Top subscription apps generated $13 billion in 2020

Global app revenue from the top 100 subscription apps hit $13 billion in 2020, compared with $9.7 billion in 2019

There was record consumer spending and app downloads in 2020 globally, reaching around $111 billion to $112 billion, according to various estimates. But, according to a new report from Sensor Tower, a growing part of that spend included subscription payments. Last year, global app revenue from the top 100 subscription apps (excluding games), surged 34% YOY to $13 billion, compared with $9.7 billion in 2019.

As the App Store has historically outperformed Play Store, it was not surprising to see App Store accounting for a major share of the subscription revenue.

In 2020, the top 100 subscription apps worldwide generated $10.3 billion on the App Store compared with $2.7 billion on Google Play. While Apple’s revenue from subscription rose 32% over 2019, Google Play’s subscription revenue grew 42% from $1.9 billion in 2019.

However, subscription revenue growth may be hitting a peak, which can be attributed to larger apps, like Netflix and Tinder, which have found ways to workaround the app stores’ in-app purchases requirements.

Globally, subscription app revenue from the top 100 apps was around 11.7% of the total $111 billion consumers spent on in-app purchases in 2020 — which is roughly the same share it saw in 2019.

86 of the top 100 earning apps worldwide offered subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared with 89 apps offering subscriptions in the last quarter of 2019.

Moreover, subscription app revenue growth in the U.S. is behind the trends seen globally.

Although U.S. subscription app revenue reached nearly $5.9 billion in 2020, up 26% on a year-over-year basis, that was lower compared with global figures of 34%.

What’s more, subscription app spending in the U.S. last year represented a smaller percentage of the total consumer spend than in 2019, the report found. In 2020, subscription payments from the top 100 subscription apps were 17.6% of the $33 billion U.S. consumers spent on in-app purchases, down from the 21% share they accounted for in 2019.

The number of subscription apps dropped in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the number of such apps falling to 91 compared with 93 during the same quarter in the previous year.

The top subscription apps in the U.S. looked different between the App Store and Google Play. While YouTube was the top grosser on App Store, Google Pay users spent on Google One (Google’s cloud storage product). Tinder occupied the second spot on the App Store, while Disney+ took the second spot on Google Play.

Overall, the top 10 across both stores were YouTube, Disney+, Tinder, Pandora, Google One, Twitch, Bumble, HBO Max, Hulu and ESPN. This indicates that consumers are willing to pay for their entertainment on subscription, but it’s more difficult for other categories to break into the top charts.