Mobile apps and games saw 74.4 billion downloads in H1 2022 – data.ai

Global mobile app and game downloads grew 13% YoY to a new record of 74.4 billion across the App Store and Play Store in the first half of 2022, according to a new report by data.ai.

While the amount of time spent in them also grew 11% year-over-year to over 2 billion hours on Android devices alone, there was a slight drop in revenue which fell 3% compared to last year.

Categories defying economic slowdown

The report also revealed the top app and game categories that showed the strongest resilience against the global economic downturn during H1.

In terms of consumer spending, Short Videos subcategory, which includes apps like TikTok, topped the list generating $606 million more revenue than the previous half. It was followed by OTT, Dating, File Management and Audio Book apps respectively.

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On the gaming side, MOBA games saw the biggest growth in consumer spending with $368 million, followed by 4X March-Battle, Open World RPG, Fish Hunter, and Merge subcategories.

Also Read: $1.54 billion spent on mobile games per week in Q3 2022 – Data.ai

When it comes to downloads, Mobile Cleaner & Antivirus was the top performing non-gaming subcategory garnering 215 million more installs than H2 2021. It was followed by Tool, Downloader, Personalization and Media Sharing Networks.

Meanwhile, Puzzle games drove over 195 million more installs in the first half, followed by Action, Driving, Simulation, and Other Hypercasual gaming categories.