Spotlight on the European Mobile Market & One of its Big Players: Germany
When analyzing the Mobile App marketing industry, the top geographic regions that come to mind are generally the US & East Asia (in reference to China, Japan & South Korea). Surprise of all surprises though, the EU is a close and increasingly competitive third geographic market for mobile apps. Home to 28 member states, a population of around 500 million, and contributing around 23% of global GDP, the E.U. is an economic force to be reckoned with. This economic significance informs its burgeoning mobile app market’s strength and growth. The number of unique mobile subscribers in the EU is around 400 million, placing the EU’s unique mobile subscriber penetration around 75%. This indicates a very healthy mobile phone/app market, especially when its average subscriber penetration rate is compared to the global average of 45%, the U.S. average of 71%, and an average of 89% in Japan. [1]
German Mobile Facts
A quick examination of the EU’s standout market Germany clarifies much about the strength of the EU mobile app market. Germany is Europe’s biggest economy, and also becoming a highly competitive mobile advertising market internationally. Though it is behind the E.U. in a few key statistical averages (device-type page views, mobile broadband adoption to name a couple), the sheer size of the German market and its growth rate is undeniably indicative of global significance. Taking a closer look at some standout statistics and facts, one can make quite a convincing argument to opening your mobile marketing efforts up to Germany & the European Union. The EU average percentage of mobile users is 68%, while the German average sits a little lower at 60% though this percentage results in a very large number of users given Germany’s large population. Since 30% of German people (21.3 million people) access mobile web/apps on a regular basis, their population of active mobile users is quite significant. Increasing access to faster data networks, smartphones, and cheaper/bigger data plans are all playing a role in boosting the prevalence of mobile in Germany and will continue to do so. The projected increases in mobile ad spending by 2017 will additionally bolster Germany’s mobile market health. Advertising efforts for both iOS & Android are highly viable here, proven by Google Play’s recent overtaking of iOS in terms of total monthly downloads, in Germany & Spain. [2], [3]
It is worth noting that there are qualitative differences in mobile usage in the European mobile economy compared to the U.S. A study conducted by Boston-based mobile analytics & marketing platform Localytics compared European mobile app usage to U.S. usage, with several standout findings. Not only do Europeans spend 18% more time in apps, but they spend 359% more time in sports apps and 130% more time in games. If this has you wondering what kinds of apps U.S. users spend more time in, that would be Business & Finance apps! [4]
If your marketing efforts are land-locked in the U.S. but your app is internationally relevant, you should really consider expanding your app to the Euro Zone. The amount of opportunity in Europe is immense, surpassed only by the East Asian mobile app market (more on that in a forthcoming article). Mobile advertising spend in Germany is projected to increase 5-fold by 2017– from $349 million in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2017.[5] That’s huge! To drive the point home, note that Germany was the only European country in the top 5 worldwide revenue rankings for the Google Play store in Q3 2013, sitting at #4 after Japan, South Korea and the U.S. Don’t miss out on this thriving market! [6]
Interested in exploring the European market? There are a number of established ad networks, exchanges, demand-side-platforms, and monetization experts in the EU. Some of the standout companies are MobFox, Apprupt, Madvertise, Kissmyads, Mobbnet, Admoda, Linking Mobile, 4th Screen, and Mobsta, among others. There are additionally U.S.-established mobile companies that have access to global ad inventories to suit your marketing/targeting needs: NativeX, Airpush, Jumptap, Inmobi, Impact-Mobi, Aarki, MobPartner, Ad Colony, & more…
Sources
Ad Network lists:
http://www.mobyaffiliates.com/blog/worlds-top-mobile-advertising-platforms/
http://www.hasoffers.com/blog/top-25-mobile-advertising-ecosystem/
German Mobile Ad Networks:
http://www.mobfox.com/?aid=1858
http://www.apprupt.com/advertiser-2/enbranding-werbeformen/?lang=en
http://madvertise.com/
Useful German Mobile App Environment Articles:
http://mobithinking.com/guide-mobile-Web-Germany
http://mobithinking.com/mobile-ad-network-guide
http://relevancematters.com/?p=749
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Ad-Spend-on-Rise-Germany-France/1009914
https://adfonic.com/?post_news=adfonic-continues-global-expansion-with-new-german-subsidiary
http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/17/google-play-store-overtakes-ios-in-germany-and-spain/
Additional Sources/articles:
http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-index-market-q3-2013/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
[1] http://gsmamobileeconomyeurope.com/GSMA_Mobile%20Economy%20Europe_v9_WEB.pdf (page 16)
[2] http://mobithinking.com/guide-mobile-Web-Germany
– This February, the Google Play store overtook the iOS store in Germany & Spain for monthly downloads during January. Google Play came in with 36% of combined European revenues vs. 33% of US revenues. http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/17/google-play-store-overtakes-ios-in-germany-and-spain/
[3] http://mobithinking.com/guide-mobile-Web-Germany
[4] http://www.localytics.com/blog/2014/opportunities-for-european-mobile-marketers/
[5] http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Ad-Spend-on-Rise-Germany-France/1009914
[6] http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-index-market-q3-2013/
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