The State of Mobile Exploring the Key Mobile Traffic Trends in 2022 - Semrush
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The State of Mobile Exploring the Key Mobile Traffic Trends in 2022
The State of Mobile
Introduction
It’s been a while since we entered This led to a first-in-years decline
the mobile-first era. Back in 2016, in mobile traffic vs. desktop.
Google was already talking about In some industries, usage
mobile-first indexing, anticipating of desktop devices came
that mobile traffic would only extremely close to that of mobile
keep growing in years to come. throughout 2020 and 2021.
But the question remains: what
We didn’t expect to see does the ‘new normal’ look like
disruptions in this trend, but for the search industry? Will
then we witnessed the arrival mobile shake off its pandemic-
of a black swan that seemingly driven decline?
broke the pattern.
With data from our
The global pandemic forced Semrush .Trends platforms,
billions of people to follow strict alongside data from apps
stay-at-home and lockdown available in our App Center
orders, which meant that like AdClarity-Advertising
the “on the go” experience was no Intelligence and Mobile App
longer front and center as fewer Insights, we found some
people were on the move. definitive answers.
02The State of Mobile
Your Quick
Guide Through
the Report
This report provides an overview A holistic take on the state
of key mobile traffic trends of mobile, however, can’t only
across the globe. With our embrace the mobile web.
findings, we explore the driving
forces behind the mobile traffic That’s why the second part
dynamics over the last year. of this report focuses on mobile
applications, or, simply, apps.
In the first part, we look They play a large role when it
at the overall traffic patterns comes to mobile experience, so
across the mobile web, which we unearthed some key mobile
involves benchmarking them app insights that helped us
against desktop. From general unwrap the latest dynamics across
trends like growth or decline the app landscape.
of mobile traffic and country-
by-country specifics to industry- Altogether, these findings should
level analysis, you’ll be able help us assess the actual state
to grasp where mobile of mobile today and help you see
penetration stands today where you should be focusing
and where it’s going tomorrow. your digital efforts tomorrow!
03The State of Mobile
Table
of Contents
02 Introduction 18 Display and Video Advertising Strategies
Across Industries
03 Your Quick Guide Through the Report
18 Benchmarking the Display Advertising
Strategies of Various Market Sectors
05 Part I. The State of Mobile Web
21 Benchmarking the Video Advertising
06 Assessing Global Mobile Traffic Strategies of Various Market Sectors
Patterns in 2021
07 Do Mobile Traffic Trends Have 25 Part II. Assessing Global Mobile
Any Geo-Related Specifics? Traffic Patterns in 2021
09 Where Does Mobile Traffic Come From?
26 Assessing the Mobile App Landscape
11 Evaluating Industry-Specific Mobile
26 Evaluating Industry-Specific Mobile
Traffic Patterns
Traffic Patterns
12 Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share and Trends
33 How Many App Installs Come From Apple
Across Industries
Search Ads Campaigns?
17 How Do These Industries Generate
Mobile Traffic?
36 Key Takeaways
18 Key Insights for Bringing Mobile Traffic
from Paid ChannelsPart I The State of Mobile Web
The State of Mobile
Assessing Global Mobile
Traffic Patterns in 2021
Since the outbreak of COVID, those with access half of 2021 was marked by more relaxed
to traffic stats likely noticed a drop in visitors lockdowns, fewer restrictions, and stay-at-home
coming from mobile devices. orders—you may have anticipated a rising mobile
traffic trend.
One year into the pandemic, the pattern only
continued. As economies across the world started But we saw the opposite.
the slow but sure reopening process—the second
Mobile Traffic Trend
April 2021 - March 2022
1.000 B
1.000 B 1.000 B
750 B
750 B 750 B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
500 B
500 B 500 B
250 B
250 B 250 B
0
0 0
May’21 Jul’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Jan’22
May’21 May’21 Jul’21 Jul’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Nov’21 Jan’22 Jan’22
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:.Trends
Semrush .Trends
06The State of Mobile
In May 2021, when strict rules were still in full This implies that the assumed tie between staying
swing, we saw 30% more mobile users than at home and using a desktop is not as strong
in March 2022, a timeframe where there were as we believed it to be, and the reopening
little to no COVID restrictions (apart from of the economy won’t necessarily lead to the full
a few regions). comeback of mobile that many experts anticipate.
Do Mobile Traffic Trends
Have Any Geo-Related Specifics?
As you might assume, and rightfully so, timelines for relaxing strict pandemic-related
the penetration of mobile varies from region measures, we decided to see whether this had
to region. And as many locations had different a role to play in our mobile trends analysis.
07The State of Mobile
Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share by Country
April 2021 - March 2022
Country Mobile rate Desktop rate
Country Country Mobile rate
Mobile rate Desktop rate
Desktop rate
Brazil 93.37% 6.63%
Brazil Brazil 93.37% 93.37% 6.63% 6.63%
Japan 87.06% 12.94%
Japan Japan 87.06% 87.06% 12.94% 12.94%
India 86.51% 13.49%
India India 86.51% 86.51% 13.49% 13.49%
Spain 85.98% 14.02%
Spain Spain 85.98% 85.98% 14.02% 14.02%
Mexico 85.37% 14.63%
Mexico Mexico 85.37% 85.37% 14.63% 14.63%
Canada 82.51% 17.49%
Canada Canada 82.51% 82.51% 17.49% 17.49%
Great Britain 81.80% 18.20%
Great Britain
Great Britain 81.80% 81.80% 18.20% 18.20%
Australia 81.71% 18.29%
Australia Australia 81.71% 81.71% 18.29% 18.29%
France 81.10% 18.90%
France France 81.10% 81.10% 18.90% 18.90%
Germany 78.95% 21.05%
Germany Germany 78.95% 78.95% 21.05% 21.05%
Italy 77.63% 22.37%
Italy Italy 77.63% 77.63% 22.37% 22.37%
United States 69.44% 30.56%
United States
United States 69.44% 69.44% 30.56% 30.56%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:.Trends
Semrush .Trends
Surprisingly, the US had the lowest rate of mobile Once again, we can see that pandemic measures
surfers, with mobile traffic barely reaching 70%. had nothing to do with traffic trends. Australia,
In contrast, mobile traffic in Brazil accounted for instance, had some of the strictest and longest-
for 93% of the overall traffic share. standing lockdown measures, yet its mobile traffic
remained at a high 82%.
