App store spending up 17% in 2019, reach $83 billion worldwide

In 2019, mobile users spent an estimated $83.5 billion globally in apps and mobile games across App Store and Google Play, up 17 per cent from 2018,  Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals.  Increment in user spending in apps reflected the total revenue from in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps on both stores. See the graph below.

On the App Store, user spending reach highest-ever $54.2 billion for 2019, resulting in an increase of 16.3 percent year-over-year. The revenue generated by iOS was 85 per cent greater than what users spent on Google Play during the same period. But Google Play's revenue grew 18.1 per cent year-over-year.

Entertainment apps generated the maximum revenue on App Store at $3.9 billion, up 18.5 per cent over 2018. Meanwhile, on Google Play, social media category earned the most (nearly $686 million spent), recording 32.4 pe rcent year-over-year growth.

In 209, user spending reached a combined total of 114.9 billion across both platforms, a year-over-year increase of 9.1 per cent from 105.3 billion in 2018.

Sensor Tower estimates $61.7 billion was spent in mobile games across both stores in 2019, which was 12.8 per cent more than 2018’s total of $54.7 billion. This was 74 per cent of all in-app spending for 2019.

"Mobile gaming’s share of revenue across both stores stood at 82 percent in 2017, with its diminishing cut reflecting the strides made in the monetization of non-game apps, particularly through recurring subscriptions, over the past two years. Games represented 68 percent of iOS revenue and 84 percent of Google Play spending," Sensor Tower said in its report.

Spending in games on the App Store reached $37 billion last year, up 11.4 per cent year-over-year from $33.2 billion. Honor of Kings from Tencent held onto its crown as the top grossing iOS title with an estimated $1.43 billion earned globally. Game spending on Google Play, which grew 15 perc ent year-over-uear to $24.7 billion was led by Lineage M from NCSOFT.

In related news, PUBG Mobile from Tencent generated more than $148 million in user spending last month, representing 4-times growth from the same period last year.