People are spending more time on mobile apps but publishers are failing to grab their attention with push notifications, according to a new report into app engagement and user habits.
The average session duration – i.e. the minutes users spent in apps – was up significantly on last year, the Pugpig 2026 Media App Report found, attributing it to “an increase in richer, more interactive experiences that are encouraging users to stay longer”. Average sessions per month also rose modestly on last year.
The report found app engagement is driven by so-called “super users”, with 20% of monthly active users accounting for three-quarters of all app sessions, including news. Most major news platforms have an app edition, with the Times and Daily Mail leading on engagement.
A Pugpig spokesperson said the data pointed to there being “significant value” for publishers in “deepening the relationship with the most-engaged readers”, adding: “That means identifying the content and features that most encourage repeat use.”
In 2026, news apps saw a median average of 15 sessions per month, 20 screen views per session, and a session duration of just under 10 minutes, while users spent just under 200 minutes per month in news apps on average – the report found.
The Pugpig report is based on analytics from more than 440 apps across Pugpig’s portfolio of 140 publishers, with survey responses from publishing professionals in its network. Founded in 2011, Pugpig powers apps for over 450 media brands, including The Independent, Conde Nast and Hearst.
Games, video and audio boost app engagement
Most of the apps included in the report publish news daily and are mobile-first, with nine in ten behind a paywall. The bulk of their revenue comes from readers and ads.
Breaking and latest news content is by far the biggest pull factor for reader engagement, the report found, followed by puzzles and games, and digital editions of the print paper. Apps that publish daily news saw significantly more engagement than those publishing less frequently or about consumer or business content.
Apps with games or video or which play audio have a higher engagement level on average, according to the report. Users who play games open their app 2.7x more often than those who don’t. Users who watch video spend 3.3x more time in app each month while audio listeners spend 2.5x longer.
“As AI fundamentally changes how audiences discover content, publishers are looking for new ways to build direct, measurable relationships with readers,” a Pugpig spokesperson said. “For many, apps are becoming the most reliable channel to make that possible.”
The report said the best performing apps were “not simply containers”, but “products that create stronger habits and more active reader relationships”.
Push notifications failing to grab users’ attention
Despite the year-on-year increase in engagement, publishers are struggling to entice users to open their app from push notifications. Just over half of those included in the report have users opted into push notifications, but only about a third of users per month open the app from a push notification.
“The vast majority of app sessions are direct, which suggests users are opening apps deliberately rather than being pulled in by alerts or links from emails, search or social,” the report said. “Push opt in rates are reasonably healthy, but open rates are relatively low, indicating that there is more room to improve push strategies.”
Push notifications are a priority for two-thirds of publishing professionals surveyed. More than three-quarters said apps will be very important to their business in a year’s time.
Almost half of all app users among those surveyed are non-subscribers, the cohort with the lowest engagement rates, meaning they are unknown to the publisher and exist as anonymous users.
“As you might expect, subscribers are dramatically more engaged than non-subscribers, showing how much stronger the relationship becomes once a user is paying,” the report said. “Even so, only a small minority of publishers are actively optimising their apps to convert anonymous users, leaving a substantial opportunity on the table.”
Download and read the Pugpig 2026 Media App Report.
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