Best Google Play App Categories by 2022-2023 Download Trends
- Last update: 10 Sep 2023 00:11 CET
Let’s begin by taking a look at those categories that are on an up-swing. The data below is for –
At the time of this analysis, News and magazines leads the pack with 56.46% of growth in downloads over the month, followed by Events at 9.52%, Music and audio at 2.19%, Art and design at 2.26%, and Music and audio at 2.19%.
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Let’s examine these categories separately.
– trend for News and magazines
In the graph below you will find how News and magazines fared in the period between and . In News and magazines was trending upwards, registering a change in downloads of 3.04%. By , it had reached 124.5%, trending upwards.
– trend for Events
Here you will find how Events fared in the period between and . In Events was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 4.32%. By , it had reached 15.29%, trending upwards.
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– trend for Music and audio
Below you will find how Shopping fared in the period between and . In Shopping was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 8.99%. By , it had reached 15.68%, trending downwards.
– trend for Art and design
In the following chart you will find how Art and design fared in the period between and . In Art and design was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 3.68%. By , it had reached 13.04%, trending upwards.
– trend for Music and audio
Here you will find how Music and audio fared in the period between and . In Music and audio was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 2.2%. By , it had reached 46.35%, trending upwards.
Now let’s take a look at some app categories that aren’t doing so well. This data is for –
At the time of this analysis, Comics took the biggest hit with a -56.1% decline in downloads over the month; followed by Libraries and demo which dropped by -25.19%, Parenting which dropped by -24.97%, Communication which dropped by -17.46%, and Business which dropped by -12.55%.
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Once again, let’s examine each category separately.
– trend for Comics
In the graph below you will find how Comics fared in the period between and . In Comics was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 11.73%. By , it had reached -83.56%, trending downwards.
– trend for Libraries and demo
Here you will find how Libraries and demo fared in the period between and . In Libraries and demo was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 9.74%. By , it had reached -49.56%, trending downwards.
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– trend for Parenting
Below you will find how Parenting fared in the period between and . In Parenting was trending downwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of -8.99%. By , it had reached -26.73%, trending downwards.
– trend for Communication
In the following chart you will find how Communication fared in the period between and . In Communication was trending downwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of -1.43%. By , it had reached -20.88%, trending downwards.
– trend for Business
Here you will find how Business fared in the period between and . In Business was trending upwards, registering a change in monthly downloads of 6.02%. By , it had reached -28.85%, trending upwards.
Now, it’s important to remember that not all app categories are alike — some are naturally larger than others. For instance, there will be more apps filed under ‘Games’ than under ‘Casino’, since ‘Casino’ is more or less a subset of ‘Games’.
However, it should not be assumed that because one category has more competition than another that it will therefore represent a larger share of global downloads. Indeed, it’s possible that less competitive categories can be overrepresented in global downloads owing to the extreme popularity of one or some of its apps.
In any case, these natural differences in app categories present app publishers with a dilemma:
This is a challenging question; and, of course, the answer varies from business to business. Still, with this in mind, we’ve taken a look at the top 5 ‘large’ (i.e. more competitive) and ‘small’ (i.e. less competitive) categories to offer app publishers a starting point to address it.
We begin with the best 5 ‘large’ categories. The following chart depicts annual downloads by category as a percentage of the sum of annual downloads for the top five categories. So, the percentages here should add up to 100%.
As you can see, Tools ranks highest with 243,432 apps representing 21.84% of global downloads. Communication comes next with 80,172 apps making up 13.52% of global downloads. Then comes Productivity with 9.01% making up 163,577 apps of global downloads. Then Entertainment with 5.98% making up 203,778 apps of global downloads. Then, finally, Video players with 15,304 apps making up 5.71% of global downloads.
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Now the welterweights. Just as before, the following chart depicts annual downloads by category as a percentage of the sum of annual downloads for the top five categories. The percentages here should add up to 100% as well.
Here you’ll find that House and home ranks highest with 26,960 apps representing 0.18% of global downloads. Beauty comes next with 24,243 apps making up 0.15% of global downloads. Then comes Parenting with 6,118 apps making up 0.08% of global downloads. Then Events with 25,235 apps making up 0.08% of global downloads. Then, finally, Libraries and demo with 7,085 apps making up 0.07% of global downloads.
So, those are the best Google Play app categories by 2022-2023 download trends. By now we’ve hopefully done enough to show you that selecting the best categories for your app is not merely a descriptive exercise. It is, in fact, a critical piece to driving downloads.
Still, it is not the only factor. You’ll need to consider:
By understanding how these things work and how successful apps are leveraging them, you’ll be better positioned to build a profitable mobile business.
Don’t let this overwhelm you. Schedule a free demo and we’ll walk you through everything.
