Mostly Mobile - Facebook, Google and others are now predominantly mobile companies

May 28th, 2015

Mostly Mobile - Facebook, Google and others are now predominantly mobile companies
David Quinn

by David Quinn

VP of Strategy & Partnerships at Gummicube, Inc.

Quick - Is Google a mobile company? "Sure" you might say, "But mostly web search and web apps." Apple? Sure but they sell Macs too. We know Instagram, Uber, WhatsApp, SnapChat - all mobile first. What about Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Pandora? According to the mobile app statistics, including the latest revenue and usage data - all of the above are generating more revenue, more growth and have more usage as mobile apps and/or mobile platforms. Some of the biggest names in the internet are now mostly mobile. And companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo all wish they were too. Here is a snapshot of the largest social networks - by time spent via mobile or desktop.

And here is what Google web search is looking like:

120418

Usage only tells part of the story

73% of Facebook's ad revenues come from mobile - up from 14% 2 years ago. Facebook-Mobile-MAUs-Ad-Revenues-Q12013-Q12015-Apr2015 In 8 quarters, Facebook went from barely addressing the advertising opportunities for their mobile users, to generating 73% of their ad revenues from mobile.

The macro perspective of the mobile advertising space

2013

20% of time spent in Mobile, 4% of ad spend (US only)

Internet Trends 2014 Slide 15 copy

2014

24% of time spent in Mobile, 8% of ad spend

Screen Shot 2015-06-05 at 10.29.18 AM According to the above chart, mobile advertising spend doubled, and still couldn't keep up with the increase in time spent in mobile.

The rise of messaging apps

You may be very aware of Whatsapp ($22b) and Snapchat ($19b), if not a daily user. How about LINE ($10b), KakaoTalk ($2b), Tango ($1b) and WeChat owner Tencent ($100b). Top-10-Fastest-Growing-Social-And-Messaging-App This is all happening fast, and there are leaders and laggards. It is time to add fuel to your mobile marketing investment!

What to watch for next

It sure looks like the Apple Watch will have its own app store. Applinks/Deep Linking will continue to expand as Apple tries to increase the value of Spotlight Search and Siri, while Google tries to index the content in the app silo. The list of mobile first businesses with $1b valuations continues to expand.

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