Facebook No. 1 Mobile App Of 2013 But Google Has 5 Of Top 10
Nielsen published a range of year-end data today. Among other things the measurement firm said that 65 percent of American cell phone users now own smartphones. By comparison comScore says the figure is 62 percent.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second time this year Nielsen has crowned Facebook the top U.S. mobile app: the firm's November readout already had it there alongside iPhone share gains and Google's broad reach. The throughline goes back further — in May 2012 Nielsen found four of the five most-popular apps belonged to Google, so the year-end 2013 picture of Google holding five of the top ten extends an established pattern rather than breaking new ground.
The other live question in the release is measurement itself: Nielsen puts U.S. smartphone ownership at 65 percent while comScore reports 62 percent, and the two firms' divergent figures are what ad buyers and platforms have to reconcile when sizing the mobile market. The story also traveled unusually widely for a data drop, with pickups at Nielsen itself, Engadget, WMPoweruser, and Marketing Land on the same day.
First-order effects
- Media planners get a single authoritative ranking for the year that confirms Facebook as the No. 1 mobile destination and Google's portfolio — five apps deep in the top ten — as the widest distribution surface, which is exactly the currency used in 2014 upfront and ad-network negotiations.
- Buyers relying on these numbers face a 3-point spread between Nielsen's 65 percent and comScore's 62 percent smartphone-adoption figure, forcing a choice of yardstick for any market-sizing or forecast work.
Second-order effects
- The concentration data sharpens the strategic contrast between the two leaders: Facebook's dominance rests on one flagship app while Google's rests on breadth, pushing competitors like Microsoft (whose Windows Phone audience reads WMPoweruser's pickup closely) toward portfolio-building or acquisition rather than single-app bets.
- Measurement divergence invites platforms and agencies to shop between Nielsen and comScore for whichever number flatters their pitch, raising the stakes on methodology transparency for both firms heading into 2014.
Third-order effects
- With roughly two-thirds of American cell users already on smartphones by either firm's count, the remaining growth pool shifts toward late adopters, meaning future top-app rankings will increasingly be decided by engagement and cross-app ecosystems rather than first-time device sales.
- If Nielsen's annual rankings harden into the industry's reference frame — as its 2012 and 2013 editions suggest — third-party measurement firms become de facto gatekeepers of mobile market narratives, with their methodology gaps treated as material business facts.
The trend: Year-end Nielsen rankings show U.S. mobile attention consolidating into two camps — one dominant app at Facebook and a five-deep bench at Google — even as the measurement firms themselves disagree on how big the smartphone base actually is.