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iphone news apps

The average consumer in the United States spends 64% more time on news apps today than they did a year ago. That statistic comes from a new study by Flurry and includes both iOS and Android smartphone and tablet devices.The growth rate for news apps is more than double the growth rate experienced by messaging and social apps (28%) and greater than six times the growth rate experienced by game, entertainment, and utility apps (9%). The only category that experienced a higher growth rate than news apps was productivity apps, which experienced 119% growth over a year ago.The impressive growth of time spent using news apps is just one part of the story though. Last month, Flurry released data based on its research of the half-life of mobile apps. Flurry defines half-life as the point in time when an app's monthly users drops to 50% of its lifetime peak. The report reveals that 52% of mobile apps have a half-life of just three months. However, news apps are faring much better.According to the research data. news apps have the longest half-life of any app category at seven months. Flurry found three factors that matter when it comes to having a long mobile app half-life:

  • App Category: In general, utilitarian apps, such as news apps, have longer half-lives than apps in other categories.
  • Peak Users: In general, apps that have 10,000 monthly average users at peak have longer half-lives than apps with fewer monthly average users at peak.
  • Operating System: In general, iOS apps have a half-life that is one month longer than Android apps.

Now that mobile has surpassed desktop in the internet traffic race, there is a significant opportunity for content publishers to reach the mobile audience. The data shows us that mobile news apps are growing in terms of the amount of time U.S. users spend with them. Furthermore, new apps have the longest half-life of any mobile app category. The doors are wide open for Authoritative Content publishers to stake their claims in the mobile space!If you haven't read the free ebook, The Publisher's Guide to Mobile and Tablet Development, just click on the link to read it now. It's a great place to learn how to effectively deliver your content to mobile audiences.Image: Ian Lamont

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