While the Android-based Google Play Store racks up about double the number of downloads that Apple’s iOS App Store does, it continues to lag far behind Apple’s app store when it comes to actual revenue.
According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…
The report shows China having an impressive impact on the App Store’s revenue growth, with an enormous 2.2X year-over-year increase in revenue, overtaking Japan for the number one spot.
App Annie’s report also indicates entertainment and music apps are “exploding,” in both China and the United States, leading ot a boom in the subscription revenue model.
“Two of the top five video streaming apps by worldwide iOS revenue, HBO NOW and Hulu, are only available in the US market. Conversely, revenue for iQIYI and Tencent Video, which round out the top five, is driven almost entirely by the Chinese consumer base.”
Key highlights from the report include:
- China’s quarterly iOS revenue grew nearly 2.2x year over year from Q1 2015 to Q1 2016, mostly from in-app purchases within mobile games.
- Entertainment and Music app revenue is exploding in the US and China with major apps adding subscription revenue models.
- Emerging markets Vietnam, Argentina and Egypt saw huge year-over-year growth on Google Play thanks to Games — but each region’s gamers have distinctly different tastes.
