The Growth of India’s App Market: Essential Insights for 2021

Authored by April Tayson, Regional VP, INSEA, Adjust.

The Indian economy made headlines recently after the International Monetary Fund projected a 12.5% growth rate for the country in 2021. But flying under the radar of this impressive projection is the unbelievable strides made by India's app economy.. In fact, Adjust’s Mobile App Growth report found that India emerged as the fastest-growing region over the last two years. The world's second most populous nation  Education is the fastest-growing app vertical, while all eyes are on Entertainment, as a highly competitive market in streaming and Over the Top (OTT) media emerges.

Indian publishers, too, have made an incredible impact on the app market with more than 28,456 available on Google Play. These figures will definitely entice developers in and outside the country to seek larger slices of the country's app pie. But before diving in headfirst, it's important to learn the key factors that are shaping India's app market.

3 things you need to know about India's app market

India's rise to become the world's second-largest internet population is propelled by the market's high smartphone penetration rate. In January 2021, India recorded 624 million internet users, marking an impressive increase of 47 million users from 2020. GSMA Intelligence estimates smartphone adoption rates will reach 84% in the next 4 to 5 years, l resulting in an additional 190 million new mobile internet subscribers by the year 2025.

Riding on this trends, marketers are devoting an increased portion of their budgets to mobile advertising. By 2022, industry experts predict that digital ads will receive at least a 30% share of the total media ad spend, allowing brands to leverage various apps and platforms to reach their target audiences.

India is a mobile-first market with 93% of all internet minutes spent via mobile. With massive budgets and a growing target audience, marketers need to optimize their mobile marketing campaigns and expand their online presence. The following trends can help you get a basic understanding of India’s growing mobile market.

1. India’s most popular mobile apps are becoming multipurpose ‘super apps’

Companies with large audiences are diversifying their offering, replicating the success of ‘super-apps’ seen elsewhere in Asia. Examples of these apps, such as GoJek, Grab and Line are offering users across South East Asia a wide range of features, such as ride-hailing, food-delivery, payment systems, e-commerce and publishing. It's a model that is catching on in the Indian market. For example, Truecaller – an app that enables its 140 million daily active users to screen calls from strangers and bots – plans to implement a credit loaning system. Users based in India can also use the app to send messages, record calls and complete payments.

2. Social distancing triggers increase in mobile ad spend

The majority of India’s digital ad spend was mobile-focused before  the pandemic accelerated this trend. Between 45-55% of companies’ digital advertising budgets are spent on mobile, a figure that is projected to increase to more than 65% by 2022.

3. Mobile marketers are focused on video advertising

A study by marketing and advertising specialist Warc shows that 45% of marketers in India plan to focus their budgets on video advertising on mobile devices. Moreover, the study found that location data is the biggest technology for marketers, with 46% of respondents rating this as pivotal to their target audience. This aligns with the global trend of increased video ads: 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, showing an 18% increase over last year.

Now that we have an idea of what the market potential is like, let's take a look at some of the most popular apps in India’s mobile market.    

Mobile games

By 2021, India is projected to have 310 million active gamers in a market that will be worth $1 billion. Moreover, user penetration is expected to increase to 12.6% in 2021, and hit 16.1% by 2025. The increase in popularity of this app vertical has also accelerated over the past 14 months , as users must spend more time indoors with less means of entertainment.

E-commerce apps

According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, the growth of India's e-commerce industry has consistently been on an upward trajectory and is expected to leapfrog the United States as the second largest in the world by 2034. India topped the global real-time transactions chart with 25.5 billion real-time payments, followed by China at 15.7 billion. On the whole, India's e-commerce is projected to scale US$99 billion by 2024 (27% CAGR from 2019-24), led by consumer segments such as fashion and groceries. The pandemic has been the catalyst of  a huge surge in Indian e-commerce and the trend is expected to keep soaring in the coming years.

Fitness apps

As more users are unable to use the gym due, fitness apps have seen an increase in installs and usage. According to a study by the World Economic Forum in 2020, India recorded the highest increase in fitness app downloads, as much as 156%, with the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region coming second at 55%. Another study by conversation media platform Bobble.AI, which collects data from over a million users, showed a 50% increase in time spent in-app.

Dating apps

International dating apps have had to adapt to the Indian market. With 50% of the market share, dating apps by Indian developers are also performing well by marketing themselves as a means to find long-term relationships. This gives them the edge over their competitors, which  are synonymous with casual dating. A great example of this trend is Aisle, the Indian dating app focused on finding a life partner. The Bengaluru-based dating app recently raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding to enter Tier II markets across the country.

Fintech apps

India is among the fastest growing fintech markets in the world, with more than $10 million invested in fintech companies over the last four years. This can be attributed to a large skilled workforce and a proficient technological ecosystem to support financial services. The highest grossing fintech apps in India include Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and YONO SBI.

Understanding the Market is Key

India's app market is expanding rapidly, and the pace is expected to move up another gear in the foreseeable future. Therefore, whether you already have an app available in India’s mobile market or intend to launch one in the country, it is important to stay up to speed with critical data like internet penetration and app downloads,  as well as  new developments to shape your marketing strategy.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and Adgully.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. 

Media
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Media