US consumers spend more time on apps than watching TV

Apps now reign supreme as the top media channel in the United States, even without the help of the mobile browser. For the first time ever, time spent inside mobile applications by the average US consumer has exceeded that of TV, says a report by Flurry.

This year, it’s estimated that revenues from in-app purchases will exceed advertising revenues for the first time. According to Flurry, in 2014 app stores generated $21bn in sales on a worldwide basis, while the mobile ads industry generated $2bn during the same time. This year, Flurry predicts in-app purchases to exceed $33bn and the ads industry (excluding search) is to generate $31bn.

As shown in the chart above, the average US consumer is spending 198 minutes per day inside apps compared to 168 minutes on TV.

“This impressive growth in sales can easily encourage traditional media companies to move its content to apps and stream it over-the-top, charge consumers for it through the App Stores, and still make money from ads. Most of these companies have been reluctant to do so, out of fear that their content needs to be free and ad-supported when streamed, something they are simply not comfortable with”, said Flurry.

“If the content continues to move to apps and streamed over the wire, the cable industry will simply be squeezed and will lose its exclusive position as the sole distribution channel between media companies and US consumers.”