Apple's App Store continues to pay developers more than Google Play, thanks to Chinese iOS...

Posted:
in iPhone
The App Store remains more profitable for iOS developers than the Google Play store is for Android apps, new estimates reveal, with App Store revenues in China also continuing to climb at a fast pace.




A 2016 retrospective report from analyst firm App Annie claims the number of downloads across both the iOS App Store and Google Play for the entire year exceeded 90 billion, an increase of more than 13 billion compared to 2015. A breakdown of downloads for each store is not provided in the report, but while Google Play made up most of the 15 percent year-on-year increase, iOS downloads still increased more in 2016 than they did in 2015.

As with last year's report, the higher number of downloads does not directly translate into higher revenues for developers. While worldwide app revenue across the App Store and Google Play reached over $35 billion, representing an overall yearly growth of 40 percent, the App Store revenue alone grew by almost 50 percent, with close to half of that increase attributed to China.




The Chinese App Store continued its rise from the third quarter's $1.7 billion in revenue, with the fourth quarter exceeding $2 billion making it the biggest quarter for app revenue in App Store history. Aside from the revenue bump, China's App Store also accounted for nearly 80 percent of download growth for the year, suggesting there to be higher revenue levels incoming in future quarters.

As usual, games continue to be the biggest revenue driver in both stores, making up 75 percent of iOS App Store revenue compared to 90 percent in Google Play. Of that gaming revenue, the Role Playing Game subcategory is said to have generated half of all revenue growth for the year.




Gaming also generates the most revenue in the Chinese App Store, again with role playing games notably making the biggest contribution. In other app categories, social networking apps have the largest revenue gains in China for the fourth quarter, credited to Tencent's QQ app, with revenue increasing year-on-year by 7.2 times to over $70 million.

The biggest gaming launch of 2016, Pok?mon Go, is highlighted for its high rate of consumer spending so soon after launch, reaching an estimated $950 million by the end of 2016 across both the App Store and Google Play. The game's meteoric rise meant it exceeded $800 million in revenue in 110 days, less than half the time of Candy Crush Saga, a third of the time taken by Puzzle & Dragons, and less than a quarter of how long it took Clash of Clans to reach the same level.

In terms of global monthly active users, Pok?mon Go leads the pack for games on iPhone, with Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans taking second and third place. For non-gaming apps, Facebook and Facebook Messenger takes the top spots, with YouTube in third.




Apple itself revealed earlier this month that the App Store paid out some $20 billion to developers in 2016 alone. The single biggest day for the App Store yet was New Year's Day 2017, when customers bought nearly $240 million worth of apps and in-app purchases.

New data from Sensor Tower estimates that App Store revenue grew 60 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 to $5.4 billion. Major contributions came from streaming apps including Spotify, Netflix and Pandora.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    So Google has around 3x the number of actual App downloads while Apple has around 2x the revenue.

    Meaning the average iOS buyer spends 6x as much as the average Android buyer.

    Did I hear someone say market share?
    SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 18
    calicali Posts: 3,494member


    Oh and "peak iPhone". 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 18
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps :)

    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 4 of 18
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    So Google has around 3x the number of actual App downloads while Apple has around 2x the revenue.

    Meaning the average iOS buyer spends 6x as much as the average Android buyer.

    Did I hear someone say market share?
    Or another way to think about it. Android users download lots of stuff. iOS users actually use the apps they download.
    cali
  • Reply 5 of 18
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member
    I believe most of the income android devs have to rely on is ads. Would be nice to have some stats on that too.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 18
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    First, how does App Annie know how much Apple is collecting per app and from what countries and how does it know where the app was downloads. I would really like to know where they are getting their data what are their data sources. They are making claims I do not think the can really stand behind. Apple does not reveal the numbers and does not break them down. Anything this company is does is purely a guess at best.

    Can someone tell me where all this so called data is coming from. It is like the Democrats this year and the Republicans 4 yrs ago had all this data and analysis which claim they were both going to win and we all know the real out coming. This is what happens when you take a few data points and then try to explain the world.

