Global consumer spending on premium apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions across Apple’s App Store and Google Play will reach $270 billion annually by 2025, nearly 2.5 times what consumers spent in 2020 as Covid-19 accelerated mobile trends.
According to data provided by app analytics firm Sensor Tower, Covid-19 supercharged global consumer spending in mobile apps during 2020, which climbed 30 percent year-over-year to $111 billion.
While year over year growth in spending will return to pre-pandemic levels over the next five years, gross revenue on both app stores will continue to climb each year with a 19.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $270 billion in 2025.
The App Store will see a CAGR of 21 percent through 2025, reaching $185 billion annually. Consumer spending on Google Play is projected to experience a 17 percent CAGR, hitting $85 billion annually within the next five years.
Consumer spending in the US will grow at a slightly slower pace than the global trend, climbing to $74 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 17.7 percent. The US App Store will experience a CAGR of 19.6 percent and Google Play will climb 14 percent to $51 billion and $23 billion, respectively.
First-time downloads achieved their highest growth since at least 2016 in 2020, surging 24 percent y/y to 143 billion. Although the pace of installs will slow as markets begin recovering from the pandemic, both the App Store and Google Play will continue experiencing stable y/y growth.
By 2025, non-game apps will widen their lead, even more, reaching $107 billion while mobile games will reach $78 billion.