08The State of Mobile
Where Does Mobile Traffic
Come From?
Now that we have a general understanding of the mobile traffic landscape,
let’s reveal the sources that bring in mobile visitors broken down
by the countrieswe looked at before.
We used our Open .Trends solution to dig out these traffic sources.
Country-by-Country Mobile Traffic Breakdown by Channel
April 2021 - March 2022
0% 0% 20%
0% 20% 40%
20% 40% 60%
40% 60% 80%
60% 80% 100%
80% 100% 100%
Brazil Brazil Brazil
Japan Japan Japan
India India India
Spain Spain Spain
Mexico Mexico Mexico
Canada Canada Canada
Great Britain
Great Britain Great Britain
Australia AustraliaAustralia
France France France
Germany GermanyGermany
Italy Italy Italy
United States
United States United States
Direct DirectPaid
Direct PaidReferral
Paid ReferralSearch
Referral SearchSocial
Search Social Social
Source: .Trends
Source: Semrush Semrush .Trends .Trends
Source: Semrush
09The State of Mobile
The stats show that mobile traffic typically originates from direct searches.
And, generally, across the globe, the traffic sources breakdown looks identical:
1 Mobile users usually visit sites using bookmarks or enter the site
directly into the search tab.
2 Search is the next biggest channel for mobile surfers.
The only exceptions occur in the US, India, and Mexico,
where search is the third-biggest mobile traffic channel.
3 Referral links—apart from the three countries we listed above —
are the third most popular source of mobile traffic.
4 Social media brings in much fewer mobile users, while paid
channels never exceed the 0.3% mark.
If the lower traffic impact from paid channels This only means that the “invest in brand
has to do with budgets (we’ll explore this a bit awareness if you want mobile users” mantra
later), social media’s role in driving traffic may remains intact. But direct traffic doesn’t only
stem from the fact that most social networks try imply brand awareness; customer loyalty
to retain users on their platforms, and they actively and satisfaction are all a part of the deal that
discourage brands from taking users elsewhere. makes users bookmark a site or visit it directly.
10The State of Mobile
Evaluating Industry-Specific
Mobile Traffic Patterns
While general mobile traffic trends can point to the overall direction of search,
things may look different on an industry level.
That’s why we’ve analyzed internal mobile traffic patterns across a number
of separate industries. To avoid overloading you with too much information, we’ve
only included market segments where we spotted some varying or curious trends.
And these are Education, Finance, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, and Retail.
Mobile Traffic Trends by Industry
April 2021 - April 2022
50 B
50 B 50 B
40 B
40 B 40 B
Mobile traffic
30 B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
30 B 30 B
20 B
20 B 20 B
10 B
10 B 10 B
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Retail Education Finance Healthcare Food and beverages
Retail Retail
Education Education
Finance Finance
Healthcare Healthcare
Food and beverages
Food and beverages
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
11The State of Mobile
Year-over-year mobile traffic stats showed a decline in mobile traffic for the majority
of the analyzed industries, yet we see higher volatility among them. Interestingly,
the Food & Beverage and Retail segments even showed a counter-trend.
But let’s look at each industry on a more granular level.
Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
and Trends Across Industries
Education Industry Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
April 2021 - April 2022
25 B
25 B 25 B
20 B
20 B 20 B
Mobile traffic
15 B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
15 B 15 B
10 B
10 B 10 B
5B
5B 5B
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Mobile traffic - 56.42% Desktop traffic - 43.58%
Mobile traffic
Mobile
- 56.42%
traffic - 56.42%
Desktop traffic
Desktop
- 43.58%
traffic - 43.58%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
12The State of Mobile
The Education segment saw a push to accelerate But it seems like a lot of them were using mobile
its digitization from the start of the pandemic, devices.
when the entire industry was forced online.
The traffic trend was almost perfectly aligned
It’s curious to see that mobile traffic exceeds with the academic year, with peaks during
desktop, as this segment includes sites like the exam season in late spring and lows during
Blackboard or Webex, which students typically the holidays, be it in summer or winter.
use to log in to classes and complete coursework.
Finance Industry Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
April 2021 - April 2022
25 B
25 B 25 B
20 B
20 B 20 B
Mobile traffic
15 B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
15 B 15 B
10 B
10 B 10 B
5B
5B 5B
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Mobile traffic - 66.66% Desktop traffic - 33.34%
Mobile traffic
Mobile
- 66.66%
traffic - 66.66%
Desktop traffic
Desktop
- 33.34%
traffic - 33.34%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
13The State of Mobile
The banking sector is well-known for its digital- fell faster than desktop, particularly in summer
first stance, so, as expected, mobile traffic was and autumn, which could also be a reflection
double that of desktop. But as the overall YoY of seasonality in the market.
