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App Whales And Minnows Segmenting Mobile App Buyers

Karol Severin
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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,            buyers accounted for            of global            revenue, but only for            of            users
  • High-spending App            accounted for            of app users                       of global app revenue and            revenue from app buyers
  • Lower-spending App            accounted for            of app users                       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            in-app high spenders make monthly            in multiple apps, while the            of in-app low spenders spend            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            App Buyer (ARPB) is a            success measure for App companies            biases to companies with less            distributed spending

Companies mentioned in this report: King, Supercell, Glu Mobile, Zynga