Welcome to YouAppi’s App Trends Report, a regular rundown of the actionable insights to help better market your app in the “new normal”. In our third installment, we’re spotlighting top apps worldwide for May and app uninstall rates.
Top Non-Gaming Apps Worldwide by Downloads (May 2020)
Source: Sensor Tower
First Place: TikTok was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide last month, taking first place ahead of ZOOM which was the most downloaded non-game app in April 2020. In May, TikTok generated more than 111.9 million installs, a 2x year-over-year increase from May 2019. The countries that accounted for the majority of this growth were India (20% of total downloads) and the United States (9.3%).
Second Place: ZOOM was bumped to second place this month with almost 94.6 million installs. This represented a 43x increase from May 2019. The top countries for this growth were the U.S. and India both accounting for 17% of total downloads.
Top Non-Gaming Apps Worldwide by Revenue (May 2020)
Source: Sensor Tower
First Place: Last month, TikTok was both the most downloaded and highest-grossing non-game app worldwide with more than $95.7 million in user spending. This was a 10.6x growth from the same time last year. Approximately 89% of TikTok’s revenue was from China, followed by 6.2% from the United States and 1.2% from Turkey. TikTok was also the highest-grossing non-game app by revenue in April 2020.
Second Place: YouTube was the second highest-earning non-game app worldwide, grossing more than $78.4 million in revenue last month. This represented 77.3% year-over-year growth from May 2019. YouTube was also the second highest-grossing non-game app by revenue in April 2020.
Game App Update
In May 2020, the top-grossing mobile games worldwide continued to be PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings from Tencent. These apps were also the top-earning mobile games in April as we reported In our last App Trends report.
Source: Sensor Tower
First Place: PUBG Mobile generated more than $226 million in user spending last month. This represented a 41% increase from May 2019. Approximately 53% of PUBG’s revenue came from China, 10.2% from the United States and 5.5% from Saudi Arabia.
Second Place: Honor of Kings was the second highest earning mobile game with $204.5 million in gross revenue. This was a 42% increase from last year. About 95% of Honor of Kings’ revenue came from China, followed by 2.2% from Thailand.
Honorable Mentions:
Pokemon Go: Pokémon GO from Niantic recorded its best month for revenue since September 2019. Last month it generated $82.2 million, an increase of 45.5% since May 2019. Notably, Niantic made changes to its title during the pandemic in order to encourage playing at home, which contributed to its success during Shelter In Place restrictions.
Three Kings Strategic: Three Kingdoms Strategic from Alibaba, which is only available in China, had its best month ever in May with $85.4 million in revenue. Released in September 2019, the game has already accumulated $491.4 million to date.
App Uninstall Rates are Slightly Up
The latest figures on app uninstall rates for 2020 have shown a slight bump in uninstall rates. In 2019, the average uninstall rate was 36.4%. In other words, for every 100 times an app was installed, an average 36.4 uninstalls followed. This rate diverged dramatically between iOS and Android. Namely, Android uninstall rates were much higher at 39.8% versus iOS’ 14.9%.
It’s also important to note that a 36% app install rate does not then indicate a 64% user retention rate. It means that an average 36 users out of 100 actually physically deleted an app off their phone after they installed it. Keep in mind there are many other types of app abandonment that do not necessarily include app deletion.
So far in 2020, the average app uninstall rate has ballooned to 52.15% for Android and 16.1% for iOS. For clear comparison the exact rates for uninstall in 2019 for the first months of the year were 33.8% for Android and 13.38% for iOS, respectively. That’s over a 54% increase for Android and over a 20% increase in app uninstalls for iOS since the same period last year.
For context, the average app install rates across operating systems was 11% in January, 27% in February and March and 34% in April. This shows that rates, while dipping slightly when Shelter-In-Place restrictions were first implemented in March have increased drastically.
While it’s unclear exactly what accounts for the rise in app uninstalls, experts like Eric Seufert have proposed that “app tourism” could be the cause, with users downloading a vast array of apps at the beginning of lockdown and now culling the herd, so to speak.
We’re keeping a close watch on app engagement as user behavior changes during the coronavirus crisis. Check back in 2 weeks for an update of actionable insights to better market your app in the “new normal”.