in-market traffic stats declined, mobile traffic
Healthcare Industry Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
April 2021 - April 2022
1.00E+10
1.00E+10 1.00E+10
7.5E+9
7.5E+9 7.5E+9
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
5.00E+9
5.00E+9 5.00E+9
2.50+9
2.50+9 2.50+9
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Mobile traffic - 74.66% Desktop traffic - 25.34%
Mobile traffic
Mobile
- 74.66%
traffic - 74.66%
Desktop traffic
Desktop
- 25.34%
traffic - 25.34%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
The Healthcare industry witnessed unprecedented within the industry. We only see a slight peak
traffic highs at the onset of the pandemic. in January 2022, which likely corresponded
But as things cooled down, so did the traffic. to the usual spike in the need for medical
assistance after the spread of viruses during
Mobile traffic, however, saw a larger decline than the winter holidays.
desktop, which speaks to its absolute dominance
14The State of Mobile
Food & Beverage Industry Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
April 2021 - April 2022
8B
8B 8B
6B
6B 6B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
4B
4B 4B
2B
2B 2B
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Mobile traffic - 80.21% Desktop traffic - 19.79%
Mobile traffic
Mobile
- 80.21%
traffic - 80.21%
Desktop traffic
Desktop
- 19.79%
traffic - 19.79%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
As we already mentioned, the Food & Beverage This industry saw higher mobile penetration
sector is one of the two sectors that saw a YoY as consumers typically go for “near me” searches
rise in mobile traffic. for restaurants/cafes or order online. These
actions are usually run from a mobile device,
and our stats only prove this further.
15The State of Mobile
Retail Industry Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Share
April 2021 - April 2022
25 B
25 B 25 B
20 B
20 B 20 B
Mobile traffic
15 B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
15 B 15 B
10 B
10 B 10 B
5B
5B 5B
0
0 0
Apr’21 May’21 Jun’21 Jul’21 Aug’21 Sep’21 Sep’21 Nov’21 Dec’21 Jan’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Apr’21 May’21 Apr’21
Jun’21 May’21
Jul’21 Jun’21
Aug’21 Jul’21
Sep’21 Aug’21
Sep’21 Sep’21
Nov’21 Sep’21
Dec’21 Nov’21
Jan’21 Dec’21
Feb’21 Jan’21
Mar’21 Feb’21 Mar’21
Mobile traffic - 74.96% Desktop traffic - 25.04%
Mobile traffic
Mobile
- 74.96%
traffic - 74.96%
Desktop traffic
Desktop
- 25.04%
traffic - 25.04%
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:
.Trends
Semrush .Trends
Retail’s reliance on mobile users is well known, The industry saw an upward mobile traffic pattern
but as we can see, it has gradually declined. during the hottest shopping periods (Black Friday,
With peaking mobile numbers back in April 2021, Cyber Monday, and winter holiday sale seasons),
this year’s stats show a 20% YoY drop. but then mobile traffic fell once again.
16The State of Mobile
How Do These Industries
Generate Mobile Traffic?
Turning back to Open .Trends, we once again looked at the channel-by-channel mobile traffic
breakdown to examine the most popular traffic sources for each industry we analyzed.
Key Mobile Traffic Channels for Selected Industries
April 2021 - April 2022
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
0% 0%20% 20% 40% 40% 60% 60% 80% 80%
100% 100%
Education
EducationEducation
Finance
Finance Finance
Food and beverage
Food and Food
beverage
and beverage
Healthcare
Healthcare
Healthcare
Retail
Retail Retail
DirectDirect Paid PaidPaid
Direct Referral
Referral Referral Search
Search SocialSocial
Search Social
Source: Semrush .Trends
Source: Semrush
Source:.Trends
Semrush .Trends
Direct traffic dominated the mobile landscape for all industries, bringing at least 45%
of all visits. But the extent of its significance varied from segment to segment. In Finance,
Education, and Retail, direct traffic was responsible for at least 57% of all mobile traffic.
In Food & Beverage and Healthcare, the numbers were much lower.
The Food & Beverage and Healthcare industries seem to rely heavily on search traffic—
the numbers were comparable to those of direct. This means that brand awareness
and customer loyalty didn’t play an absolutely dominant role in their mobile traffic
generation strategy. Search engine optimization was equally important.
17The State of Mobile
Key Insights for Bringing Mobile
Traffic from Paid Channels
While paid channels still account for the smallest share of mobile traffic, we discovered
that these five industries do get higher mobile traffic rates coming from paid sources.
So, we decided to unwrap whether it’s higher spending or more efficient strategies
that are ‘to blame’ for this trend.
For such a granular analysis of these industries’ paid traffic sources, we turned
to an app that’s part of our Semrush App Center—AdClarity-Advertising Intelligence.
Display and Video Advertising
Strategies Across Industries
We pulled display and video advertising data for the past 12 months
for the five industries we analyzed above, keeping a close eye
on the spending and performance trends.
Below, you’ll see a 2021-2022 patterns analysis for display and video advertising
strategies within the Education, Finance, Food & Beverage, Healthcare,
and Retail sectors.
Benchmarking the Display Advertising
Strategies of Various Market Sectors
As for general trends, the Education and Retail industries were the only two
out of the five we analyzed that spent more on display advertising than on video ads.
Educational sites’ expenses on display ads were 5X larger, while Retail sites had double
the budgets for these ad types.
The latter, however, was the largest spender, with an average monthly spend
of $54,000,000. The Finance industry comes as the second-biggest spender
with almost $12,000,000 in monthly budgets. Education had the most
modest expenses.
