164 App Store developers had their first $1 million year in 2018 versus 88 that did so on Google Play
Despite the fact that Android reportedly has a global market share in the 85% range, the Apple App Store has historically proven to be more profitable to app developers than the Android Market/Google Play Store. Some cite the large number of Android users in developing countries, while others point to the price range of the phones available on the two platforms. Regardless of the reason, the App Store has traditional held an edge over the Google Play Store when it comes to revenue.
The App Store advantage showed up again in a new report from Sensor Tower (via Tech Crunch). The data shows that 164 app developers in the U.S. earned their first $1 million in net revenue from the Apple App Store in 2018 to date. That compares with the 88 app developers in the states that accomplished the same feat so far this year on the Google Play Store. That 1.9 ratio is pretty steady with last year's figures, which showed 143 developers raking in $1 million for the first time on the App Store, and 71 who did so on the Google Play Store.
The games category was the one that had the most first time $1 million app publishers on both platforms. In the App Store, one-third of these developers scoring $1 million in net revenue for the first time focused on games. Leading the list was FoxNext Games with $15 million in revenue thanks to its Marvel Strike Force app.
While the percentage of App Store games developers earning a seven-figure revenue total for the first time was off 10 percentage points from last year, greater contributions this year came from Lifestyle and Health & Fitness. The pair had 10% and 12% of the App Store's first time million dollar developers, respectively. That doubled their percentages from 2017.
In the Google Play Store, the games category was responsible for 65% of the app publishers scoring $1 million in revenue for the first time. That is consistent with last year's 66%, and most other categories (none in double figures) were similarly little changed.
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