Subscription revenue is the fastest-growing monetization stream, surging 105% year-over-year in Q1 2026 and increasing its total revenue share from 4% to nearly 7% over the past year.
Ad revenue peaked in December 2025 before compressing, while in-app purchase (IAP) revenue remained stable, consistently accounting for approximately 35% of total revenue.
Ad-based revenue models are heavily front-loaded, with 89% of Day-60 earnings realized by Day 7, compared to only 60% for IAP and 52% for in-app subscriptions.
Paid user acquisition is significantly more effective for gaming IAP revenue (59%) than for non-gaming subscription income (30%), highlighting distinct purchase triggers across categories.
Day-90 ARPU varies by genre, reaching $2.43 for casino games and $1.34 for casual titles, while ARPPU for both casino games and non-gaming subscription apps sits near $11.
Non-gaming apps achieve a 15.6% subscription penetration rate, with the highest concentration found in the health, productivity, education, generative AI, and media sectors.
Non-gaming apps convert 9.84% of installs to one-time buyers and 4.64% to repeat buyers, maintaining higher absolute conversion rates than gaming apps.
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