Streaming Video Will Continue to Rise on Mobile in 2019: App Annie
*By Chloe Aiello*
In 2019, 10 minutes out of every hour of media engagement will be spent streaming video on mobile, app market data provider App Annie told Cheddar.
In 2018, app downloads hit 113 billion, Levitas said, while spending on Google ($GOOGL) Play and the Apple ($AAPL) app store hit $76 billion. On average, Americans spent three hours per day on apps.
"Netflix ($NFLX) dominates the top of the list, but YouTube does really well, HBO does really well, Youku in China does really well. And so you've got this video entertainment that is increasingly moving to mobile," App Annie's EVP of Market Insights Danielle Levitas said Friday.
In 2018, mobile gaming and social communications apps were dominant, as were Facebook-owned apps. Four of the top five on App Annie's list of most downloaded apps worldwide were owned by Facebook ($FB), including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. But short-form mobile video app TikTok also made the grade, coming in just above Instagram at number four. Levitas said TikTok's breakout success speaks to the popularity of snackable ー or short, attention-grabbing, and fulfilling ー experiences.
"Short-form, 15 second-type videos for example ー they've been incredibly successful across the globe. So the truth is there is this real desire and hunger for these communications, these snackable experiences," she said.
The gaming app market also continued to mature, with new types of games gaining popularity. Casual gaming apps continued to do phenomenally well, led by Helix Jump and Subway Surfers, and with Candy Crush Saga still near the top of the list. But 2018 also saw the rise of minimalist "hyper casual" gaming apps, like Love Balls, and "hardcore games," like PUBG Mobile.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/top-apps-and-games-in-2018).
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.