Study Finds More Than $100 Billion Spent on App Stores in 2020

A new report by Sensor Tower reveals that 2020 has been a record-setting year for worldwide spending on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, which collectively passed $100 billion in a single year for the first time ever in November.

global christmas spending 2020

The trend of increased spending continued over Christmas, when consumers around the world spent an estimated $407.6 million across Apple's ‌App Store‌ and Google Play. This represents a 34.5 percent year-on-year growth from approximately $303 million in 2019. At the same time in 2019, spending only increased by 17.1 percent year-on-year.

Spending on Christmas day constituted 4.5 percent of December's total spending so far, which reached nine billion dollars globally on December 27. The majority of holiday spending was on mobile games, which climbed by 27 percent from $232.4 million at the same time last year to $295.6 million.

Tencent's "Honor of Kings" was the leading game with approximately $10.7 million in consumer spending, which is a 205.7 percent increase from Christmas 2019. TikTok was the top app for spending outside of games, generating $4.7 million globally.

Following previous years, Apple's ‌App Store‌ captured the majority of spending between the ‌App Store‌ and the Google Play Store, with 68.4 percent of spending, up 35.2 percent year-on-year. The Google Play Store saw $129 million in revenue compared to the ‌App Store‌'s $278.6 million.

In the United States, consumers spent almost $130 million across both app stores this Christmas, which is a 38.7 percent growth year-on-year and exceeds global growth by six points.

us christmas spending 2020

As with the global marketplace, mobile games generated the most revenue in the U.S., increasing 26.4 percent from $69 million in 2019 to $87.2 million. Other apps grew 72.2 percent from $24.8 million to $42.7 million.

"Roblox" was the top mobile game in the U.S., with consumer spending climbing 40.4 percent this Christmas from $4.7 million to $6.6 million. Disney+ was the leading non-game app for consumer spending, generating $2.6 million in the U.S., which was up 44.4 percent from $1.8 million at the same time in 2019.

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Top Rated Comments

djcerla Avatar
57 months ago
$100B? These figures are shocking.

And Apple gets 2x Google’s revenue despite the smaller installed base. Apple defied every Wintel-era wisdom with its ecosystem.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TVreporter Avatar
57 months ago
In first: Apple is doomed!

Guess they don’t miss Fortnite too much.

My son plays Roblox with his friends - fun mix of games. He prefers it over the Nintendo Switch as multiplayer is so much easier to do.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
57 months ago

This is exactly why another reader had commented in a previous article last week about the small business price scheme changes, and that it was cruddy Apple made the changes effective date after the new year.

I totally agree.
Why is it cruddy? When Apple makes money, so does the dev. I guess I don't see it that way.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
57 months ago

People selling their souls to their gadgets...they will realize they wasted their time on this earth when they take their final breath...

They will know in that final moment, that they soul their soul to this company and worshiped their devices like false idols.

The creator left us a planet that is beautiful and abundant with resources & nature...instead these lemmings decide to play games all day and stare at screens for decades of their lives....

I liberated myself, quit all drugs & alcohol, went vegetarian & set out to conquer this planet...if I take my last breath today, then I die knowing I did everything humanly possible to reject what these Technocrats have attempted to unleash since the passing of Steve Jobs...

Will you?
And yet this? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/third-gen-airpods-with-airpods-pro-design-to-cost-200-and-launch-in-first-half-of-2021.2275722/post-29401414

Gadgets can mean anything including but not limited to iphones, eg life saving pacemakers. However apps can range from the ridiculous to the sublime. And it's been shown that playing games when you are older increases mental capacity (so my wife tells me).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Maconplasma Avatar
57 months ago

bruh how? most apps are free
Bruh! I hope you realize that most apps that are free contain In-App purchases so they are not free.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DelayedGratificationGene Avatar
57 months ago

$100B is chump change nowadays, less than the net worth of the richest folks. Wake me up when it hits $1T.
Don’t plan on sleeping long
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)