App Store Economics Games Still Dominate But Charts Now Only Tell Part Of The Story

20,000 Foot View: Since the end of 2014, the two big mobile app storeshave marked a rise in Social and Media Content apps. But only so much changehas taken place, with the underlying dynamics only modestly different nowcompared to            months ago. For all the momentum of growth categories, app storeeconomics remain dominated by Games apps and by in-app purchases. However, witha growing amount of global app revenues unaccounted for by the app stores, andthe advent of new mobile experience distribution channels such as messengerbots, questions now arise about just how good a measure of the total appeconomy app store rankings still are.

Key Findings:

•            of the top            grossing chartsare Games, compared to just            of the top            Free apps
• Social apps (including Dating)account for            of the Top            Free apps
• The Top            Paid and Free bothhave the range of            app categories compared to only            in the grossing charts
• On average, apps needed            monthly downloads to enter the top            grossing charts
• The top free app has a monthlyaverage of            million downloads
• The average number of monthly appdownloads in the top free charts is            million
• Streaming services account formost music apps in the top grossing charts, while musician apps dominate in thepaid charts
• It costs approximately            milliondollars to enter the top            and a further            million a month to stay there
• Getting from position            to                       per chart position, while getting from            to            costs            position
• With many services increasinglyencouraging users to pay ‘off-portal’, app stores now only capture a portion ofthe total app economy