Leading Brands in Business & Productivity Software in Q2 2024

Introduction

In the fast-evolving landscape of business and productivity software, a few key players continue to dominate the market. In Q2 2024, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Gmail stand out with substantial monthly deduplicated audiences across their websites and apps. This article explores the performance and trends of these leading brands, drawing on comprehensive data insights provided by Sensor Tower.

Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

Microsoft 365's digital footprint spans several platforms, including websites like forms.office.com, microsoft365.com, and office.com, as well as apps such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft OneDrive.

• Audience Trends: The overall monthly deduplicated audience for Microsoft 365 remained robust, with websites like office.com maintaining over 2M unique monthly visits. A notable decline was observed in forms.office.com, with visits decreasing from 14M to around 12M by June.

• App Engagement: Microsoft Outlook consistently led in app engagement, with monthly active users exceeding 5M. Other apps like Microsoft Word saw a slight decrease, stabilizing at around 295K monthly active users by June.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Microsoft 365's monthly advertising expenditure peaked in Q1, with significant spend on Facebook and LinkedIn. By Q2, ad spend dramatically reduced, focusing more on desktop video channels.

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite)

Google Workspace encompasses a wide range of productivity tools, including calendar.google.com and docs.google.com, alongside apps like Google Calendar and Google Docs.

• Audience Trends: Docs.google.com maintained high traffic, with visits consistently over 500M monthly. True monthly audience numbers for Google Calendar showed stability, hovering around 10M.

• App Engagement: Google Calendar's app engagement was remarkable, with monthly active users increasing to approximately 4M by June. Google Docs also saw steady growth in app usage.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Google Workspace's advertising strategy in Q2 focused heavily on desktop video, with monthly spend reaching close to $48K by June.

Gmail

Gmail's presence is primarily through mail.google.com, with the Gmail - Email by Google app complementing its web platform.

• Audience Trends: Gmail maintained a strong web presence, with unique visits consistently above 9M monthly. The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable, exceeding 25M.

• App Engagement: The Gmail app saw a gradual increase in monthly active users, reaching over 9M by the end of Q2.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Notably, Gmail did not engage in any monthly advertising spend within the observed period, focusing instead on organic growth.

Conclusion

In Q2 2024, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Gmail continued to lead the business and productivity software category with substantial monthly deduplicated audiences across platforms. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data insights, including Web Insights, App Performance, and Pathmatics, provide unmatched visibility into these brands' cross-platform user engagement and advertising strategies. As businesses increasingly rely on digital tools, these insights are invaluable for understanding market dynamics and making informed decisions.