App Whales And Minnows Segmenting Mobile App Buyers
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The 20,000 Foot View
Despite being small in number, app buyers are the bread and butter of the current mobile app economy accounting for the majority of global app revenue. But their behaviour is too often simply benchmarked against that of free app users. But it is not a binary equation. The app buyer population comprises two distinct sub-segments, which vary across many factors including scale, revenue share, demographics, app spend allocation as well as media consumption patterns. Understanding the differences of the app buying sub-segments allows for more accurate and effective marketing, targeting and product development.
Key Findings
- In 2014, app buyers accounted for of global app revenue, but only for of app users
- High-spending App Whales accounted for of app users and of global app revenue and of revenue from app buyers
- Lower-spending App Minnows accounted for of app users and of global app revenue of high spenders are male, compared to of low spenders of high spenders are under compared to of low spenders
- The majority of in-app high spenders make monthly purchases in multiple apps, while the majority of in-app low spenders spend on a single app only of high spenders listen to radio, compared to low spenders of high spenders pay a for monthly video subscription service, compared to of low spenders of low spenders would pay a one off fee to access a video, compared to of high spenders of high spenders use networks compared to of low spenders of high spenders use mobile piracy apps compared to of low spenders
- Average Revenue Per App Buyer (ARPB) is a key success measure for App companies but biases to companies with less evenly distributed spending
Companies mentioned in this report: King, Supercell, Glu Mobile, Zynga