Get ready for mid-May and Memorial Day app marketing opportunities

Memorial Day is a significant holiday in the United States, honoring those who have served and sacrificed for their country. It is also an important day for businesses, as it marks the unofficial start of summer and the beginning of the peak season for many industries.

Many businesses now take advantage of the three-day weekend with Memorial Day sales, discounts, and promotions to attract customers and boost sales. With millions of Americans traveling, hosting barbecues, and enjoying the long weekend, Memorial Day sales provide a perfect opportunity for apps to leverage increased consumer spending and patriotic sentiment. We took a look at our data to see which app verticals are most primed to boost their campaigns over this holiday period.

We start to see some impressive spikes in installs and sessions from May 11 across several verticals as consumers begin to plan their long weekends. Proactive entertainment prep leads to an increase in installs of photography filter and editor apps, podcast apps, and family and trivia game apps from May 11 through May 15. On the 14th, sessions of travel booking apps were 10% above average, and sessions of ticketing apps were 38% above average.

On the 16th Americans start planning out their shopping, with shopping list app sessions increasing by 17%. Then, on the 18th, consumers start to look into Memorial Day weekend deals with a 71% increase in e-commerce deal discovery app installs compared to the month’s daily average. It’s not until the 24th that we see a bump in shopping app sessions, at 9% above average.

Coming into the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, we see a surge in news app installs as consumers begin to plan the logistics of their long weekend, from weather and traffic considerations to local events.

In the final week leading up to Memorial Day, organization takes precedence to allow for relaxation over the three-day weekend. Health and fitness app installs peak on the 23rd at 28% above May’s daily average, and organizer apps were up a whopping 115% on the same day–the month’s largest climax. This trend continues with last-minute life admin in preparation for time off. Productivity app installs on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend were up 37% on the daily average while mobile account management apps were up 21% on Friday.

App install peaks continue over Memorial Day weekend as consumers seek last-minute entertainment. Ticketing app installs take the lead on Saturday at 31% above the daily average, followed by karaoke apps (30%), family game apps (26%), and early learning education apps (16%). These app installs stay strong on Sunday as well; ticketing app installs were 27% above the daily average, karaoke app installs were up 20%, and family games were 31% higher.

On Memorial Day itself, consumers spend the extra day off with family and friends. Board, family, puzzle, and trivia game apps were up 16%, 23%, 22%, and 15%, respectively, compared to May’s daily average. Individuals also use this holiday to focus on self-enrichment. Installs of language apps were 6% above the daily average, fitness tracker app installs increased by 24%, and organizer app installs jumped by 28% on Memorial Day.

We see similar trends in sessions over Memorial Day weekend. App users take advantage of the long weekend to use video editor apps to showcase their holiday activities, with sessions up  17% compared to the daily average on Saturday and Sunday, and 21% above average on Memorial Day. Those who traveled over the weekend return home for the work week ahead, bumping traffic tracker app installs by 9% compared to the daily average.

Activities turn to more relaxing trends with music game app sessions 9% above average from Saturday through Monday. Coloring app sessions were 12% above average on Saturday, 14% up on Sunday, and 16% higher on Memorial Day. Unsurprisingly, however, we also saw fitness tracker app sessions up by 4% Saturday, 6% on Sunday, and 12% on Memorial Day following the health and fitness and fitness tracker app install jump earlier in the month.