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Sensor Tower: Christmas Day App Store spending hit $193M, significantly outpacing Google Play

According to new data from Sensor Tower, Apple’s App Store had another record-setting Christmas Day. New data indicates that consumers spent $193 million through the App Store on Christmas Day, which is up around 16% compared to 2018.

In total, consumers globally spent $277 million on Google Play Store and the App Store this Christmas, which is up 11.3% year-over-year. Apple’s App Store accounted for the majority of this spending at 70%, and it significantly outpaced the 2.7% growth of the Google Play Store.

In terms of categories, the vast majority of consumers splurged on games this Christmas.

The majority of mobile spending on Christmas, approximately $210 million, was focused on the Games category, which generated 76 percent of revenue across both stores and grew about 8 percent Y/Y from $195 million. PUBG Mobile from Tencent’s TiMi studio led in-game spending with $8.5 million, up 431 percent from the $1.6 million players spent in the game on Christmas 2018.

Entertainment apps, such as Disney+, accounted for the largest portion of non-game spending. Despite that, the top non-game app for overall spending on Christmas was Tinder, which saw gross revenue of $2.1 million.

In the United States alone, spending in the App Store and Play Store was up year-over-year, but at a slightly lower rate:

Compared to the 11.3 percent Y/Y growth witnessed by the stores from a global perspective, consumers in the United States spent 4.8 percent more in apps on Christmas 2019 versus a year ago. Spending topped $80 million across both platforms, up from approximately $76 million on Christmas 2018.

Christmas Day is always a big day for the App Store thanks to consumers receiving new devices and gift cards. Sensor Tower’s estimates actually seem slightly low compared to historical data from Apple. For the holiday season of 2018, Apple said that App Store spending topped topped $1.22 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Apple has yet to make any announcements about App Store spending for the 2019 holiday season.

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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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