Global app revenue reaches $21.9bn

Written by Peter Walker

08/11/19

Mobile consumers spent $21.9 billion on apps across the App Store and Google Play in the third quarter of 2019.

According to PreciseSecurity, this represents a 22.9 per cent increase compared with $17.9 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2018. Data includes user spend for subscriptions, premium apps, and in-app purchases.

The App Store still leads in mobile revenue, with $14.2 billion profit, or 22.3 per cent more compared to the 2018. It also recorded 5.3 per cent growth in the first-time app installs, while the total number of downloads in the third quarter this year was 29.6 billion, or 9.7 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, Google Play generated $7.7 billion in revenue – an increase of 24 per cent compared to the third quarter last year. Compared to App Store, it made almost three-times more first-time app installs in the third quarter of 2019.

Tinder is still the top global non-game app in terms of revenue, generating around $233 million - seven per cent more than during the same period in 2018 - while YouTube marked 16 per cent increase in-app spend compared to the 2018 data, reaching $164 million in the third quarter this year.

TikTok is steadily approaching the top of the non-gaming app download rankings, with almost 177 million downloads in the third quarter of 2019. It is now the number two most downloaded app during the third quarter, above Facebook-owned Messenger and Instagram, and following WhatsApp.

During the third quarter, total worldwide mobile game gross revenue reached $16.3 billion, or 20 per cent more year-on-year. The games category made 74 per cent of total in-app spending, while the revenue share between the App Store and Google remained at 60/40 split in favour of the Apple App Store.

App Store users paid $9.8 billion in the third quarter, 19 per cent up from the year prior. At the same time, the total number of App Store downloads increased by 7.3 per cent or up to 2.4 billion downloads.

Google Play users increased their spending by 1.7 per cent, reaching $6.5 billion in the third quarter. Also, Google Play downloads reached 8.7 billion in the last quarter, or 20.9 per cent more compared to the year before.