Report reveals shocking amount of time TikTok users spend on app

Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita, Zack Guzman, and Alexandra Canal speak with Ted Krantz, App Annie CEO, about consumer app trends as COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease.

Video transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Well, despite humanity beginning to emerge from intense lockdown measures, app spending still hit a record in the second quarter, according to new data from industry tracker App Annie. Overall, Apple's App Store sales grew faster than Google's Play Store. But combined, total app spend was up more than 25% year over year to hit a new record at $34 billion for the quarter.

And for more on that, very happy to welcome in Ted Krantz, App Annie's CEO joins us right now. And Ted, I mean, when we look at it, you might have people saying that's unexpected because people are supposed to be out, living their lives, but still on their phones. And when you look at the top downloads, I guess the bigger theme there still all about connectivity, too. You've got Google Meet on the list. You've got Zoom. You've got Snapchat. You have Facebook and Insta. Talk to me about what you saw.

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, well, thank you for having me. It's exciting to talk about mobile trends that are going to fuel the path forward to the global economy. Lots of winners to talk about. You see some pre-pandemic leaders that continue to do well. And you see some emergence of some new stars. On the revenue front, driving App Store spend, it's TikTok, YouTube, and Tinder leading the way.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And Ted, it's Allie Canal here. I'm curious to get a little better sense of the sectors that are growing right now in Q2, as we're sort of getting to this good point in the pandemic. Where are you seeing the most growth?

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, so the hot sectors are definitely led by streaming and social. You see performers like HBO Max and TikTok doing extremely well. And then you also have others that are closely following the two primary categories. Anything to do with fitness, work from home, and delivery is hot as well.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, I mean, that's a really interesting one for me, watching this. Because you've got so many different companies that have emerged on the at-home fitness side. What are you finding, as more and more people return to the gyms, about which one of these have continued to keep up that momentum they've seen?

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, with workout patterns changing and us all getting creative at home and outdoors, a couple of notables. Peloton is up about 50%, which is great to see. And then if you're a hiker, I would definitely recommend checking out AllTrails. That's up over 100%. So I think this combination of fitness at home and outdoor activities, that blended mix of going to the gym in a hybrid type of reality is most likely here to stay.

ZACK GUZMAN: And then, I mean, obviously, we've seen kind of travel come back as well. That would be one that, obviously, was not a very hot app, I suppose, earlier last year. So talk to me about what you're seeing there.

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, across the board on travel, you see every theater up and to the right, a lot of early indicators that people in general are returning for vacation travel. Business travel perhaps still a bit light and select across the globe. But vacations in the summertime will lead the way back across the board. And you also see, obviously, an uptick not only in apps like Airbnb and other travel-related destinations, but also the airlines starting to perform better, too.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And Ted, we talk a lot about dating apps on this show. I did see that Tinder made the top three in terms of consumer spend. But I would imagine that usage would also be on the rise, especially as more economies open up amid the vaccine rollout. So any insight on the growth that you're seeing there? Because our man, Zack, he's trying to get out there. He needs to know what apps to get on right now.

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, yeah, you know, dating will continue to do well for sure. Core streaming is leading the way in terms of time spent. YouTube is still the one to chase in that regard. But dating will do incredibly well. Bumble is hot. Tinder remains hot. There's lots of upgrades within those apps as well to continue to monetize along the engagement path. So we don't see that sector slowing down at all. And you see a lot of newcomers coming to that space as well, perhaps mostly from a regional perspective.

AKIKO FUJITA: We're showing this chart here in terms of consumer spend, but I wonder if you break it down by sector, what people are willing to pay for. In such a mobile environment, a lot of these apps we're talking about are free downloads with nothing-- no additional purchases within the app. But what are you finding that people are willing to shell out a bit more money for in the app?

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, that's a great question. What's still fascinating is that gaming captures two out of every $3 from the App Store. So consumers are willing to pay for gaming. You see a heightened reality that gaming has mainstreamed. Hyper casual and casual games are performing very well. There's also lots of advertising opportunity for those gaming companies in that domain, too. So that is definitely a space here to stay on the monetization side.

You look at new trends as well, like Tinder monetizing in a different way with creators and followers versus subscription fees. So we do see subscriptions continuing to hold up strong. We talked about dating earlier. But look for new ways to monetize. And you see the influence of TikTok across all the different social platforms. Even as a user of LinkedIn, which is a core B2B networking platform, you see the influence of TikTok there with a much more focused approach on posting often and creating followers.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And Ted, do we have any insight on the demographics here? Because to me, TikTok is very much Gen Z, but maybe some millennials are getting into the game as well.

TED KRANTZ: Yeah, it might surprise you to hear that it's 60% that's Gen Z. So the other 40% is outside of that realm. And you definitely see more influence from the other demographics, not just Gen Z. Another stat on TikTok, right, I mean, it is the one to chase. 1.2 billion monthly active users, and as an example, in the Americas, it's hard to believe, but every month, those logging in or in that app for 25 hours a month.

ZACK GUZMAN: Very interesting. So maybe just TikTok and chill now. Maybe not even Netflix and chill anymore. You just watch those videos on loop. But Ted Krantz, App Annie CEO, I got to wrap this segment before Allie says anything else about my dating life. But thanks again for coming on. Appreciate it.