18The State of Mobile
Display Ad Spending & Top Publishers by Industry
April 2021 - March 2022
Average monthly Average monthly
Average monthly Average monthly Average monthly
Average monthly Top publishers Top publishers
Top publishers
spent on display
spent onads
spent onads
display impressions
display ads impressionsby industry
impressions by industry
by industry
Education Education
Education
$266,130 $266,130 $266,130 69,560,16669,560,166 1 merriam-webster.com
69,560,166 1 merriam-webster.com
1 merriam-webster.com
2 kitco.com 2 kitco.com
2 kitco.com
3 realtor.com 3 realtor.com
3 realtor.com
FinanceFinanceFinance
$1,288,946 $1,288,946
$1,288,946 337,521,797 337,521,797
337,521,797 1 espn.com 1 espn.com
1 espn.com
2 cars.usnews.com
2 cars.usnews.com
2 cars.usnews.com
3 eater.com 3 eater.com
3 eater.com
Food & Beverage
Food & Food & Beverage
Beverage
$970,469 $970,469$970,469254,596,242 254,596,242
254,596,242 1 msn.com 1 msn.com
1 msn.com
2 thespruce.com 2 thespruce.com
2 thespruce.com
3 byrdie.com 3 byrdie.com
3 byrdie.com
Healthcare Healthcare
Healthcare
$856,842 $856,842$856,842235,258,613 235,258,613
235,258,613 1 foxnews.com 1 foxnews.com
1 foxnews.com
2 amazon2 shopping
amazon amazon shopping
2 shopping
3 ctpost.com 3 ctpost.com
3 ctpost.com
Retail Retail Retail
$54,110,501 $54,110,501
$54,110,501 13,936,333,319 13,936,333,319
13,936,333,319 1 target.com 1 target.com
1 target.com
2 ebay.com 2 ebay.com
2 ebay.com
3 fandom.com 3 fandom.com
3 fandom.com
Source: Semrush
Source:App
Source:
CenterApp
Semrush Semrush
(AdClarity)
App
Center Center (AdClarity)
(AdClarity)
19The State of Mobile
Education
Education sector sites mainly advertised across dictionary websites and media
outlets. Curiously, the third-biggest display ad publisher was realtor.com,
accumulating 13% of the overall display ad spend.
As for the most active advertisers, Zoom, Grammarly, and Instructure ran more
campaigns than any other educational website.
Q2 2021 was the highest spending period for the past 12 months, but in Q4 2022
the monthly ad budgets went down by 10X.
Finance
The Finance sector had a lot of sports-focused sites among the top publishers.
ESPN, the #1 publisher, attracted 15% of the entire display ad spend.
While Capital One, Coinbase, PayPal, and Credit Karma are the top advertisers,
we also spotted a few sites not focused on finance, like buzzfeed.com
and bonappetit.com.
Peak advertising activity occurred in Q4 2021, while the lowest was in Q2 2021.
This trend likely stemmed from the usual seasonality, with people’s readiness
to spend more money at the onset of the holiday season.
Food & Beverage
The Food & Beverage industry had a fairly random selection of publishers, ranging
from recipe sites to retail.
These sites appear to have an even spending pattern throughout the year,
with the only notable low being in Q4 2021. The holiday season is once again
a potential reason behind the decline in spending, as people tend to stay at home
and enjoy more family dinners during the winter holidays.
20The State of Mobile
Retail
Retail sites seem to prefer to advertise on other retail sites. Target, one of the largest
e-tailers in the world, captured 62% of all the advertising dollars.
And it's once again Target that absolutely dominated the advertiser landscape.
Retail sites appear to have almost evenly distributed expenses throughout the year
with no notable highs during Q4 2021. It’s quite a curious observation as Q4 is typically
considered to be the hottest shopping season, but advertising-wise, it was
the second-lowest spending quarter for retailers during the analyzed period.
Healthcare
The biggest display ad publishers for healthcare sites are media outlets.
If we look at specific campaigns aired during the past 12 months, we see mainly vaccination
and COVID-related ads. This explains why the highest spend was in Q2 2021, and the lowest
was in Q3 and Q4 2021—the need to promote vaccination is gradually going down as more
people get their shots and the pandemic recedes.
Benchmarking the Video Advertising
Strategies of Various Market Sectors
Let’s start with some general patterns.
Finance sites spent 10X more on video ads than on display, becoming the second-biggest
video ad spender. Retail, however, dominated the landscape, allocating more
than $23,700,000 as an average monthly ad budget.
Despite putting 6X more into video budgets, the Food & Beverage industry spent less
than $1,000,000 a month on video ads. The same was true for sites within the Education
and Healthcare sectors.
And who benefited from such a major reliance on video advertising? YouTube. The video
platform received the majority of advertising dollars, often making up more than 50%
of the publishers’ share of voice. The only exception was Healthcare—this industry’s
most preferred publisher was Yahoo, with YouTube coming in as the fourth most
popular publisher.
