Global App Revenue Reached $39 Billion in the First Half of 2019: Up 15% Year-Over-Year

Global mobile application spending reached $39.7 billion during the first half of 2019, representing a 15.4 percent increase compared to the same period in 2018. This growth was driven by sustained consumer demand across both the Apple App Store and Google Play, despite varying performance trends in specific markets and categories. Apple’s platform maintained its lead in monetization, generating $25.5 billion—approximately 80 percent more than Google Play’s $14.2 billion—despite having significantly fewer total app installs.

Mobile gaming remained a primary revenue driver, accounting for $29.6 billion of the total global spending, an 11.3 percent year-over-year increase. While Google Play saw robust gaming revenue growth of 16.8 percent, the App Store experienced more modest growth of 7.8 percent, largely attributed to regulatory challenges and a temporary downturn in the Chinese market. Tencent’s Honor of Kings retained its position as the highest-grossing mobile game globally, while Tinder emerged as the top-earning non-game application.

In terms of volume, global first-time app installs reached 56.7 billion for the half. Google Play downloads grew by 16.4 percent to 41.9 billion, whereas iOS downloads saw a slight decline of 1.4 percent, influenced by a downturn in China during the first quarter. However, the second quarter showed signs of recovery for Apple, with a 3 percent year-over-year increase in downloads. These findings are based on proprietary store intelligence data, which excludes local taxes, in-app advertising, and mobile commerce transactions such as food delivery or ride-sharing services.