AppsFlyer‘s analysis of mobile app usage throughout the 2024 UEFA European Championship and Copa America championships is shedding light on trends in app usage and the specific apps viewers engaged with during the biggest football matches of the summer. The game’s impact rippled across all four final countries – the United Kingdom and Spain for Euro 2024, and Colombia and Argentina for COPA 2024 – with app activity being directly influenced by the games.
There were significant fluctuations in app engagement at a national level, notably showcasing that as the games began, overall app engagement dropped nationally as people turned their focus from their apps to the games. Spain experienced a substantial 24% drop in overall engagement at the game’s kickoff, while the United Kingdom saw a 12% decrease.
In South America, the drop in app usage before the game was even more dramatic due to a delay in the game. People were glued to their TVs, resulting in a 50% drop in overall app usage in Argentina and Colombia.
This trend continued throughout both the championship matches, indicating that as the games intensified during play minutes, viewers tended to focus more on the game, and less on using apps on their phones.
Post-game, however, revealed a different story in terms of social media and transportation app engagement for the Euro finalists. When Spain won, there was a 164% spike in social media engagement, with the spike continuing during the medal ceremony before stabilising. The United Kingdom experienced an 18% drop in social media app engagement post-award ceremony, but the most notable observation was a 200% spike in transportation app usage in the UK following the final whistle.
In the European final, sports betting was the only vertical that remained consistently active throughout the game, with Spain showing more significant spikes over the duration of the match. When Spain scored, sports betting in Spain increased by 343%, while England saw a 160% spike. When the UK scored, both countries saw increased activity in betting apps, with a 120% spike in England and a 90% spike in Spain. Following a missed goal by England, there was a significant spike in sports betting in Spain, with a 175% increase, likely influenced by England’s previous scoring patterns in the last minutes of their matches.
“In the midst of a gripping night of global football, app usage across multiple nations came to a standstill, reflecting national fervor and undivided attention towards the game,” said Shani Rosenfelder, Director of Market Insights, AppsFlyer. “When looking at this data, it’s clear that for marketers, their advertising strategy for second-screen engagement needs to be different for football than other sports, as there are no TV timeouts for in-game advertisers.”
Methodology
For the Copa America, AppsFlyer utilised a geographically diverse dataset, and the company’s methodology entailed analysis of 64.7 million sessions from 32.7 K apps from key markets, including Argentina (51%), and Colombia (49%). For the Euro, AppsFlyer’s methodology entailed analysis of 107 million sessions from 54.5 K apps from key markets, including the United Kingdom (58%) and Spain (42%).
