Modestly mobile

Despite a 10% drop in China, the largest global market, consumer spending on mobile applications rose a modest 3% year on year to USD 171 billion according to Data.ai’s annual State of Mobile report. While gaming remains a large component of mobile app spending, non-gaming applications including video streaming and dating apps account for 37%. Although spending fell, and despite ongoing regulations governing online media usage, the average time spent per day on mobile applications in China grew 6.6% year-on-year to 3.7 hours. In total, Chinese consumers spent more than 1.1 trillion hours using mobile applications during 2023. Driven by a doubling in spending on casual games like Pixel Heroes and 22% growth in role playing games like Goddess of Victory, app spending in South Korea grew 25% year-over-year to USD 7.9 billion. Notably, mobile advertising revenues grew 8% year-over-year to USD 362 billion – accounting for the lion’s share of industry revenues.

Source: Data.ai, January 2024