• by Sara Guaglione , June 25, 2020

Daily downloads of news apps in the U.S. increased 53% from January to April 2020, according to a new report from app marketing platform Adjust.

Daily sessions, when a user interacts with an app, grew 104% between those few months. Daily sessions decreased 8% between April and May.

"Consumers have relied more heavily on news organizations during this period of uncertainty, highlighting the media’s essential role in keeping populations informed as the global pandemic has unfolded,” stated Paul H. Müller, cofounder-CTO of Adjust. 

“Our data suggests mobile apps have become a major channel for this increase in news consumption, which could change the way people interact with news organizations more broadly over the long-term.” 

When including the 1,620 news apps around the world noted in the study, daily installs of news apps grew 37% between January and April 2020, and daily sessions increased 59%.

Downloads peaked in March, before returning to near pre-COVID-19 levels in May. 

While sessions peaked in April, they decreased 13% in May.

Usage in May was still higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, according to the study, which could suggest a shift in media consumption habits.

Adjust works with over 35,000 apps around the world, including news aggregation app SmartNews.