As technological advancements increase, so does its demand. The global consumer mobile apps spending accounted for $29.3 billion, and their downloads reached 36.5 billion across Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Q3. These metrics encountered massive growth YOY, as mobile app users spent 32% more than the $22.2 billion produced in 2019 Q3, and downloads grew by 23.3% from 29.6 billion in the earlier quarter.
Compared to that, spending rose 24% between Q3 2018 and Q3 2019, and downloads grew by 9% in the same period. Q3 2020 has shown immense growth due to COVID-19’s continuous impact on consumer spending on mobile apps by
one of the top app developers 2020.
Global Mobile App Revenue & Installs
User spending on in-app purchases, premium, and subscription apps hiked by 31% to $19 billion worldwide on Apple’s App Store in Q3 2020, up from $14.5 billion in the same period the previous year. Spending on Google Play experienced more considerable growth, rising 33.8% YOY to $10.3 billion from $7.7 billion in the last year quarter.
TikTok was the highest-earning non-game app worldwide in Q3 2020 in spending across both stores despite being banned in its largest market. The social video-sharing app has a vast consumer spending that rose 800% YOY compared to Q3 2019. This was its 2nd successive quarter as the top-grossing non-game app.
YouTube comes at 2nd number, as it observed revenue growth of 59% YOY. Even though Tinder formerly ranked as the top-grossing non-game app in Q3 2019, it jumped down to number 3 last quarter as its revenue grew 5% YOY.
At number 4 comes is Tencent Video with consumer spending in the app jumping 42% YOY. Disney+ supported by tentpole content like Hamilton and Mulan, bringing the top 5 highest-grossing non-game apps at number 5.
As per the estimates, the first-time app downloaded in the past year rose 23.3% YOY to 36.5 billion. Nearly 8.2 billion of those were from Apple’s App Store.
Whereas, Google Play Store accounted for 28.3 billion first-time app downloads in Q3 2020, up to 31% YOY from 21.6 billion during the same interval in 2019. Google’s platform produced over 3 times the downloads of the App Store.
As done in past quarters, Facebook’s apps represented most of the top 5 non-game apps by worldwide installs, though none occupied the first spot. That went to TikTok, which observed its downloads rise 8% YOY as it again reached the top of the chart after being degraded by the video-conferencing app Zoom in Q2 2020.
The integral FB app ranked at number 2, with its downloads reduced by 2% YOY. Zoom’s rising popularity and remote working kept it at number 3 in the top 5. In the previous quarter, its new downloads were over 21 times its downloads from the same interval in 2019.
Global Mobile Game Revenue & Installs
Mobile game spending previously observed a hike in the Q3 2020, as users worldwide were seeking more entertainment and fun options. Q3 also encountered a significant growth for gaming, rising 26.7% YOY to reach $20.9 billion consumer spending globally on the Google Play and App Store. Over half of these earnings came from Apple users, which produced $12.4 billion from in-game expenditure, up to 24% YOY from Q3 2019. Google platform made $8.5 billion in total revenue in gaming, reflecting 30.8% YOY growth.
The Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile were positioned at the number 1 and 2 among the five highest-revenue generating games in Q3 2020. User spending in Honor of Kings and Arena of Velor (it’s international version) grew 65% YOY from across the Google Play and App Store worldwide, excluding 3rd-party Android marketplaces in China.
Pokemon GO was ranked number 3 as the top-grossing game, witnessing 33% YOY growth than the past year. The eternally well-known AR title recently celebrated its 4th anniversary by passing $3.6 billion in lifetime gamer spending. Coin Master was placed on number 4, and Roblox was on number 5, respectively, among the top-earning mobile games past quarter. Coin Master observed its user spending twice YOY during Q3 2020, and Roblox observed 119% growth. In the first two quarters of 2020, Roblox passed $1.5 billion in lifetime gamer revenue and is close to $2 billion to date.
The top 5 top-grossing games produced over $2.4 billion, or 12% of all user spending on mobile games previous quarter, similar to the same interval in the past year when the top 5 games made $1.9 billion, or 12% of the $16.4 billion total.
New downloads of mobile games hiked close to 28% YOY last quarter to 14.2 billion across the Google Play and App Store worldwide. The significance of downloads came from Google Play, which rose 36.8% from 8.7 billion in Q3 2019 to 11.9 billion. Whereas, the App Store witnessed game downloads reduce a bit YOY, declining 4.2% from 2.4 billion in the last year to 2.3 billion in Q3 2020. This number shows a decline in mobile game downloads from China’s App Store; outside of China, new game downloads were up slightly.
Among Us was a breakaway hit, and reached number 1 among the top-installed games of Quarter 3 2020 with downloads that were over 13 times what it observed in Q3 2019. Scribble Rider and My Talking Tom Friends, both released earlier this year, were numbers 2 & 3, respectively. Subway Surfer was at number 4 with downloads rising 29% YOY and Garena Free Fire at number 5 with downloads reducing 5% YOY.
Entering the Q4
As we enter the 4th quarter, new trends will undoubtedly emerge, as will new standout apps, a few driven by platform innovations like home screen customization on iOS. The pandemic in 2020 has seen consumer behavior impacted in unforeseen ways, not the potential end.
