of smartphone and tablets, across the world, the global market for mobile gaming is expected to reach $52.6 billion by 2020.

This will eventually change media consumption habits on cell phones and spur the growth of smartphone gaming users worldwide.

Videos Mobiles have transformed digital video watching to a surprising extent. YouTube alone has billions of views and out of these, 50 per cent views are through a mobile device. The number of hours people spent watching videos on mobile is up 100 per cent and consequently YouTube’s mobile revenue is up two times year-on-year.

Netflix went with an iPad app first, not a smartphone app. Today, a reported 23 per cent of all Netflix subscribers say they have watched on smartphones, and 15 per cent have done so on iPads.

Amazon has about 16.7 million prime subscribers who get unlimited video streaming on Kindle devices and via Amazon’s mobile apps.

The pay and broadcast TV industries, music labels, Hollywood studios, big tech companies, and major advertisers all have to keep a close eye on this trend.

Social networking Facebook is the most used app, by both audience size and share of time spent among each demographic segment. There are almost 1.39 billion monthly active users while 894 million users access Facebook daily on mobile.

Social networking, games and radio contribute to nearly half the total time spent on apps, indicating mobile usage is heavily centred on entertainment and communication.

In a month, around 250 million active mobile users contributed 86 per cent of Twitter revenue and 90 per cent of the videos being shared on Twitter are being viewed on mobile devices; 75 per cent of Pinterest usage takes place on mobile devices. Instagram has over 300 million active users sharing over 30 billion photos.

Email According to a study, 45 per cent of email opening occurred on mobile, 36 per cent on the desktop and 19 per cent in a webmail client. Moreover, 74 per cent of smartphone owners use their devices to check emails and Gmail apps alone have more than 100 million downloads. (Source: Gartner)

What has led to these revolutionary changes? Extremely advanced technology and robust hardware accompanied by the very low price of smartphones has resulted in the tremendous popularity of mobile devices. In late 2014, the average price of Android mobile phones in the global market dropped to nearly $255. Mobile phones with multi-core CPU, 3G connectivity and GPS can be bought in India at a pocket-friendly price rate.

Moreover, the launch of iPhone and iPad models nearly twice a year pushes the prices of second-hand and older models to affordable levels as well. Therefore, app developers now need to create apps that are not only more feature-rich but perform better and offer a better user experience compared to just a few years ago.

Internet connectivity The other pioneering change is that recently over 100 million people accessed the internet over mobile phones, which is 52 per cent of the world as of January 2016, making India the world’s largest online user country. The entry of a large number of private internet service providers in the Indian market has allowed people to enjoy low-cost net connectivity on their handsets, by taking advantage of buckets of data services on demand, by using monthly unlimited usage plans, or connecting to free Wi-Fi hotspots that have now become mainstream in public spaces.

Cloud infrastructure The third and most vital of these changes is the commoditisation of the cloud, which is gaining stream in India. Also, the number of cloud computing subscribers in India is expected to grow rapidly in the next five years. Cloud computing relates to services that are available through an internet connection and usually on a subscription basis.

Where will this revolution lead to?

•Advertisers will now be focused on mobile rather than on desktops or any other electronic medium

•Video streams, video calls, doodles, files, online social games, music, shopping, micro blogging, and movies will continue to enjoy the top position

•The app will become a collection facility for personal data, resulting in more customised ads and higher conversion than ever

•Media web services will increase as we see increase in news and media content downloaded through the internet and portable devices All this means that app developers will need to incorporate new technologies to create better applications that will fulfil the demands of a tech-savvy generation.

Govind Bansal is Co-Founder, Aqua

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