21The State of Mobile
Video Advertising Details Breakdown by Industry
April 2021 - March 2022
Average Average The most
Average monthly spent Average monthly The
Average Average
most popular video
The
admost Top publishers
monthly spent monthly
monthly spent monthly
popular video ad Top publishers
popular video industry Top publishers
by ad
on video ads impressions placements
on video ads on video ads
impressions impressions
placements by industry
placements by industry
Education
Education Education
$46,514 5,073,953 Pre roll - 69,03% 1 youtube.com
$46,514 5,073,953
$46,514 Pre
5,073,953
roll - 69,03% Pre
1 roll
youtube.com
- 69,03% 1 youtube.com
Mid roll - 18,77% 2 sportsline.com
Mid roll - 18,77% Mid
2 roll
sportsline.com
- 18,77% 2 sportsline.com
Post roll - 12,20% 3 247sports.com
Post roll - 12,20% Post
3 roll
247sports.com
- 12,20% 3 247sports.com
Finance
Finance Finance
$11,796,993 1,006,388,336 Pre roll - 43,15% 1 youtube.com
$11,796,993 1,006,388,336
$11,796,993 Pre
1,006,388,336
roll - 43,15% Pre
1 roll
youtube.com
- 43,15% 1 youtube.com
Mid roll - 20,35% 2 roku.com
Mid roll - 20,35% Mid
2 roll
roku.com
- 20,35% 2 roku.com
Post roll - 36,50% 3 yahoo.com
Post roll - 36,50% Post
3 roll
yahoo.com
- 36,50% 3 yahoo.com
Food & Beverage
Food & BeverageFood & Beverage
$6,464,353 605,631,727 Pre roll - 75,18% 1 youtube.com
$6,464,353 605,631,727
$6,464,353 Pre
605,631,727
roll - 75,18% Pre
1 roll
youtube.com
- 75,18% 1 youtube.com
Mid roll - 15,47% 2 mentalfloss.com
Mid roll - 15,47% Mid
2 roll
mentalfloss.com
- 15,47% 2 mentalfloss.com
Post roll - 9,35% 3 yahoo.com
Post roll - 9,35% Post
3 roll
yahoo.com
- 9,35% 3 yahoo.com
Healthcare
Healthcare Healthcare
$958,648 88,366,849 Pre roll - 89,82% 1 yahoo.com
$958,648 88,366,849
$958,648 Pre
88,366,849
roll - 89,82% Pre
1 roll
yahoo.com
- 89,82% 1 yahoo.com
Mid roll - 6,90% 2 nydailynews.com
Mid roll - 6,90% Mid
2 roll
nydailynews.com
- 6,90% 2 nydailynews.com
Post roll - 3,28% 3 thedailymeal.com
Post roll - 3,28% Post
3 roll
thedailymeal.com
- 3,28% 3 thedailymeal.com
Retail
Retail Retail
$23,690,047 2,226,462,027 Pre roll - 52,67% 1 youtube.com
$23,690,047 2,226,462,027
$23,690,047 Pre
2,226,462,027
roll - 52,67% Pre
1 roll
youtube.com
- 52,67% 1 youtube.com
Mid roll - 18,91% 2 espn.com
Mid roll - 18,91% Mid
2 roll
espn.com
- 18,91% 2 espn.com
Post roll - 28,42% 3 msn.com
Post roll - 28,42% Post
3 roll
msn.com
- 28,42% 3 msn.com
Source: Semrush App Center (AdClarity)
Source: Semrush App Center
Source:
(AdClarity)
Semrush App Center (AdClarity)
22The State of Mobile
Education Finance
The Education sector had the biggest expenses Finance is the only industry that showed tangible
in Q3 2021, with the second-biggest in Q1 2022. efficiency with its video ad efforts. The biggest
Q3’s ad budget increase was likely related video ad spend was in Q2 2021, but performance-
to the beginning of the academic season. wise, they had the largest impressions count
in Q4 2021, which implies that they managed
Q1’s expenses might look less obvious, but a lot to grow visibility while spending fewer ad dollars.
of students start preparing for the exam season
in April, while some courses start advertising their
fall admissions before the application deadlines,
which are typically in May.
Pre-rolls were the industry’s favorite video ad
format, with 70% of ads played before a video.
QoQ Video Ad Spending vs. Impressions
Finance industry
4B $50 M
2.732.927.678 2.502.209.201 3.404.579.429 3.436.943.728
$41.5 M
4B 4B $50 M $50 M
3B 2.732.927.678 2.732.927.678
2.502.209.201 2.502.209.201
3.404.579.429 3.404.579.429
3.436.943.728 3.436.943.728
$36.8 M
$40 M
$36.4 M
Video impressions
$41.5 M $41.5 M
3B 3B $36.8M
M
$40 M
$36.8 M
$40 M
2B $36.4 M $36.4
$30 M
Video spend
Video impressions
Video impressions
$26.7 M
2B 2B $30 M $30 M
Video spend
Video spend
$26.7 M $26.7 M
1B $20 M
1B 1B $20 M $20 M
$10 M
$10 M $10 M
0 0
Q2 2021 Q3 2021 Q4 2021 Q1 2022
0 0 0 0
Q2 2021 Q2
Q32021
2021 Q3
Q42021
2021 Q4
Q12021
2022 Q1 2022
Source: Semrush App Center (AdClarity)
Source: Semrush Source:
App Center
Semrush
(AdClarity)
App Center (AdClarity)
23The State of Mobile
Food & Beverage
Contrary to what we saw with display ads, Food & Beverage sites only increased
their spending in Q4 2021. With a strong focus on pre-rolls (75%), we couldn’t pinpoint
any major advertisers across the industry as it seems to have an equally distributed
range of different advertisers.
Healthcare
The Healthcare sector’s strategy for video ads appears to be identical to that of display
ads. They were mostly running vaccination and COVID-related campaigns, with the biggest
expenses in Q3 2021. In Q1 2020, the budgets went down notably.
Retail
Once again, Target dominated the video ad landscape within the industry.
Retail sites appear to have doubled their expenses in Q4 2021—probably to match
the upcoming shopping craze during the hottest discount season. But they also got more
than double the results (in terms of impressions), which means that the outcome outweighed
the increased expenses. Otherwise, video ad expenses were even throughout the year.
Retail advertisers have a strong preference for pre-rolls (53%), but they also use
post-rolls (29%) and mid-rolls (19%).
24Part II Assessing the Mobile App Landscape
The State of Mobile
Assessing the Mobile App
Landscape
App stores imply mobile usage—they equal Using intel from another Semrush App Center
mobile experience, so an assessment partner, Mobile App Insights, we managed
of the state of mobile wouldn’t be complete to unwrap the most popular app categories
without a glimpse at the patterns within for both iOS and Android devices and pinpoint
the app landscape. some usage patterns within them.
