Study Finds More Than $100 Billion Spent on App Stores in 2020

[MacRumors]

A new report by Sensor Tower reveals that 2020 has been a record-setting year for worldwide spending on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, which collectively passed $100 billion in a single year for the first time ever in November.

The trend of increased spending continued over Christmas, when consumers around the world spent an estimated $407.6 million across Apple's App Store and Google Play. This represents a 34.5 percent year-on-year growth from approximately $303 million in 2019. At the same time in 2019, spending only increased by 17.1 percent year-on-year.

Spending on Christmas day constituted 4.5 percent of December's total spending so far, which reached nine billion dollars globally on December 27. The majority of holiday spending was on mobile games, which climbed by 27 percent from $232.4 million at the same time last year to $295.6 million.

Tencent's "Honor of Kings" was the leading game with approximately $10.7 million in consumer spending, which is a 205.7 percent increase from Christmas 2019. TikTok was the top app for spending outside of games, generating $4.7 million globally.

Following previous years, Apple's App Store captured the majority of spending between the App Store and the Google Play Store, with 68.4 percent of spending, up 35.2 percent year-on-year. The Google Play Store saw $129 million in revenue compared to the App Store's $278.6 million.

In the United States, consumers spent almost $130 million across both app stores this Christmas, which is a 38.7 percent growth year-on-year and exceeds global growth by six points.

As with the global marketplace, mobile games generated the most revenue in the U.S., increasing 26.4 percent from $69 million in 2019 to $87.2 million. Other apps grew 72.2 percent from $24.8 million to $42.7 million.

"Roblox" was the top mobile game in the U.S., with consumer spending climbing 40.4 percent this Christmas from $4.7 million to $6.6 million. Disney+ was the leading non-game app for consumer spending, generating $2.6 million in the U.S., which was up 44.4 percent from $1.8 million at the same time in 2019.

Article Link: Study Finds More Than $100 Billion Spent on App Stores in 2020

 

[djcerla]

$100B? These figures are shocking.

And Apple gets 2x Google’s revenue despite the smaller installed base. Apple defied every Wintel-era wisdom with its ecosystem.

 

[kofman13]

bruh how? most apps are free

 

[litmag01]

This is exactly why another reader had commented in a previous article last week about the small business price scheme changes, and that it was cruddy Apple made the changes effective date after the new year.

I totally agree.

 

[TVreporter]

In first: Apple is doomed!

Guess they don’t miss Fortnite too much.

My son plays Roblox with his friends - fun mix of games. He prefers it over the Nintendo Switch as multiplayer is so much easier to do.

 

[I7guy]

They get this data how? Embedding code within the app itself?

 

[trhoffmann]

I have no games on any device I own. I must be the only one given the amount of money being spent on games. Wow.

 

[I7guy]

This is exactly why another reader had commented in a previous article last week about the small business price scheme changes, and that it was cruddy Apple made the changes effective date after the new year.

I totally agree.

Why is it cruddy? When Apple makes money, so does the dev. I guess I don't see it that way.

 

[dannyyankou]

And $407 million on Christmas Day alone, wow.

But the increase doesn’t surprise me at all, when more phones are out there more apps will be downloaded. I’m more interested in money spent per user.

 

[TVreporter]

bruh how? most apps are free

In-app purchases add up in a hurry. I’m guilty of letting my son make one or two now and then on special occasions - but he pays for it with his own money and/or additional chores.

Plus with iPad being more flexible, larger productivity apps are being access.

 

[ghanwani]

$100B is chump change nowadays, less than the net worth of the richest folks. Wake me up when it hits $1T.

 

[litmag01]

Why is it cruddy? When Apple makes money, so does the dev. I guess I don't see it that way.

Yes money is money, but that is a little bit of a birds eye view. On Nov 18 Apple announces it its small business program just ahead of the largest money-making season for all developers. But wait, buried three paragraphs in, Apple states it won't take effect till Jan. 1 after this year's yuletide harvest, and (subtext) they can claim the loss in 2021 taxes. I think it just smacks a little of magnanimity.

 

[Scipster]

Nice! Great work Roblox and Disney! Both great products and services. Highly recommend!

 

[Rogifan]

What’s sad is how much App Store money is for games. There’s a Yahtzee game I play that now introduced a spinning wheel where you can earn more dice rolls and other prizes. After you spin the wheel it gives you the option to spin again for 99 cents. I would never do that but I bet there are people who do. And a lot of games now have incredibly intrusive ads and if you want to remove them it’s $4.99. None of these games are worth $5 and if you search the App Store you’ll find tons of other games just like them. I don’t know how Apple can be proud of this.

 

[yellow8]

Great numbers!
But the main issue remains: it's difficult for quality app to be visible without excessive marketing.
Quality is unfortunately not sufficient.

 

[JosephAW]

I’m glad SJ was convinced to do the App Store.

 

[jonnysods]

Great numbers!
But the main issue remains: it's difficult for quality app to be visible without excessive marketing.
Quality is unfortunately not sufficient.

I've always wondered about this - there's too many apps, and no A-Z index of all the apps available. For every success story, there must be 5000 failed to launch apps because they lacked visibility.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Wow 35% yoy growth...

 

[Appleman3546]

Fascinating to see that Roblox is still incredibly popular, I would not have thought so. I am surprised that games are such a significant portion of the revenue as well, which makes sense why Apple would want to protect its grip on the market.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

$100B is chump change nowadays, less than the net worth of the richest folks. Wake me up when it hits $1T.

Don’t plan on sleeping long

 

[az431]

Yes money is money, but that is a little bit of a birds eye view. On Nov 18 Apple announces it its small business program just ahead of the largest money-making season for all developers. But wait, buried three paragraphs in, Apple states it won't take effect till Jan. 1 after this year's yuletide harvest, and (subtext) they can claim the loss in 2021 taxes. I think it just smacks a little of magnanimity.

Wrong.

The 15% has been in effect since just before Christmas.

 

[az431]

I've always wondered about this - there's too many apps, and no A-Z index of all the apps available. For every success story, there must be 5000 failed to launch apps because they lacked visibility.

You want an A-Z index of the roughly 2 million apps on the App Store? How long do you think it might take you to scroll through that list?

 

[Alan Wynn]

Apple states it won't take effect till Jan. 1 after this year's yuletide harvest, and (subtext) they can claim the loss in 2021 taxes.

What loss? Lowering the price one charges for a service does not create a tax loss unless one then spends more than one makes and is actually losing money.

I think it just smacks a little of magnanimity.

I do not think this word means what you think it means:
Magnanimity - noun, the act of being magnanimous, generosity.

 

[I7guy]

People selling their souls to their gadgets...they will realize they wasted their time on this earth when they take their final breath...

They will know in that final moment, that they soul their soul to this company and worshiped their devices like false idols.

The creator left us a planet that is beautiful and abundant with resources & nature...instead these lemmings decide to play games all day and stare at screens for decades of their lives....

I liberated myself, quit all drugs & alcohol, went vegetarian & set out to conquer this planet...if I take my last breath today, then I die knowing I did everything humanly possible to reject what these Technocrats have attempted to unleash since the passing of Steve Jobs...

Will you?

And yet this? https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...h-in-first-half-of-2021.2275722/post-29401414

Gadgets can mean anything including but not limited to iphones, eg life saving pacemakers. However apps can range from the ridiculous to the sublime. And it's been shown that playing games when you are older increases mental capacity (so my wife tells me).

 

[Maconplasma]

bruh how? most apps are free

Bruh! I hope you realize that most apps that are free contain In-App purchases so they are not free.