Global App Revenue Reached $19.5 Billion in Q1 2019

Global mobile application revenue reached $19.5 billion in the first quarter of 2019, marking a 16.9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018. This growth was driven by both the Apple App Store and Google Play, with the former generating $12.4 billion and the latter contributing $7.1 billion. While the App Store maintained a larger share of total revenue, Google Play experienced faster year-over-year growth at 20.2 percent. First-time app installs also saw a global increase of 11.6 percent, totaling 28.1 billion, with Google Play accounting for approximately 74 percent of these downloads.

The mobile gaming sector remained the primary driver of industry revenue, accounting for 76 percent of all app spending. Global game revenue rose 12.3 percent year-over-year to $14.6 billion. Despite this growth, game downloads saw only marginal gains of 1.9 percent, largely impacted by a government-mandated freeze on game certifications in China, which caused a 9 percent decline in App Store game installs. Asia-based developers dominated the top-grossing charts, with eight of the top 10 games originating from the region, led by Tencent’s Honor of Kings.

Market dynamics shifted in the non-gaming category as well. Tinder surpassed Netflix as the top-earning non-game app, a change attributed to Netflix’s decision to remove in-app subscription billing on iOS. Meanwhile, TikTok continued to demonstrate significant momentum, growing its new user base by 70 percent year-over-year. These findings are based on Store Intelligence data, which tracks gross consumer spending on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps, excluding taxes, advertising, and mobile commerce transactions.