ApplicationTop apps used by consumers are often listed and reported in the media; however, these reports fail to recognize the differences in app use between age groups and ethnicities.

This Strategy Analytics blog details one of these demographic slices, ethnicities, and how the use of popular applications varies across groups, including Asians, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Whites or Caucasians.

Similar But Differing Apps Using Across Ethnicities

The table below ranks the top 30 apps of 2019 year-to-date for four ethnic groups based on average monthly minutes per month. Despite the similarities of applications listed between the groups, there are notable differences across the groups (note that all applications have a minimum incidence level or a penetration rate of 10% on the AppOptix panel).  To begin, apps such as YouTube, Facebook, and Google Chrome rank high among all ethnicities. In fact, notable applications such as Instagram, Google Maps, Twitter, Amazon Shopping, Snapchat, and Google Mail (gmail) are sprinkled within each list.

But between the well-branded and commonly known Android applications are apps that should get noticed. When eliminating well-branded apps and utilizing a penetration rate of between 10% – 20%, the apps, while still a who’s who of top apps, get high marks in terms of use levels within each of the ethnicity groups.  Some notable in each of the groups include:

• In the Asian community, WeChat (a Chinese messaging, payment and social media application) is popular. Other popular in this group include Reddit, Discord, Ibotta, and Robinhood (a financial trading app).
• In the Black or African American community, a few notable applications include Hulu, eBay (671 monthly minutes) and Shopkick.
• Among the Hispanic or Latino community are Reddit, Doordash, OfferUp and Wish.
• And in the White or Caucasian group, Hulu ranked number one with a few others making the top 30 list being Kindle, Wish and Amazon Music.

Each of the applications in this mobile phone penetration range has high minutes of use and high engagement percentages, making them optimal locations for messaging and brand-building opportunities.

Top Apps