This World Meditation Day, we take a moment to focus on the Mindfulness and Meditation app market as more and more of us are turning to technology to help bring joy, clarity and peace of mind into our lives, through setting intentions and training attention and awareness.

Meditation apps can assist in helping us to understand our behaviours and emotions through a range of free and paid apps, with many meditation and mindfulness apps entering the ‘most searched’ and ‘most downloaded’ lists earlier this year.

It’s evident that although COVID-19 has played a massive part in mindfulness apps’ popularity in 2021, it’s worth noting that many consumers have recognised the value of meditation since 2015 with “searches increasing in this category by 65% YoY”. And these consumer preferences are here to stay – globally by 2027, the mindfulness meditation app market is set to reach USD 4,206.1 million.

Meditation and Mindfulness App Growth Drivers in 2021

• Consumer preference and technological advances, including increased smartphone adoption and reliance on digital platforms.
• App Spend – “Consumers from China, U.S., Japan, South Korea and European nations [are] anticipated to show more willingness towards spending on mindfulness meditation apps.”
• Stress and depression – 1 in 6 people worldwide are facing at least one mental disorder. Millennials, according to the American Psychological Association “are the most stressed out generation in the 21st century”, reaching for their smartphones to ease their anxieties. The impact of digital technologies and social media has made mindfulness meditation apps more attractive to millennials as they seek to maintain their daily life activities smoothly.

Meditation and Mindfulness App Opportunities

Corporate Wellness

Employees who participate in corporate wellness programs “report more job satisfaction and higher levels of happiness.” In fact, a 2010 Harvard study found that there is “a 6-to-1 return on investment: For every dollar spent on employee wellness, medical costs fall $3.27; costs associated with absenteeism drop a few dollars as well.”

Educational Institutes

Meditation and mindfulness apps allow children to develop a “lifelong capacity for higher concentration, self-awareness, resilience and patience.” App developing companies are launching global programs so that teachers and students have access to mindfulness meditation apps. For example – Calm launched ‘The Calm Schools Initiative’ at a global level to ensure that school children are able to use the app each day.

Regional Opportunities

It’s important for app developers to consider regional trends for mindfulness meditation apps.

North America drives the highest revenue for mindfulness meditation apps, followed by Europe and the Asia Pacific regions, due to a higher disposable income. To keep existing customers and drive further growth here, app developers can focus on app benefits and continually monitor updates based on differentiated customer experiences.

Regions such as Latin America and India are growing centres for app developing companies and technology, with growing penetration of the internet – this will also drive app growth.

Meditation and Mindfulness Apps – A Space for Everyone

Mindfulness meditation apps – including industry leaders Headspace and Calm with their global brand positioning – have observed “more than 65 Mn downloads with over 50,000 downloads each day of these apps across more than 180 countries.”

Although the global market has many challenges for new entrants, with strong brands and monopoly by key players, there are still opportunities for app developers to differentiate themselves in the market. Apps have found success through offering star-studded sleep stories like Calm (often suggested as a ‘Best Overall App’), being suitable for beginners like Headspace, or giving seasoned meditators challenges along their meditation journey with Saatva.

It’s definitely worth considering including app features geared towards your target audience’s preference; such as gamification, wearables integration, personalised experiences and offline playback of meditation tracks, as well as which region they operate in and the trends there.

App strategies such as free trials could be a great way to get consumers onboard (before exchanging payments for access to a larger library of content), while subscriptions or in app purchases could be perfect for maintaining key customer bases.

Carrier Billing and Mobile Mindfulness

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