INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Global app revenue continues to climb, thanks to the growth in mobile gaming and the subscription economy
In the third quarter of 2019, consumer revenue grew 22.9% year-over-year from $17.9 billion to reach an estimated $21.9 billion across both
the App Store and Google Play worldwide, according to new data from Sensor Tower.
Notably, the App Store continues to account for the large
majority of this revenue, the report found, making up 65% of total spending compared with just 35% on Google Play.
App Store users spent
$14.2 billion, up 22.3% from the $11.6 billion they spent in Q3 2018
Google Play generated $7.7 billion in revenue, up 24% from the $6.2 billion spent in the year-ago quarter.
Sensor Tower revenue estimates
are a bit lower than those provided by App Annie recent report, which said the quarter saw $23 billion in consumer spending, not ~$22
billion.
App Annie also estimated nearly 23 billion downloads in Q3, while Sensor Tower claimed 29.6 billion.
In both cases, Google Play is
still said to be the main source for downloads, with nearly three times more first-time installs than the App Store
In Q3, the total number of downloads was up 9.7% year-over-year to 29.6 billion, said Sensor Tower, with Google Play accounting for 21.6
billion of those.
Despite the overall growth, one big app market — China — saw a slight decline, Sensor Tower found
Its installs dropped 6% year-over-year to 2.2 billion in the quarter
But its revenue grew by 26.9% to $4.1 billion, up from $3.2 billion the year prior
This could be attributed to the nine-month game license freeze in Chinawhich, though now lifted, had slowed momentum.
Sensor Tower charts
don''t include third-party app stores, so it not a full picture of the Chinese app market, it worth noting.
The top money-making
(non-game) app in the quarter was again Tinder, which generated $233 million in consumer spending, up 7% over the prior quarter
2 and YouTube clocked in at No
3, at $164 million in Q3.
App Annie has a slightly different ranking
It has Tinder and Netflix leading the top-grossing charts, but puts IQIYI ahead of YouTube
This could be because App Annie has a bigger window into the Chinese app market.
In terms of downloads, TikTok is continuing to disrupt
Facebook-owned apps& dominance over the top of the charts
In Sensor Tower rankings, WhatsApp was No
3, but Facebook and Instagram dropped to No
2.
This isn''t the first time TikTok has passed Facebook, Sensor Tower said — it did so back in Q4 2018 and in Q1 2019, before dropping
But with 177 million downloads in Q3, it inching its way up to the top.
App Annie, on the other hand, sees TikTok having just a bit more of
3 in the quarter, behind Messenger and Facebook
It also called out some Q3 break-out hits, like the return of FaceApp popularity (No
9 in downloads) and the growing subscription revenue of Google One (No
Sensor Tower put FaceApp at No
6 instead, but agreed on Google One.
Mobile gaming continues to generate most of the cash, and did so again in Q3 with $16.3 billion in
mobile game gross revenue — or 74% of the total in-app spending, the new report said
The App Store accounted for $9.8 billion of that figure, with Google Play users spending $6.5 billion.
Game downloads across both Google
Play and the App Store increased by 17.6% in Q3 from 9.5 billion last year to 11.1 billion.
The top three games in the quarter by
downloads were Fun Race 3D (123M downloads), PUBG Mobile (94M), and newcomer Mario Kart Tour, which hit 86 million downloads despite only
launching in late September.
PUBG Mobile was the top-grossing game with $496 million in revenue, up 652% over last year
2 title, Tencent&sHonor of Kings, and No
3 Aniplex&sFate/Grand Order generated $377 million and $354 million, respectively.
Image credits: Sensor Tower
