Americans Spend More Time Than Ever on Mobile Apps [Study]

Mobile presents an increasingly large opportunity for digital marketers, as today adult U.S. Android and iPhone users spend 65 percent more time using mobile apps than they did just two years ago, according to a new study from Nielsen.

In its recently published report, Smartphones: So Many Apps, So Much Time, Nielsen found that in the last quarter of 2013 adult smartphone users in the U.S. spent an average of 30 hours and 15 minutes using apps, compared to 18 hours and 18 minutes in the same period two years prior.

However, while the average time spent on mobile apps per month has greatly increased, the average number of apps used per month has grown only slightly, from 23.3 to 26.8 during the research period.

“Although there does appear to be a limit to the number of apps people are willing to access on a monthly basis, they’re spending 31 percent more time [on mobile] than they were last year, proving that it’s the content that counts,” Monica Bannan, vice president of product leadership at Nielsen, says in the report.

A deeper look at the research reveals that 18- to 24-year-olds spend the most time per month on mobile apps (approximately 37 hours per person), while users between 25 and 44 years old access the greatest number of apps (29.5).

So what types of apps take up the majority of users’ time? Social networking and search apps are the most popular, followed closely by entertainment apps and then by apps used for communication. But on the rise are photography apps, which saw a 131 percent growth during the research period.

You can read the full report at Nielsen.