NEW DELHI: Indians spent 4 hours 42 minutes a day on their mobiles on average through 2021, a 27% increase over the time spent in pre-pandemic 2019, says a new report. In comparison, Indians watched 3 hours 17 minutes of TV per day in 2021.
Brazilians, who spent the longest average time per day on their mobiles in 2021, did so for 5 hours 24 minutes.
The numbers are for Android phones, which accounted for an overwhelming 96% of the mobile market in India in 2021. In Brazil it accounted for 86%.
The report – State of the Mobile 2022 by the US-based company data.ai, earlier called App Annie – used artificial intelligence to gather and compare the data.
China and Argentina are the only two countries in the top 17 where mobile usage fell in 2021 over 2020. The Chinese spent 3.2 hours a day on mobile in 2021, compared to 3.5 hours in 2020. In Argentina, it dipped from 3.8 hours to 3.6 hours.
Quarter of time spent on photo & video
Mobile use in India, home to 1.2 billion wireless connections, grew for most of the pandemic-stricken 2021. Social media and communication apps claimed 4.6 out of every 10 minutes Indians spent on their mobiles in October-December 2021.
Another 3.5 minutes were spent on photo, video, gaming and entertainment apps, of which photo and video apps claimed 2.5 minutes.
But as restrictions on movement eased in the fourth quarter as the second wave of infections receded, the total time spent on apps fell by 2.5% over the third quarter, which recorded the highest time Indians ever spent on their mobiles.
Gaming, social media and communication apps accounted for the biggest drops. While, the time spent on entertainment apps grew 11% in the fourth quarter.
This was on the back of strong growth in what’s available on the mobile app space. Publishers released 2 million new apps and games in 2021, with Google Play accounting for 77% of it.
India No. 2 in downloads, but low on spend
Downloads grew 10% in India in 2021, making India second only to China’s on the count. Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, and Vietnam were among the fastest-growing markets for downloads at 25%, 25%, 25%, and 20% growth rates, respectively.
Consumer spend on mobiles was at $417 million in India in 2021, down from $503 billion in 2020. In comparison, the spends in China and the US, the largest markets in 2021, was $56 billion and $43 billion respectively. Japan came in third with $21 billion. The growth mostly came from consumers migrating more of their entertainment and games consumption onto mobiles.
Finance app downloads grew the fastest among all categories, at 27% over 2020; spend on these apps grew at a robust 46%. Medical app downloads grew by 36% and the spend on them by 38%.
