App Annie Offers Real-Time App Stats In China

App Annie, which tracks mobile software downloads, announced it has started tracking Android app usage in China.

According to Reuters, App Annie will now offer real-time statistics on mobile app usage in China by tracking hundreds of thousands of Android users through its own apps and with additional data supplied by external partners.

This information will lead to a greater understanding of consumer behavior in the world’s top smartphone market, which increasingly sets the pace for global trends. In fact, China accounted for 60 percent of the world’s $1.3 trillion total app spending – including eCommerce, paid app store downloads and in-app advertising – in 2016.

“It’s crucial to provide an accurate picture to app publishers and brand (marketers) of what’s happening in China, but also what’s happening globally in terms of app usage,” said Bertrand Schmitt, chief executive and co-founder of App Annie.

App Annie counts 94 of the world’s top 100 app publishers as customers, which use the service to monitor the performance of their own apps against rivals. Major advertising brands, such as McDonald’s, Nike, Citibank and AstraZeneca, also use App Annie to target customers with their own apps.

And while dozens of mobile app analytics firms compete worldwide, App Annie is the only one so far that offers an integrated global view, including China. The company said its new China Android monitoring service can track usage metrics on 5,000 top apps. Until now, that information has been reduced to guesswork due to a lack of independent data on the market.

“When you look at mobile usage behavior and attitudes, China is really leading,” said Forrester mobile analyst Thomas Husson. “The Chinese market is definitely ahead of the curve. It was more or less a black box, so you need some clarity as to what’s going on, in aggregate, in the world’s biggest market.”

App Annie was founded in Beijing in 2010, but is now based in San Francisco. The company has $150 million in funding from venture investors, including Sequoia Capital and IDG Capital Partners. Two-fifths of its 500 employees and most of its engineering staff are based in China.