The mobile analytics company Flurry announced recently that the growth of fitness app usage is roughly double the usage growth of the rest of the appiverse. In the first six months of this year, Flurry saw a 62 percent increase in fitness app usage; the rest of the world saw a 33 percent increase. (There are, in case you’re keeping track, more than 6,800 iOS fitness apps in Flurry’s database.)
Flurry’s breakdown is particularly interesting. The universe of app users breaks down to 52 percent male / 48 percent female. Fitness users, however, split 38 percent male / 62 percent female. That’s a huge over-index on the female side. There are surprises in the age demographics, too. the 25-34 and the 35-54 age groups both over-index in the 40 percent range; 18-to-25s under-index by 57 percent. If you’re young and male, you don’t care about fitness apps.
And interestingly, given the increasing social media hooks in fitness apps, social, video, and photo sharers don’t much care about fitness apps. But runners over-index by 35 percent, parents over-index by 40 percent, and sports fans over-index by 80 percent.
So the perfect market for fitness apps: a mom who’s a sports fan. Or at least a runner. Interesting.