Evaluating Industry-Specific
Mobile Traffic Patterns
For the past three years—from April 2019
to April 2022—the most popular app categories
were Games, Finance, Health & Fitness,
Social Networking, Shopping, and Food & Drink.
26The State of Mobile
YoY Download Trends by App Category (iOS)
8B 8B 8B
6B 6B 6B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
4B 4B 4B
2B 2B 2B
0 0 0
2019-20202019-2020
2019-2020 2020-20212020-2021
2020-2021 2021-20222021-2022
2021-2022
GamesGames Shopping
ShoppingShopping
Games Social Social Networking
Networking Finance Finance
Social Networking
Finance Food &Food
Drink& Drink
Food HealthHealth
& Drink &Health
Fitness& Fitness
& Fitness
Source:
Source: Semrush
Semrush
Source: App Center
App Semrush
Center App (Mobile
(MobileCenter App Insights)
App Insights)
(Mobile App Insights)
On the Apple Store, the downloads trend appears Shopping apps lost the largest margins, with
to be in the negative territory. If we compare YoY downloads dropping by 20%. Game apps
April 2020-March 2021 and April 2021-March saw comparable losses. Health & Fitness apps
2022 stats, we’ll see that all the most popular witnessed the lowest decreases, seeing only
app categories saw a decline in installs. 5.4% fewer installs.
27The State of Mobile
YoY Download Trends by App Category (Android)
8B 8B 8B
6B 6B 6B
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
4B 4B 4B
2B 2B 2B
0 0 0
2019-20202019-2020
2019-2020 2020-20212020-2021
2020-2021 2021-20222021-2022
2021-2022
GamesGames Shopping
ShoppingShopping
Games Social Social Networking
Networking Finance Finance
Social Networking
Finance Food &Food
Drink& Drink
Food HealthHealth
& Drink &Health
Fitness& Fitness
& Fitness
Source:
Source: Semrush
Semrush
Source: App Center
App Semrush
Center App (Mobile
(MobileCenter App Insights)
App Insights)
(Mobile App Insights)
With Android, things don’t look as grim. Games of 13%. Finance apps showed the most promising
was the only app category in the negative signs, growing their download count by 23% YoY.
territory (they only lost 3% of their downloads We’ll further unwrap the key dynamics within
YoY). The rest of the categories showed positive these categories.
signals, growing their install counts by an average
28The State of Mobile
Gaming Apps
Overall, the install trend decreased drastically The table below reflects the most downloaded
throughout 2021. For instance, the absolute gaming apps across both Apple Store and Google
installs leader for iOS users, Among Us, used Play for the past 12 months.
to be the most downloaded game of 2020.
In 2022, it can’t be found anywhere within
the top 5.
Most Downloaded Apps in the Games Category
April 2021 - March 2022
iOS
iOS iOS Android
Android
Android
iOS Android
Count
Count
Masters:
Masters:
Crowd
CrowdRunner
Runner
CovPass 3D3D Count
Count
Masters
Masters- Stickman
- Stickman
CovPass Clash
Clash
CovPass CovPass
Roblox
Roblox
TousAntiCovid Hair
Hair
Home Challenge
Challenge
Workout - No Equipment
TousAntiCovid Home Workout - No Equipment
Wordle!
Wordle!
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 Bridge
Bridge
SixRace
Race
Pack in 30 Days
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 Six Pack in 30 Days
Subway
Subway Surfers
Surfers
Calm Roblox
Lose Roblox
Weight App for Women
Calm Lose Weight App for Women
Hair
FloHair
Challenge
Challenge
Period & Ovulation Tracker Paper
Paper
Fold
Fold
Corona-Warn-App
Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker Corona-Warn-App
Source:
Source:
Semrush
Semrush
Source: App
App
Center
SemrushCenter
App(Mobile
(Mobile
Center AppApp
Insights)
(Mobile Insights)
App Insights)
Source: Semrush App Center (Mobile App Insights)
Both iOS and Android users seem to have almost identical preferences
when it comes to games.
The booming Wordle app remained within the top 3 spots in iOS, but doesn’t show
up on Android — and that’s because there is no Android-tailored app. Users have
to use the desktop version of the game if they don’t have an Apple device.
29The State of Mobile
Finance-Related Apps
Overall, we spotted a 50% growth in the number growth rate was quite consistent over the years.
of installs in 2022. This could be explained
by the pandemic effect, but there was no such PayPal and CashApp continued switching places
growth in 2021 on iOS. For Android, however, this as the leaders during the past two years.
Most Downloaded Apps in the Finance Category
April 2021 - March 2022
iOS
iOS iOS Android
Android
Android
iOS Android
Cash
Cash
AppApp
CovPass PayPal
PayPal
- Send,
- Send,
Shop,
Shop,
Manage
CovPassManage
CovPass CovPass
PayPal
PayPal
- Send,
- Send,
Shop,
Shop,
Manage
Manage
TousAntiCovid HomeCash
CashAppApp - No Equipment
Workout
TousAntiCovid Home Workout - No Equipment
个人所得税
个人所得税
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 Google
Google
Pay:
Pay:
Save,
Save,
Six Pay,
PackPay,
Manage
in Manage
30 Days
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 Six Pack in 30 Days
Venmo
VenmoCalm Crypto.com
Crypto.com
Lose-Weight
Buy
- Buy
BTC,
BTC,
App ETHETH
for Women
Calm Lose Weight App for Women
Coinbase:
Coinbase:
FloBuyBuy
Bitcoin
PeriodBitcoin
& Ether
& Ether
& Ovulation Tracker Google
GooglePayPay
Corona-Warn-App
Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker Corona-Warn-App
Source:
Source:
Semrush
Semrush
Source: App
App
Center
SemrushCenter
App(Mobile
(Mobile
Center AppApp
Insights)
(Mobile Insights)
App Insights)
Source: Semrush App Center (Mobile App Insights)
The newest arrival among the top 5 this past year, however, was crypto—Coinbase
on iOS and Crypto.com on Android.
