Chart of the Week

Chart of the Week: The decline of US app power

The global village remains fragmented

Chart of the Week: The decline of US app power
The US remains the biggest app market in terms of usage, revenue and development.

But that situation is changing - fast.

Figures from app analytics company Flurry show that while it has a strong position - thanks to economic power, language and culture - the global time spent in apps and games made by US companies is declining.

(We assume this means US-headquartered companies, rather than US-located studios, given the scale of outsourcing and distribution development.)

In 2011, 75 percent of in-app time was spent in US-developed apps, rising to 76 percent in 2012, but failing to 70 percent in 2013 (to-date).



Know your market

Drilling down into the market in four specific countries, we can see how language and culture affects the situation.

In the US, 59 percent of time is spent in US-developed apps, while in the UK, 35 percent of time is spent in US-developed apps and 13 percent in UK-developed apps.



In Brazil, however, only a quarter of time is spent in US-developed apps, with 8 percent of time spent in Brazilian-developed apps.

The situation is even more extreme in China, with 64 percent of time spent in Chinese-developed apps.

Obviously this is driven by culture, language and a highly fragmented and localised app distribution network, meaning that US-developed apps only account for 16 percent of in-app time.

[source: Flurry]

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.