With almost everyone owning a mobile device, it’s impossible to overlook the power of this technology. In fact, do you actually know that, according to Exploding Topics, there are about 7.21 billion smartphones, which is about 90% of the world’s population? A business that ignores such statistics and trends only does a disservice to itself, so it shouldn’t surprise you to see the online entertainment sector opening up to this technology.
Users are now taking advantage of their phones to access everything from sports and news to gossip from anywhere and at any time. And you wouldn’t expect the experience to be challenging just because they use mobile devices. Realizing this, entertainment companies like Surplay Casino have been adjusting their designs to ensure users have seamless experiences. Continue reading to learn more about how mobile technology is affecting the online entertainment sector.
Some important statistics for you
You may be surprised to learn that most users spend 88% of their mobile time on apps. And remember, one of the major factors that affects business success is aligning with shifting customer preferences. By just doing that, SuperOffice CRM believes you could increase profitability by 60% compared to when you couldn’t have.
So, it makes sense to see almost every entertainment company has a corresponding mobile application. According to a recent study by Build Fire, nearly half of users open an application at least 11 times per day. In countries like the United States, 70% of all digital media time comes from mobile apps.
We use these apps at home, in bed, at work and even in our cars. In fact, if you look up from your phone for a second, you will most likely see everyone else glued to their mobile device. Now that allowing access to your services through mobile apps can be a great way to discover new audiences, entertainment companies are largely adopting this strategy.
This perfectly agrees with a Statista report that noted more than 3.1 billion over-the-top video app downloads in 2023. Just the year before that, Spotify ranked as the most downloaded entertainment app globally, with approximately 672 million downloads.
Adapting to the mobile era: The power of responsive designs
Suppose you wanted to buy a particular item from a website. When you explored it using your laptop, everything seemed to work well. But when you tried accessing it using your mobile, things went south, needing you to keep pinching or zooming the site. What would you do in such a situation? Well, most users will likely leave the platform. A responsive design minimizes such experiences by ensuring your website works well on multiple devices.
The design will automatically adjust to the screen size in use, eliminating the need for pinching or zooming for a seamless experience. A study by Sagapixel noted that more than 70% of designers agreed that non-responsiveness is the main reason users leave a website. As if that were not enough, 67% preferred responsive websites when transacting via smartphones. And if a business offers such experiences, it can experience up to a 15% rise in unique clicks.
More advantages
Maintaining a separate stand-alone website can be quite expensive compared to responsive designs. Because of their adaptive nature, they will not need changes in content and other elements to fit on different screen sizes. But for separate desktop and mobile sites, you’d often need two content strategies, administrative interfaces and probably two design teams, making it more expensive to maintain.
The best part of responsive websites is that they are SEO-friendly—Google loves them. In a time when acquiring new customers has become very expensive, why don’t you use responsive designs to stand out? Such websites tend to load faster, translating to a better user experience. That sends a message to search engines that your website is customer-focused, which could lead to higher rankings and visibility.
Never ignore security
No one wants to participate in an environment that compromises their security. We do not just want to ensure we are safe physically – online safety has also become a prevalent subject. Especially in the online entertainment sector, where threat actors are increasing, the need to stay safe can never be overemphasized.
And you don’t want to imagine the pain of spending up to $4.35 million just because you are recovering from an attack. By the way, do you remember HBO’s 2017 data breach that led to many unreleased episodes being leaked? That was 2017; you can be sure that attackers have evolved even more in our contemporary world, emphasizing the need to adopt more robust security measures for your mobile apps and websites.
Here are a few ways to get started:
- Implement secure authentication techniques like passkeys, biometrics and so on
- Use secure communication protocols like HTTPS and SSL/TLS to protect data in transit
- Prevent attacks like SQL injection by validating user input on both client and server sides
- Regularly audit your apps and websites
- Avoid hardcoding sensitive data
- Take advantage of AI’s capabilities
Final thoughts
Everyone will agree that ignoring mobile technology and still expecting to dominate the online entertainment sector is a far-fetched dream. Almost everyone uses their smartphones to immerse themselves, so you never want to miss out on this population. But never forget that user experience and security are non-negotiables, and as much as you want to adapt to mobile technology, these can never be ignored.
