App spending rose 12.3% on Christmas Day to $196 million

According to data from Sensor Tower, global spending on in-app purchases and subscriptions from the App Store and Google Play Store hit $196 million on Christmas Day 2017. The figure, which excludes spending on apps and subscriptions for Android devices in China, represents a 12.3% year-over-year gain from the $174 million spent on the holiday in 2016. A recent report from App Annie revealed that global app revenue hit a record $17 billion during the third quarter of this year. App downloads also hit a record 26 billion during the quarter. The continued rise of smartphone usage in emerging markets was one of the reasons for the record breaking figures.

Interestingly. while mobile games took in the vast majority of app-based revenue on Christmas Day, non-game apps had the faster growth rate. This past December 25th, non-game apps saw a 66% gain in revenue compared with just 5.2% for games. Non-game revenue rose from approximately $24 million last Christmas to $38 million this year. Over the same time period, revenues related to mobile game purchases rose to $158 million from $150 million. 

Entertainment based apps saw year-over-year revenue growth of 98% this Christmas Day. $9.5 million was spent on apps from this category, up from $4.8 million last year. Leading titles included Netflix and HBO Now.

Developers are looking for new ways to create continuing streams of revenue. This is being done by charging a subscription rate for recurring content. As an example, we recently told you about the Pixel Art coloring books which have become incredibly popular in the App Store and Google Play. Instead of offering this to iOS and Android users as a freemium app with a fee charged for premium content, the developers behind this craze are charging a subscription fee instead.

The business of providing content to mobile device users is expected to keep on growing. App Annie forecasts that in 2021, there will be 240 million downloads made, with $100 billion spent on apps by consumers.

source: SensorTower via TechCrunch