Are you the type of person who reaches for your phone to check social media as soon as you wake up in the morning? If so, you aren’t alone. According to a report recently released by Opera Mediaworks that looked at the mobile app habits of more than a billion users across 19,000 sites and apps, social media apps are the most common app to reach for in the morning, while entertainment apps tend to be the last apps people use before bed.

In their report from the second quarter of 2015, they discovered that only four categories of mobile apps are serious contenders for the first or last apps of the day. These are:

  • Entertainment
  • Games
  • News/Information
  • Social Media.

Interestingly, the News and Information category tended to have the most loyal following that consistently checked the app first thing in the morning and right before bed. When taking a deeper look at only the sports applications, the study revealed that users were far more likely to check the app in the morning than they were later in the day.

Opera’s report also looked at where in the world mobile advertising was gaining traffic and success in ad revenues. As always, the US is at the top of the list, but traffic and ad revenues are seeing steady growth in the Middle East and Africa. On the other hand, both France and Colombia fell out of the top 25 nations with regards to traffic and ad impressions.

When looking at market share by region, Opera found:

  • United States – 42.12%
  • APAC – 28.77%
  • Europe – 9.84%
  • Americas – 9.19%
  • Africa – 6.91%
  • Middle East – 2.4%
  • Oceania – 0.76%.

Globally, the report also shows that mobile apps receive a higher share of traffic (55.94%) than web (44.06%). The same is true for revenue, with mobile apps commanding more than 70% of the total ad revenue.

While one might assume these trends would be relatively similar across regions, that’s not the case. Web impressions outpace mobile app impressions in Africa, the Americas, APAC, Europe and the Middle East. This clearly shows that outside of the US and Oceania, the web is still critical for reaching customers and gaining market share.

The Opera report also looked at the growth and importance of video advertising. While marketers may currently only experience moderate results with this marketing channel in the US, potential customers in Australia, Japan and Germany more actively seek out this type of content and respond well to it.

Based on the findings of this report, it’s clear that the timing of your content and the delivery method used are critical for getting your message in front of customers. Having content available on social media early in the morning has the potential to place your content among what users see as soon as they’re out of bed, providing more traction for your message than if they encountered it later in the day.

Source:

Hutchinson, Andrew. Social Media Apps the Most Commonly Checked “First App of the Day” – Report. Social Media Today. July 29, 2015.