Mobile app spend is soaring

Happy #benchMarch for those who celebrate and what better way to start than with that monster in your pocket, mobile 📱. 

(I've had a complicated relationship with that mobile monster lately; too much dumbscrolling masquerading as content inspiration sessions - 'nutha story/'nutha day.)

Dealing with the first- and second-order impacts of mobile is never-ending. It's a chore. Pack lunches, do laundry, optimize mobile. But it tends to slip into the shadows 🌑, with genAI hogging the spotlight 🌟.
So, let this serve as your regular reminder that mobile is where the growth is.

Let's look at apps. Apps are INCREASINGLY reaching into your (digital) wallet, and the pace of the spend change across mobile apps is astounding.

Per data.ai, app spending (excl. games) has more than doubled over the past 3 years (2023 Q2 / 2020 Q2) - even more impressive considering disposable income has actually dropped slightly over the same span. This comparison of mobile app spend against disposable income spend (both indexed to 2017) is one of my new favorite views of mobile's rise.

It means that mobile is gobbling up consumer spend from... guess where? Everywhere. The rise is rapid, too (steep curve!)

So don't minimize the mobile monster. Even if you are tired of saying things like 'mobile-first' or asking 'why are we showing this demo on a full screen?'

The effort you pour into making mobile marvelous - including the page AND the entire experience (marketing, site, and service!) is your most strategic of initiatives. 

Source: data.ai State of Mobile 2024