Video Streaming, Metaverse & FinTech Apps Poised for Huge Growth in 2022
Video streaming, metaverse gaming, FinTech, and social apps, poised for rapid growth in 2022.
Metaverse, entertainment, and social apps are expected to generate over $3.1 billion, $12 billion, and $9 billion respectively in 2022 as FinTech gains popularity among Gen Z users, according to App Annie’s predictions.
Mobile analytics provider App Annie has released its end-of-year predictions for 2022. Much like the prediction the company made around the same time last year, video social networking platform TikTok again stands out as one of the key mobile apps to watch out for in 2022.
App Annie expects TikTok to outgrow its current users by as much as 50% in the coming year. TikTok has managed to gain popularity in a relatively short period of time. In Q3 2020, TikTok’s monthly active users (MAU) declined by 4.71% but bounced back to better than Q2 levels in Q4. With over 1 billion MAUs at present, representing a whopping ~1120% growth since September 2018, App Annie’s first prediction is that TikTok will surpass 1.5 billion MAUs in 2022.
App Annie said, “TikTok’s global rise could be carving out time away from video streaming providers and attracting significant advertising dollars due to their wide reach and deep user engagement. TikTok will continue as a disruptive and genre-blending force in 2022 as they expand their investment in shopping.”
Some of the other apps set to join the billion downloads club by the end of 2021 include image sharing service Pinterest and the hit game Temple Run 2, App Annie predicts. These two apps will be the latest additions to the list of coveted apps that have surpassed a billion downloads on iOS and Android combined.
Apps with a billion downloads as of the first week of November include Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Subway Surfers, YouTube, Candy Crush Saga, UC Browser, Spotify, Skype, Twitter, Netflix, SHAREit, Amazon, Google Translate, and Telegram.
See More: 20 Hot Digital Products That Clocked the Highest Growth During the Pandemic
App Annie’s third prediction paints a positive picture for Metaverse apps. “Metaverse apps are on the rise. In 2022, world-building functionalities that allow users to interact in real-time through their virtual avatars will captivate audiences and capture share of wallet. Smartphones give users the ability to participate in a metaverse from their fingertips, cementing mobile’s role as a linchpin form factor for this sector of gaming,” the company said.
The world’s largest social networking company Facebook is also betting big on Metaverse, so much so that the company rebranded as ‘Meta’ last month. During its quarterly earnings call last month, Facebook also announced a $10 billion investment in Facebook Reality Labs, now a separate division in Meta that includes augmented and virtual reality related consumer hardware, software and content, or everything that is needed for its metaverse plans.
While Facebook chalks out its trajectory in the metaverse space, App Annie said metaverse mobile games are set to generate more than $3.1 billion from consumer spending. The company specifies Roblox and Minecraft as metaverse gaming leaders.
“The gaming industry is evolving quickly and player empowerment is at the heart of the next wave of innovation,” App Annie added. “Play-to-earn models — games that allow players to monetize in an open economy — combined with metaverses which emphasize players’ self-expression will be the biggest drivers of mobile gaming innovation in 2022.”
App Annie’s prediction #4 is that in 2022, the surge in the adoption of FinTech apps will be borne by Gen Z. The analytics company expects adoption rates to top at 155% between 2020 and 2022. The recent boom in the value of cryptocurrencies helped, with the majority of crypto trade happening on Robinhood, Coinbase, and Webull Stocks (all Android versions).
The report notes, “2022 will be an unprecedented opportunity to engage Gen Z on mobile — as a mobile-first generation on the verge of financial independence, this is the time to cultivate customer loyalties on their preferred device: mobile.”
As for prediction #5, revenue from entertainment apps will hit $12 billion in 2022 (2x increase from 2020). App Annie said video streaming is one of the fastest growing app categories since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, social apps are set to become a $9 billion market in 2022. Like entertainment apps, users/content creators on the top three social apps, namely TikTok, Twitch and BIGO LIVE also rely on streaming for growth, not to mention earnings.
“Authenticity, creativity and video-first content is central to a social experience in 2022. With social apps poised to command nearly half of all time spent in mobile, this is a sector to watch for partnerships, marketing and customer engagement.”
App Annie termed community and gaming app Discord, live-video app Tagged, and video and live-streaming app Likee as the rising stars in the social apps segment.
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