    I personally would not want a job which relies on these companies data, you would be making bad decision on bad data.

    edited January 2017
  • Reply 7 of 18
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps :)

    What the government needs to do is remove all the illegal music uploads to sites like YouTube.

    The young "hip" generation isn't paying a penny for music. They're all streaming on sites like YouTube from other teenagers who don't own the music!!
    slprescottwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    jason98 said:
    I believe most of the income android devs have to rely on is ads. Would be nice to have some stats on that too.
    No, most of the money comes from in-app purchases and primarily games. That holds true for both Google Play and the App Store
  • Reply 9 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    maestro64 said:

    First, how does App Annie know how much Apple is collecting per app and from what countries and how does it know where the app was downloads. I would really like to know where they are getting their data what are their data sources. They are making claims I do not think the can really stand behind. Apple does not reveal the numbers and does not break them down. Anything this company is does is purely a guess at best.

    Can someone tell me where all this so called data is coming from. It is like the Democrats this year and the Republicans 4 yrs ago had all this data and analysis which claim they were both going to win and we all know the real out coming. This is what happens when you take a few data points and then try to explain the world.

    I personally would not want a job which relies on these companies data, you would be making bad decision on bad data.

    Their data sources are the app developers themselves. 
  • Reply 10 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    cali said:
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps :)

    What the government needs to do is remove all the illegal music uploads to sites like YouTube.

    The young "hip" generation isn't paying a penny for music. They're all streaming on sites like YouTube from other teenagers who don't own the music!!
    The vast majority of the music you find on YouTube is perfectly legal, with the copyright holder getting income from it. Some opt in for actual cash royalties, but many more agree to revenue sharing from ads for their royalties. Google and YouTube don't permit stolen music to remain, blocking much of it before it can even get a single stream, others as soon as it's recognized by their automated systems and still when a purported copyright holder makes Google aware it's on YouTube.  
  • Reply 11 of 18
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    gatorguy said:
    cali said:
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps :)

    What the government needs to do is remove all the illegal music uploads to sites like YouTube.

    The young "hip" generation isn't paying a penny for music. They're all streaming on sites like YouTube from other teenagers who don't own the music!!
    The vast majority of the music you find on YouTube is perfectly legal, with the copyright holder getting income from it. Some opt in for actual cash royalties, but many more agree to revenue sharing from ads for their royalties. Google and YouTube don't permit stolen music to remain, blocking much of it before it can even get a single stream, others as soon as it's recognized by their automated systems and still when a purported copyright holder makes Google aware it's on YouTube.  
    There are millions of illegal uploads on YouTube, some with even 1 million+ views. Google gave up trying to stop these channels.

    Attached is a pic of the biggest song of 2016 searched on YouTube.

    wow will you look at that! One 3rd party upload has 37 million plays. I did more digging and came to the conclusion that all these unofficial uploads could easily equal 100 million. 

    And before you ask, YES these are the original songs and YES they have ads:



    Do you mean these 3rd party uploads create revenue for the actual owners? Even if so, there's millions of illegal uploads without ads. 




    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    cali said:
    gatorguy said:
    cali said:
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps

    What the government needs to do is remove all the illegal music uploads to sites like YouTube.

    The young "hip" generation isn't paying a penny for music. They're all streaming on sites like YouTube from other teenagers who don't own the music!!
    The vast majority of the music you find on YouTube is perfectly legal, with the copyright holder getting income from it. Some opt in for actual cash royalties, but many more agree to revenue sharing from ads for their royalties. Google and YouTube don't permit stolen music to remain, blocking much of it before it can even get a single stream, others as soon as it's recognized by their automated systems and still when a purported copyright holder makes Google aware it's on YouTube.  
    There are millions of illegal uploads on YouTube, some with even 1 million+ views. Google gave up trying to stop these channels.

    Attached is a pic of the biggest song of 2016 searched on YouTube.

    wow will you look at that! One 3rd party upload has 37 million plays. I did more digging and came to the conclusion that all these unofficial uploads could easily equal 100 million. 

