• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, July 18, 2013

According to a Flurry study and analysis of smartphone and tablet users app usage patterns, posted by Mary Ellen Gordon, PhD, Moms spend a lot of smartphone and tablet time playing games. On Android, more than half of the time American Moms spent in apps was spent playing games. On iPad moms spent about half their time in games, but on iPhone, that percentage drops to a little less than a third of their time. On iPhone, lifestyle apps capture a larger proportion of Moms' attention (12%) than on iPad and Android devices.

Flurry is kicking off a series of blog posts to shed light on different groups of smartphone and tablet users and their app usage patterns, starting with Moms who, says the report, often control household budgets and expenditures, and are considered the prime audience for many brands. App usage, says the report, reveals a lot.

The second most popular category among Moms on iPhone and Android devices is social networking. On iPad, newsstand (24%) was the second most popular category, demonstrating its strength as a screen for displaying magazine type content.

Most mobile consumers spend a large proportion of their app time in gaming and social networking apps, and across iPhone, iPad, and Android, American Moms spend more time in education apps than the general population. Also, moms who own an iPhone or an Android device spend a greater share of their app time in health and fitness apps.

Unsurprisingly, notes the report, moms are also heavy shoppers. Android moms over-index for time spent in shopping apps, and iPhone moms over-index for time spent in catalog and lifestyle apps. (Source: The App Store and Google Play’s systems for classifying apps.)

Compared to other American device owners, moms are enthusiastic users of tablets. Among the general population, 25% of connected mobile devices were tablets, but for moms that percentage is 35%. Perhaps driven by the fact that many parents use tablets for sharing games and stories with their children, opines the report.

60% of the smartphones and tablets analyzed were iOS devices. For American Moms, the numbers lean even further toward iOS devices. 77% of moms own iOS devices while just 23% own Android. Two factors that may explain this, says the report: Moms’ greater tablet ownership since iPad dominates the tablet market; and surveys show that women in general skew toward iOS devices. The key takeaway is that moms are much more likely to be found using iOS devices than Android devices.

The analysis infers that American Moms, based on their app usage, use smartphones and tablets as a refuge from their busy lives. On average, half or more of the time they spend in apps is spent on social networking and game apps. Not that different from other Americans, but it does show that even busy moms need to escape and socialize, and mobile devices provide a way to do that.

The report suggests that apps where American Moms spend a disproportionate share of time relative to other Americans tell us something about their more serious side. Those apps tend to be improvement-oriented: education and health and fitness, for example. Moms are using their devices to help them achieve personal goals and to educate their children.

The report concludes by suggesting that media planners who want to reach American Moms should buy ad inventory in gaming, news / magazine, and social networking apps, and to weight their budgets toward iOS apps.

For additional information from Flurry, please visit here.