For the longest time, as mobile web was competing against native apps, it found itself in a losing battle — in the U.S., anyway. 80 percent or more of time is spent on native apps, like Facebook and Tumblr as well as Game of War, while only a minimal amount is spent on the mobile web, according to VentureBeat.
However, that isn’t quite the case with the rest of the world. Opera Mediaworks recently released its second quarter report on the state of mobile advertising, as reported by VentureBeat, and it shows a much different story between the two.
As you can see from the chart above, web impressions go through the roof over app use in other countries, including Africa (90 percent compared to a measly five percent for apps), the Americas (a slight lead over apps, by maybe two or three percent), and other regions. In fact, aside from the Oceania area that includes Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, only the U.S. shows an increased use in apps over mobile web.
This shift in numbers is quite an interesting one, dictating the state of mobile markets for certain countries. That’s not to say people don’t use web browsers at all in the U.S., and don’t turn to apps in countries like Japan and Korea (especially with games like Puzzle & Dragons still getting lots of attention). But to see such high preference of one over the other, and how they differ via country, is really something, even if the numbers aren’t necessary conclusive (since they’re based upon Opera’s mobile advertising business).
That said, don’t be surprised if marketers pay close attention to numbers like these in the hopes of getting the most out of their marketing. U.S. developers, for instance, may try to do more with apps, while other countries improve upon their mobile advertising plans. We’ll see how well these numbers hold up over the next few months.
