Apps are making record profits from the pandemic

One of the effects of the pandemic has been the increased use of smartphones and other digital tools, both for commercial, educational and entertainment purposes. A trend that is confirmed by a recent report from the analytics company Sensor Tower.

In the ‘Store Intelligence’ study we read that, in the first half of 2020, consumer spending on mobile applications increased by 28.4% compared to the same survey in 2019. An increase that does not stop: in the first Six months of 2021 there was a new jump of 24.8% compared to last year. Translated means 64.9 billion dollars spent by users, in general, on the App Store and Google Play. Two digital stores that the Antitrust authorities have under the lens of the duopoly.

The share of the profits, according to Sensor Tower, is on the side of Apple, with 41.5 billion dollars, while Android has brought the remaining 23.4 billion to the coffers of Google. In the first half of 2021, the App Store grew by 22.1%, the Google Play by 30%. Google’s broader growth is being driven by markets like the Philippines, where Covid-19 has led to ongoing shutdowns and quarantines, powering e-commerce and delivery applications.

Regarding individual apps, TikTok topped revenue in 2020, and remained the highest grossing non-game app worldwide on both the App Store and Google Play, including also the Chinese version for iOS that goes by the name of Douyin. YouTube ranks second, spending $ 564.7 million. Third Tinder, ahead of the Japanese comic book reader Piccoma and the streaming platform Disney +. Great success also for video games. Global spending reached $ 44.7 billion in the first half of 2021, up 17.9% year-over-year. A growth that follows the one experienced a year ago, when the mobile video game sector grew by 25.5%. The App Store registered 26,000 million dollars in expenses in games, 13.5% more. Google Play Store has maintained the same trend observed in the first half of 2020, with + 24.7%. The gaming segment on smartphones and tablets is characterized by slower growth rates than in 2020, but for Sensor Tower this does not indicate a decline for the sector, rather a normalization after the boom during the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. The game that generated the most revenue globally was Tencent’s Honor of Kings, which also ranks # 1 on the App Store. On the Google side, Coin Master reigns supreme, but it only ranks fifth in the overall ranking. PUBG Mobile remains stable at the top while Pokémon Go is back in fashion, the game that focuses on augmented reality and the desire to go out, where you can find new pets for your character.

As for the gaming sector, in the United States a legal battle is being fought between Apple and Epic Games, the company that owns the popular game Fortnite, which has chosen to break with the App Store in order not to pay a 30% commission. to the Cupertino giant on all the products that came to the owners of iPhones.