$111 Billion Spent On Mobile Apps In 2020, 30% Up From 2019

Global consumer spending in in-app purchases, app subscriptions and premium apps reached approximately $111 billion in 2020, 30% up from 2019 when mobile user spending hit $85.2 billion, according to Sensor Tower.

While Apple’s App Store generated more revenue than Google Play Store from mobile user spending, both app markets saw nearly the same growth rate. 

The App Store accounted for $72.3 billion of the total revenue, 30.3% more than 2019 when iOS apps generated $55.5 billion from user spending. 

Meanwhile, the Play Store generated $29.7 billion with a 30% year-over-year increase from $29.7 billion generated in 2019. 

Among non-game apps, the Entertainment category experienced the most mobile consumer spending on the App Store generating $5.3 billion with a 29.3% Y/Y increase. TikTok (including Douyin) was the most grossing non-game app on the iOS platform in 2020, generating $1.2 billion on the platform with a 600% yearly growth rate. 

Also Read: TikTok Revenue And Usage Statistics

On the Play Store, Social category was the clear leader among non-game apps generating $1.2 billion with a 71.4% growth rate. Google One was the top earning non-game app generating $444 million on the platform, 41.9% up from 2019.

First Time Installs Reached 143 Billion In 2020

2020 was also a record setting year in terms of first time app installs across both App Store and Play Store. In total, first time installs reached approximately 143 billion growing 23.7% from 115.5 billion generated in 2019. 

Among non-game apps, the Photo & Video category was the clear leader on the App Store generating 2.3 billion first time installs in 2020. Popular video chat app Zoom generated the most first time installs with 212.5 billion downloads on the Android platform.

Also Read: Zoom Revenue And Usage Statistics

On the Play Store, the Tools category experienced the most first-time installs with 7 billion new downloads on the platform. WhatsApp was the top winning non-game app in terms of new installs generating 598 million first time installs in 2020.

Also Read: WhatsApp Revenue And Usage Statistics

Spending In Mobile Games Hit $79.5 Billion In 2020 

As we shared with you in a previous article, top 5 mobile games including PUBG generated over $1 billion in revenue in 2020. The company also found that the game category generated $79.5 billion in 2020 with a 26% Y/Y growth across both App Store and Play Store, accounting for 71.7% of the total in-app spending made last year. 

On the iOS market, global consumer spending in mobile games reached $47.6 billion in 2020 and Tencent’s Honor of Kings was the top grossing game on the platform generating $2.5 billion in user spending. 

On the Android market, mobile game spending reached approximately $32 billion and the top winning game was Coin Master by Moon Active generating $799 million in user spending. 

First-time installs of mobile games hit 56.2 billion in 2020

The report also found that first time installs of mobile games surpassed 56.2 billion last year across both Play Store and App Store. 

While Google Play Store accounted for 82%, or nearly 46 billion, of the total new game installs, the most installed title on the platform was Garena Free Fire with 254 million new installs. 

The App Store generated 10.1 billion first time game installs in 2020 and the most downloaded game was InnerSloth’s Among Us with 92.8 million new installs. Last month, the title hit 500 million monthly active users.