    And before you ask, YES these are the original songs and YES they have ads:



    Do you mean these 3rd party uploads create revenue for the actual owners? Even if so, there's millions of illegal uploads without ads. 




    If they have ads then the copyright holder has given the OK and is sharing the revenue from it. What makes you believe they don't? 
    http://blog.songtrust.com/music-publishing-news/5-things-you-had-wrong-about-youtube-royalties/
    edited January 2017
  • Reply 13 of 18
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Google is basically stealing the artist and don't give a crap about it.
    Most illegal music they seemingly let slip buy and I'm sure the artist doesn't get paid, but Google sure profits from it.
    edited January 2017 watto_cobracali
  • Reply 14 of 18
    I think the App Store will go the way of the iTMS, in that there will be a clear shift from "owning" to "renting" (aka subscriptions). Who knows, maybe one day there will even be something like an app flat-rate. 

    Personally, I'm not sure whether this trend is a sign of different market demands, or an attempt to maintain revenue streams in spite of decreasing quality of the offerings. 
    Min other words, maybe I'm getting old, but over time my App Store purchases decreased, and it has been quite some  time since I found a gem in the store. 
    Same with music. The little I still like to hear, I prefer to buy, one as it is still cheaper over all compared to streaming. Two, because I prefer this slightly absurd feeling of actually "owning" music, which of course by license I don't. Three because the Apple streaming offer doesn't cover my personal taste to a significant extent. So in the end the same like with apps :)


    I think what you say is inevitable since companies have discovered that subscriptions are a great source of constant revenue.

    As far as iTMS is concerned, it is still a separate app from Apple Music and you can still buy music there. And, based on my experience, more music is available on iTMS than on Apple Music.

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 18
    For one uploader, John Legend's Start A Fire (from LaLa Land) was out on Youtube for days before it got pulled for copyright infringment, so they don't catch everything right away or they wait until someone complains.
    cali
  • Reply 16 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    For one uploader, John Legend's Start A Fire (from LaLa Land) was out on Youtube for days before it got pulled for copyright infringment, so they don't catch everything right away or they wait until someone complains.
    I'm certain it's impossible to catch everything before it hits YouTube, anymore than Apple and Google can catch every bad app before they hit their app stores. But you've offered evidence that Google/YouTube does care about copyright despite what a couple of posters here would like to say and repeat as tho it's true. 
    edited January 2017
  • Reply 17 of 18
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    gatorguy said:
    For one uploader, John Legend's Start A Fire (from LaLa Land) was out on Youtube for days before it got pulled for copyright infringment, so they don't catch everything right away or they wait until someone complains.
    I'm certain it's impossible to catch everything before it hits YouTube, anymore than Apple and Google can catch every bad app before they hit their app stores. But you've offered evidence that Google/YouTube does care about copyright despite what a couple of posters here would like to say and repeat as tho it's true. 
    What freeloaders and teens love to search is their favorite song followed by "lyrics". You'll see tons of free illegal uploads.

    this is also becoming a problem with tv content. Movies on the other hand seem nearly impossible to upload. Hollywood really has a a grip on their work.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    cali said:
    gatorguy said:
    For one uploader, John Legend's Start A Fire (from LaLa Land) was out on Youtube for days before it got pulled for copyright infringment, so they don't catch everything right away or they wait until someone complains.
    I'm certain it's impossible to catch everything before it hits YouTube, anymore than Apple and Google can catch every bad app before they hit their app stores. But you've offered evidence that Google/YouTube does care about copyright despite what a couple of posters here would like to say and repeat as tho it's true. 
    What freeloaders and teens love to search is their favorite song followed by "lyrics". You'll see tons of free illegal uploads.

    this is also becoming a problem with tv content. Movies on the other hand seem nearly impossible to upload. Hollywood really has a a grip on their work.
    Cali, I know you really want to believe they are all "illegal uploads" but how are you making that determination? If you've read the links I've provided in the past when you've raised this issue or the link I provided in this thread you should have seen that even 3rd party uploads of popular songs are quite likely getting payouts for the copyright holder. 
Sign In or Register to comment.