YouTube Emerges as Major Requirement for Businesses' Digital Testing Plans

BOSTON, MA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 5, 2016) - Perfecto, the leader in empowering enterprises to deliver high-quality digital experiences today joined forces with App Annie to announce the latest guide for developing digital test strategies, called the Digital Test Coverage Index. The index, which combines Perfecto's exclusive enterprise data with current market usage data now includes App Annie's Monthly Active Users (MAU) rankings, and reported that YouTube has the most consistent monthly active users (MAUs) rank for Media and Entertainment apps across six selected countries. Facebook and WhatsApp were ranked close behind for Social apps. Apps that utilize competing resources, even while running in the background, like YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp end up impacting the digital experience for end users and should be accounted for during testing.

Tapping further into customer analytics to help Development & Test teams make better decisions in improving mobile app quality, Perfecto's Digital Test Coverage Index offers up-to-date benchmarks that list the top smartphones, tablets, browsers and operating systems based on usage. Using the Index, companies get a list of the most important devices, browsers and end-user environments in their region against which they should develop and test their mobile app and website.

In the latest edition of the Digital Test Coverage Index, the most commonly-used mobile apps across Social, Media and Entertainment, Games and Retail in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia and Brazil were Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Candy Crush Saga and Amazon Shopping. Development & Test teams developing apps for these markets can use App Annie's rankings in the report to add the most popular apps per country to their test plan as apps running in the background during normal usage.

Another example of the insight delivered in the index is in the popularity of retail apps, which were the most localized based on geography. According to the report, companies building test plans that include common resources used by retail apps must take the variation into account and adjust based on the geography under test.

Specific findings and recommendations include:

• YouTube has the most consistent MAU rank for Media and Entertainment apps across all geographies; when building a test plan, businesses must make sure it includes testing apps with YouTube running in the background.
• Amazon and Amazon Shopping are the most commonly used shopping apps across the US, UK, Canada & Germany, with Brazil and Australia preferring local companies.
• Facebook and Facebook Messenger are the most popular Social apps in the US and Canada, however, in the European countries analyzed, WhatsApp comes out on top.
• App users in Brazil are likely to use different smartphones than in China, the DACH region or the US; adjust the devices in your test plan to your geographical target.
• There are have been more than 50 major device releases to the market this year and 22 OS updates; consider a calendar of new device and OS releases as part of your planning.

"We're happy to collaborate with Perfecto for their Digital Test Coverage Index," says Danielle Levitas, SVP, Research, App Annie. "Given we're both aligned in bringing visibility, transparency and efficiency to app developers, we gladly support their mission in providing testing teams with the right data and insights so they can benchmark accurately."

"Making sure a mobile app can stand up to real user environments is key to delivering a high-quality user experience," said Roi Carmel, Chief Strategy Officer at Perfecto. "End users today have high expectations from mobile apps and use many apps that compete for CPU, storage, battery and network bandwidth -- all of these factors impact the overall experience for the user and therefore, the brand's digital reputation. When building a test plan, considering a variety of factors, all included in the Index, will help immensely in navigating the complex digital quality landscape."

For more information on how to build a digital test strategy that incorporates apps competing for resources, or to download the Digital Test Coverage Index, visit http://bit.ly/2cCqLJ7. 

About Perfecto
Perfecto enables exceptional digital experiences. We help you transform your business and strengthen every digital interaction with a quality-first approach to creating web and native apps, through a cloud-based test environment called the Continuous Quality Lab™. The CQ Lab is comprised of real devices and real end-user conditions, giving you the truest test environment available.

More than 1,500 customers, including 50% of the Fortune 500 across the banking, insurance, retail, telecommunications and media industries rely on Perfecto to deliver optimal mobile app functionality and end user experiences, ensuring their brand's reputation, establishing loyal customers, and continually attracting new users. For more information about Perfecto, visit www.perfectomobile.com, join our community, or follow us on Twitter at @PerfectoMobile.

About App Annie
App Annie delivers the most trusted app data and insights for your business to succeed in the global app economy. Over 700,000 registered members rely on App Annie to better understand the app market, their businesses and the opportunities around them. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with 450 employees across 15 global offices. App Annie has received $157 million in financing, including from investors such as e.ventures, Greenspring Associates, Greycroft Partners, IDG Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. Learn more at www.appannie.com.