30The State of Mobile
Health & Fitness Apps
Interestingly, the overall installs trend fell growing again in 2021 on iOS. On Android,
in 2020 compared to 2019, despite the growth trend was stable.
the self-isolation measures and stay-at-home
orders. But the number of installs started
Most Downloaded Apps in the Health & Fitness Category
April 2021 - March 2022
iOS
iOS iOS Android
Android
Android
iOS Android
CovPass
CovPass
CovPass CovPass
CovPass CovPass
CovPass CovPass
TousAntiCovid
TousAntiCovid
TousAntiCovid Home
HomeWorkout
Workout
Home - No
- No
WorkoutEquipment
Equipment
- No Equipment
TousAntiCovid Home Workout - No Equipment
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 SixSix
Pack
Pack
in 30
Six in 30
PackDays
Days
in 30 Days
Keep - 跑步健身�步瑜伽 Six Pack in 30 Days
Calm
Calm Calm Lose
Lose
Weight
Weight
Lose App App
forfor
Weight Women
App Women
for Women
Calm Lose Weight App for Women
FloFlo
Period
Period
Flo&Period
Ovulation
& Ovulation
Tracker
Tracker
& Ovulation Tracker Corona-Warn-App
Corona-Warn-App
Corona-Warn-App
Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker Corona-Warn-App
Source:
Source:
Semrush
Semrush
Source: App
App
Center
SemrushCenter
App(Mobile
(Mobile
Center AppApp
Insights)
(Mobile Insights)
App Insights)
Source: Semrush App Center (Mobile App Insights)
On iOS, Calm, Keep - 跑步健身计步瑜伽, and Flo top positions: CovPass and TousAntiCovid.
Period & Ovulation Tracker have all held their CovPass is leading on both iOS and Android.
top 5 positions for three consecutive years. It’s curious to note that, on Android, people
mostly downloaded sports, workout, and weight
In 2020, Corona-Warn-App appeared within loss apps. iOS users seem to prefer health-
the top 5 most frequently installed apps focused apps like Calm and Flo Period & Ovulation
in the Health & Fitness category. In 2021, two Tracker.
more apps dedicated to Coronavirus took the two
31The State of Mobile
Social Apps
Android and iOS users appear to have varying typically installed Facebook-related apps
preferences when it comes to social networks. (Facebook itself, WhatsApp, and Messenger top
The most installed social app for Apple Store the lists), but we also saw the rise of Telegram,
users was WhatsApp, while Google Play shoppers an app that only broke into the top 5 in 2020.
mostly turned to TikTok.
On Android, Twitter suddenly gained a new
Over the years, the top 5 for the two stores, momentum in 2021-2022.
however, remained pretty stable. iOS users
Shopping Apps
Among shopping apps, Amazon and In the meantime, the Amazon Shopping app’s
AliExpress have held their positions in the top 5. install share went down by 40%.
Shein—a China-based fashion retailer that wasn’t
in the top only two years ago—made its way On iOS, we see a similar trend (except Amazon
to the leading spot on Apple Store, and remained Shopping did see some YoY growth), where
the #1 installed app on Android. Its Android Shein’s market share extended gradually, only
installs almost doubled in 2021 alone. on a smaller scale.
32The State of Mobile
How Many App Installs Come From
Apple Search Ads Campaigns?
With the Apple Store having the greatest traction So we took the same set of categories analyzed
across the app landscape, along with more above, unwrapped how much they spend
advanced tools for promotion, we decided on Apple Search Ads, and looked at how their
to see whether paid campaigns play a large role spending correlates with installs.
in the apps’ promotional efforts.
YoY Download Trends by App Category (Android)
125 M
125 M 125 M
100 M
100 M 100 M
Mobile traffic
75 M
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
75 M 75 M
50 M
50 M 50 M
25 M
25 M 25 M
0
0 0
2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
2019-2020 2019-2020 2020-2021 2020-2021 2021-2022 2021-2022
Games Shopping Social Networking Finance Food & Drink Health & Fitness
Games Shopping
Games Shopping
Social Networking
Social Networking
Finance Finance
Food & Drink Food Health
& Drink& Fitness
Health & Fitness
Source: Semrush App Center (Mobile App Insights)
Source: Semrush
Source:
App Semrush
Center (Mobile
App Center
App Insights)
(Mobile App Insights)
Gaming apps tend to be the biggest ad spenders in App Store. And their expenses only
kept growing over the past three years.
33The State of Mobile
Within the past year, however, it wasn’t the Gaming category that saw the biggest
ad budget increase:
Food & Drink apps raised their advertising expenses by 65%
Shopping apps came close, increasing their budget by 62%
The Health & Fitness, Social Networking, and Finance categories didn’t make
any significant alterations
Gaming apps expanded their ad costs by 30%
Would that mean, then, that increased advertising expense trends for these categories
contributed to higher numbers of installs over the past year?
The numbers below answer the question.
