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Sensor Tower: App Store revenue to more than double by 2023 thanks to subscriptions

Consumer spending in the App Store is expected to continue increasing at a brisk pace. new data from Sensor Tower today suggests that Apple Store spending will more than double between now and 2023.

According to the data, App Store user spending will increase from $47 billion during 2018 to $96 billion in 2023. That’s an increase of 104 percent. Meanwhile, Sensor Tower expects the Google Play Store to grow at a slightly faster pace, going from $25 billion in 2018 to $60 billion in 2023, for an increase of 140 percent.

Despite Google Play’s slightly bigger growth, Sensor Tower anticipates that the App Store will account for 62 percent of all mobile app spending in 2023.

Our projections call for global revenue on Apple’s platform to reach $96 billion in the next five years, an increase of 104 percent over 2018’s total of $47 billion at a CAGR of 15.6 percent. Google Play, by comparison, is projected to reach $60 billion in worldwide spending, up 140 percent over 2018 at a CAGR of 19 percent.

In doing so, Google Play will tighten its revenue gap with the App Store, but Apple’s platform will still command nearly 62 percent of all revenue generated by the two stores.

In terms of app spend in individual regions, Sensor Tower expects Africa and Latin America will see the strongest revenue growth between now and 2023. Africa is expected to grow 296 percent and hit $420 million by 2023, while Latin America will grow 296 percent to $430 millions.

While Latin America and Africa are growing exponentially, the U.S. and China are still the largest markets by a great margin. According to Sensor Tower, both Google Play and the App Store will combine for $40 billion in spend by 2023 – that’s up 110 percent compared to $19 billion 2018.

In fact, as explained by TechCrunch, the United States will briefly overtake China:

Sensor Tower is also estimating the U.S. will briefly pass China in App Store revenue by 2020 — a figure that ties to Apple’s slower iPhone sales in China, which led it to cut its revenue forecast. China was also substantially impacted by the game-licensing freeze, which saw app downloads fall 4 percent between 2017 to 2018, after having grown 8 percent the year before. Consumer spending then grew only 14 percent in 2018, versus 60 percent the prior year.

Ultimately, Sensor Tower data indicates that the continued growth of Entertainment subscription apps is what’s powering the App Store’s success. The category is expected to grow 24 percent over the next five years, compared to 10 percent growth for games.

Read the full report from Sensor Tower here.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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