YouTube’s share of consumers’ video time on mobile devices is falling, with mobile analytics firm Flurry suggesting that this drop is down to a new breed of photo and video apps that are designed for mobile and have social built in. According to the latest figures from Flurry, use of video and photo apps increased by 52% between January and March, with total minutes spent hitting 231 per active user. Comparing this to data from comScore, Flurry shows that online video consumption on Google Sites, mostly comprised of YouTube, dropped 10% to 425 minutes per active user. While this data alone is not enough to prove conclusively that mobile video apps are cannibalising YouTube, Flurry claims that the figures are the first sign that mobile and social is beginning to disrupt the online video space, of which YouTube is the leader.

“Video sharing apps offer a compelling benefit to consumers, allowing them to conveniently capture, edit and share videos on-the-fly using the powerful mobile computing devices in their pockets,” says Flurry marketing VP Peter Farago. “Think of it this way: With every mobile video you share of friends, family, vacations, parties and weddings, you are likely loading another bullet in the chamber for Web 3.0.”

Overall, Flurry claims that video and photo apps, led by the likes of Viddy, SocialCam and Instagram, saw growth of 166% between July and March, making them the fastest-growing app category across all the major mobile operating systems. This is followed by music, which saw growth of 72%, and productivity, up 66% in terms of minutes spent. Flurry claims that its figures show which app categories are gaining momentum following the success of gaming and social networking on mobile, with factors such as built-in HD cameras, increased bandwidth and cloud storage boosting content consumption on mobile.  

“By studying how consumer time is shifting across app categories, we provide an early, clear demand signal,” says Farago. “The rise in popularity of apps like Instagram, Path and Skout signals a new era of content consumption on mobile phones where consumers are finding new, compelling ways to spend their time beyond just games.”