YoY Apple Search Ads Install Trend by App Category
50 M
50 M 50 M
40 M
40 M 40 M
Mobile traffic
30 M
Mobile traffic
Mobile traffic
30 M 30 M
20 M
20 M 20 M
10 M
10 M 10 M
0
0 0
2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
2019-2020 2019-2020 2020-2021 2020-2021 2021-2022 2021-2022
Games Shopping Social Networking Finance Food & Drink Health & Fitness
Games Shopping
Games Shopping
Social Networking
Social Networking
Finance Finance
Food & Drink Food Health
& Drink& Fitness
Health & Fitness
Source: Semrush App Center (Mobile App Insights)
Source: Semrush
Source:
App Semrush
Center (Mobile
App Center
App Insights)
(Mobile App Insights)
As you’d expect, the Games category—the biggest ad spender across the board—
had the largest share of downloads coming from paid campaigns.
34The State of Mobile
Yet if we look at the YoY trends, we’ll see a different picture compared to the one
we saw above:
Food & Drink apps raised their advertising expenses by 65%
Shopping apps came close, rising their budget by 62%
The Health & Fitness, Social Networking, and Finance categories didn’t make
any significant alterations
Gaming apps expanded their ad costs by 30%
Apple Search Ads CPA by Category (YoY trend)
Category
Category Category CPA CPA CPA
2019-2020
2019-2020 2019-2020 2020-2021
2020-2021 2020-2021 2021-2022
2021-2022 2021-2022
FinanceFinance
Finance $2.75 $2.75 $2.75 $3.08 $3.08 $3.08
$8.86 $8.86 $8.86
Food &Food
Drink&Food
Drink& Drink $1.11 $1.11 $1.11 $1.12 $1.12 $1.12$2.02 $2.02 $2.02
GamesGamesGames $1.75 $1.75 $1.75 $1.87 $1.87 $1.87$2.62 $2.62 $2.62
Health Health & Fitness
& Fitness
Health & Fitness $1.93 $1.93 $1.93 $1.81 $1.81 $1.81$2.40 $2.40 $2.40
Shopping
Shopping Shopping $2.31 $2.31 $2.31 $1.62 $1.62 $1.62$3.74 $3.74 $3.74
Social Social
Networking
Social Networking Networking $1.06 $1.06 $1.06 $1.84 $1.84 $1.84$1.27 $1.27 $1.27
Source:Source:
SemrushSemrush
Source: App Center
App Center
Semrush(Mobile(Mobile
App Center App Insights)
App Insights)
(Mobile App Insights)
You might assume that the above trends might be tied to the changes in costs
per acquisition (CPA). That’s exactly what we looked at—and here’s what we found:
CPA for gaming apps almost tripled over the past year—the biggest growth trend
across the board—so this would explain the lower correlation between the rising
ad expenses and somewhat lower install growth trends.
Yet if we look at CPA, install, and ad expense trends altogether, we still see that Shopping
and Food & Drink apps were doing something right with their advertising. Because YoY CPA
costs also kept growing, but they still managed to get higher performance from their ad efforts.
35Key Takeaways
The State of Mobile
“Check your premises” is not just a phrase from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, —
when you go digital, it’s your everyday job. Despite analysts’ predictions over
the years, we can see that steady and predictable patterns—like continued
growth in mobile traffic—shouldn’t be taken as a given.
This report touched upon some of the key trends within both mobile
web and the app landscape to help those who want to excel at digitizing
their business. So here are some of the most crucial points to take away
for shaping your future digital strategy:
Mobile traffic saw a big hit, but it’s still dominating
the digital space
The pandemic did alter users’ web behavior, leading to a continual decrease
in mobile traffic share. But mobile penetration is still the dominant force,
so your mobile-first efforts should still lead to impeccable mobile experiences.
User behavior can no longer be tied to the pandemic
Whatever changes we witnessed throughout 2020 and 2021, a lot of them
were always connected to the ongoing pandemic. The stats from this report
show that things didn’t immediately get back to where they were, despite
the cooling off of COVID-induced measures. So you should take the new
realities as they are instead of waiting for external factors to impact your
decisions.
Cross-device experience is the way to go
While mobile still dominates the landscape, we can see that industries
like Education have comparable desktop user shares. So you should be
able to deliver a smooth UX and UI experience to all users, regardless
of the devices they use.
36Key Takeaways
The State of Mobile
Invest in brand awareness campaigns
Across industries, even as different as Education and Retail, direct traffic
brings in the largest share of mobile traffic. So if you want to appeal to mobile
users, you have to make sure they have your site bookmarked or know it well
enough to enter it into the search tab directly.
This means that you have to invest in brand awareness campaigns, as well
as perfecting your customer loyalty programs and ensuring ultimate customer
satisfaction.
Have constant access to mobile data
Circling back to our “check your premises” mantra, you need to have
access to mobile traffic insights for your particular industry and your specific
competitors. Good data allows you to spot emerging shifts and always have
accurate and relevant benchmarks that will help you shape your digital
strategy. With Semrush .Trends, you’ll have access to it all, and even more.
37The State of Mobile
Semrush .Trends
Semrush .Trends provides an instant overview of any market. With competitive
digital insights, businesses can identify new market realities and emerging trends
to discover new growth opportunities. With in-depth data for any website, industry,
or market across 190 countries and regions, you can pinpoint your competition,
explore their growth strategies, and find insightful audience data — all to help you
get smarter about your digital strategy. Try Semrush .Trends now
Open .Trends
Open .Trends is an open platform that gives you a high-level market overview
for any industry or geo. You can use it to find the most popular websites
across any market, unwrap in-market traffic trends, and outline the entire
competitive landscape. Browse Open .Trends
Semrush App Center
Semrush App Center is a unique platform that features hand-picked apps that solve
all kinds of marketing needs—from getting mobile app insights and YouTube rank
tracking to instant banner generation and competitive advertising intel.
Explore Semrush App Center
38Thank you!
If you have any thoughts or comments
about this report or want to learn more
about the capabilities of Semrush .Trends,
feel free to reach out to us at
mr-marketing@semrush.com
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