A new Sensor Tower report says Apple users spent a record $72 billion in the App Store during 2020, a 30.3% year-over-year leap.
Consumers spent nearly $111 billion globally on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps across both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, according to preliminary Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data. This figure represents 30.2% year-over-year growth from 2019 when app stores generated $85.2 billion.
Globally, consumer spending on the App Store reached $72.3 billion, up 30.3 percent Y/Y from $55.5 billion in 2019. As in previous years, this exceeded the amount users spent on Google Play, which grew 30 percent Y/Y from $29.7 billion in 2019 to $38.6 billion. The App Store generated 87.3 percent more in consumer spending than the Play store, and both platforms experienced roughly the same Y/Y growth. The spending gap between the platforms remained relatively flat compared to 2019.
As is usual, gaming was the big revenue driver in the App Store, generating $79.5 billion last year across both app stores around the globe. That figure is up 26% from slightly more than $63 billion in 2019, representing 71.7% of all in-app spending for the year.
Around $47.6 billion was spent on iOS games in 2020, up 25% in 2019. Games accounted for 66% of all App Store revenue. The highest-grossing game on iOS was Tencent’s Honor of Kings.
The App Store’s Entertainment category grew 29.3% year-on-year to $5.3 billion. TikTok was the top non-game app, growing more than 600% year-on-year to $1.2 billion.
First-time installs set a new record in 2020 as the App Store and Google Play collectively reached nearly 143 billion, up 23.7% from approximately 115.5 billion in 2019.
