Aitizaz Hassan

Pakistan recorded 3.5 billion downloads in CY2022, standing in ninth place in the world compared with the 12th position in 2021 when the downloads stood at 2.6 billion. As a result, Pakistan is by far the fastest-growing apps market, with downloads up 35.4%. That’s almost three times higher than China’s 12.9%, which saw the second-highest growth.

According to Insight data.ai, a global tech research agency, Pakistanis spent 161.2 billion hours on mobile in 2022, up from 134.1 billion hours the year before. This put the country in the sixth place, the same as in 2021. Unsurprisingly, China tops this chart with a whopping 1.16 trillion hours, while India follows behind at 655.6 billion. The global mobile ad spending grew 14% to reach $336 billion, driven by short video apps. 

Data.ai report said Instagram was the most downloaded app in 2022. This finally ended TikTok’s two-year reign, as the short-format video giant slipped to second place. Meanwhile, Facebook came in third despite all the talk around its plateauing growth. It also led in terms of monthly active users, which is probably a better metric for a company its size. In fact, the next three biggest apps — WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger — also belong to Meta. 

According to the Pakistan Telecommuting Authority (PTA) data, there are 4.9 billion Internet users worldwide, of which 3.2 billion (approximately 85% of the total) are from lower-middle-income countries. The gender gap in Internet usage in these countries has been narrowing over the years. While the gap declined to 15% in 2020, it surprisingly widened to 16% in 2021. Pakistan is one country where gender gap in mobile Internet usage, although still substantial, has narrowed down, compared to India and Bangladesh, where it has widened.

According to the GSMA survey, Pakistan had an Internet usage gender gap of 38% in 2021, which has since narrowed down. However, when it comes to using cases of Internet per week, usage is as low as three to four times a week. An estimate suggests that 18% of the total Internet users and 16% of the total social media users in the world are from South Asian countries, where 25% of the world population resides, and where mobile connectivity averages at 88%. Today, there are over 70 million social media users in Pakistan (over 31% of the population), with YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram being the most commonly used social platforms.

However, analyzed from the gender perspective, the gap between male and female usage of social media is very high and fluctuates between 78% to 47%. Instagram usage has the lowest gender gap in Pakistan, while TikTok usage is far less among female users, compared to male users. According to the demographic profile of Meta advertisement audience, females aged between 18-24 years and 25-35 years have maximum reach to advertisements of Meta platforms.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk