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I would like to understand the TAM of sports apps. i am specifically meaning football market (Soccer) but will be great to understand also other sports (American football, Ice hockey, etc.) - BUT the most important is Soccer .
Hello! Thanks for your question about the TAM of sports apps, more specifically, soccer apps. The short version is that sports app usage currently has a market reach 14.2%, but I was unable to determine exactly what portion of that reach is attributable to soccer apps. I did find some information regarding soccer apps that I believe you will find useful for your business plan. Below you will find a deep dive into my findings.
methodology
First, I decided to get some general background on the subject of app usage alone. I searched industry reports, trusted media sites, and reliable statistics producers to find information on apps in general and sports apps specifically. Then, I followed up that research with actual data and statistics from the google play store and SimilarWeb, a trustworthy source for website traffic information.
mobile app usage
Mobile app usage has continued to increase every year since 2014. This makes sense because the number of mobile users surpassed the number of desktop users that year. According to an eMarketer report, people spend an average of three hours and 17 minutes per day on a mobile device. This is an increase of over an hour since 2013. A separate comScore study indicates that 52% of that three hours and 17 minutes is spent on mobile apps. Therefore, we can assume that approximately 102 minutes or one hour and 42 minutes of mobile phone time is spent every day on apps (197 minutes x 0.52) In addition, 85% of people have said that they prefer an actual app as opposed to a website, so this number is likely to grow. Ages 18-24 have the most time spent on app and women have more usage than men. It has been predicted that the more than 268 billion downloads will generate $77 billion in revenue in 2017.
sports app usage
Statista reports that in 2017, sports apps overall have a reach of 14.2%. This is not broken down by sport, but the sports apps category is definitely a growing segment because the category didn't even make the Statista list in 2016, when sports apps were grouped with "All Others." Out of all the 52% of time spent on apps overall, sports app usage accounts for about 16%. This means that mobile users spent an average of just 16.3 minutes using sports apps (102 minutes x 0.16). At this rate, sports fans spend an average of 112 minutes per week (16.3 x 7) or one hour and 52 minutes on sports apps. This is a little more than the 80 minutes you cited in your notes, but if your total was for soccer only, then it could align with the 112 minute-average for all sports, since American football averages would likely drive that average up significantly.
This is where our research hit a roadblock. There does not appear to be any information on the percentage of time people spend on soccer apps. However, I was able to find some relevant data from 2014 that does give some insight into the sports app market. I realize this is not a very current source, but it is the latest research I could locate. This report shows that football apps grew 250% from 2013 to 2014, but this stat is for American football and not soccer. Further research shows that sports app fans are 12.8 times more likely to be (American) football fans. That being said, soccer apps are probably still growing as well, although not at the same blistering pace as American football apps. On this report, soccer would be a part of the "All Sports Apps" category, which grew at a rate of 210% from 2013 to 2014. This indicates that even though American football is leading the sports apps market, all sports apps are growing at a significant pace.
Also in 2014 (again the latest data I could find), a study was conducted by Localytics and OneFootball to measure the use of sports apps during the 2014 World Cup. Since this is the only soccer-specific data I could locate, I decided to include some of the stats from this study. What the research found was that "app users supplement traditional forms of World Cup viewership with app content," however, the visits to these apps were 16% shorter during the match than they were before and after. These results indicate that app users interact differently with the app while the match is on than they do in the time leading up to the match or after the match ends. Interestingly, even though the time spent on the app decreased during the match, more people accessed the app when the first goal was scored and at the start of the second half. This shows that the "main focus for fans remains watching the match," but it also shows that fans primarily interacted with the app to "check peripheral information such as player statistics and live updates during crucial game moments." Even though this data is a little old, it is likely that soccer fans still use their mobile sports apps in much the same way, since fans are still flocking to games and watching them on television rather than streaming them through apps. This aligns with more current research that shows 28% of sports fans use their phones to watch short highlights of their favorite teams, while 22% watch a full game or event on a tablet or smartphone.
In terms of mobile soccer games, the FIFA mobile soccer app has 50M-100M installs on the Google Play Store. It is ranked #3 in the game and sports category. This is actually a drop, as the game used to be ranked #1 overall. When you look at the market data, FIFA is ranked #7 in the top grossing sports category and #184 in all categories. This is data from as recently as August 21st, 2017. FIFA seems to be the most popular soccer game. 90min Live Soccer New App has only 1M-5M installs and is ranked #16 in the game and sports category. Dream League Soccer 2017 has the same number of installs, 50M-100M, as FIFA. The game is ranked #3 in Canada and ranked even lower in the U.S.
conclusion
To wrap up, while it is difficult to pinpoint the amount of time spent on soccer apps alone, if you follow the trends of the mobile market, it looks like it will only increase over time. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you answer!