App usage patterns shift dramatically over the festive season

The holidays are always interesting to keep an eye on in app marketing, as user habits and behaviors shift rapidly day-to-day. Users engage with their mobile phones as much as ever, with overall session and install numbers remaining consistent, but the apps they engage with shift for a few weeks. Someone who typically uses a health and fitness app every day might take a break and gravitate toward food delivery, and a person who uses a gaming app every day might find themselves streaming music more often.

We took a look at the global trends from the week of December 25/Christmas 2021 through to New Year’s Day of 2022 to determine how the data measured up against the average for 2021, and for the month of December.

Use of music streaming apps surged from December 23 to January 1, but Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve were the most impressive dates. On December 25, installs for the vertical were 86% higher than the yearly average. People were feeling festive in general throughout December, as the month’s average installs were also 15% up on the rest of the year. Moving away from Christmas carols, music streaming spiked again globally on New Year’s Eve, with numbers up by 24%.

In addition to the regular peaks and troughs seen in the food delivery vertical, where the weekend consistently outperforms the rest of the week, our data indicates that use of apps in the vertical also dropped globally as many users around the world celebrated Christmas. On December 24, installs were 9% below the yearly average, and were 6% down on December 25. Sessions for December 25 came in at 3% lower than the 2021 average, and 9% compared to the rest of December. Conversely, by New Year’s Day, users turned their attention back to food delivery. On January 1, installs were up 16% compared to the 2021 average, and sessions spiked by 24%.

Health and fitness apps dip significantly in the last week of the year, every year, as many people take a break from their regimes, and 2021 was no exception. In fact, December 24 was actually the worst day of the year for installs in the vertical, sitting at 48% below the yearly average. December 25 was a little stronger for installs, but was still 32% lower than average. In terms of sessions, Christmas Day was the slowest day of the year, at 39% below average.

By January 1, however, we see users shifting gear as they move into the new year, with installs and sessions back up. Installs for the first week of 2022 are up 39% compared to the 2021 average (and 160% compared to December 24), with January 3 the top day so far. Sessions have also jumped, with the first week of January up 54% compared to Christmas Day.

Gaming apps perform consistently throughout the year, but we noticed a considerable spike in use over the festive season. Users may have been playing games with friends and family, or perhaps had more time on their hands to lay back and use their phones. Either way installs and sessions were up. Gaming app installs for the 25th and 26th of December were 28% higher than average. It’s the New Year when things really start to kick off, however. Over the first three days of 2022, installs performed at 58% higher than the 2021 average, and sessions increased by 8%.