Reference Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241462/global-mobile-phone-website-traffic-share/
Reference Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/983/mobile-app-monetization/
So, How Much Does an App Earn?
Reference Source: https://www.appannie.com/en/apps/ios/top/
Reference Source: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/app-revenues/
As of April 2018,
- Epic Games’ Fortnite makes about $1.9 million in daily revenue
- Candy Crush Saga by King in makes $1.3 million per day through in-app purchases
- Pokemon Go has earned almost $800 million in 2018, an impressive 35% increase from its revenue in 2017
Reference Source: https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/03/sensor-tower-pokemon-go-made-35-more-in-2018-than-2017/
How Do You Begin to Create a Revenue Generating App?
Before you begin to build your app, there are some basic question that you will need to answer:
- Is your app being made for iOS or Android?
- Is your app going to be only for paid users or is it going to be free?
- Do you have in-app purchases available for the users for a better experience?
- Is your app going to have a subscription model?
- Is the app going to be accessible only on mobile or on Smart TVs too?
Once you have answered the above questions, you need to understand the categories that you should look at to earn high revenue incomes from the app They include:
- Music Apps
- Social Media Apps
- Entertainment Apps
- Gaming Apps
- Business Apps
- Finance Apps
How Do You Earn From Free Apps?
As we know, most successful apps are free to download. But then how do you make it a revenue generating app? – the answer is in-app purchases and in-app advertising. Once the user gets the flavour of the app, the next step is to offer him/her added services that will help him/her to enhance the flavour.
Let’s take for example the game apps. Most of them are free to download but they make money by offering the user in-app purchases. In the year 2018, the global revenue from in-app purchases was projected at a staggering $71.3 billion— it makes sense, considering that 98% of app revenue comes from free apps with in-app purchase options.
Reference Source: https://sensortower.com/blog/app-revenue-and-downloads-2018
https://buildfire.com/app-statistics/
How Do You Earn By Creating a Subscription Based App?
Let’s take a few examples to understand subscription based apps and how they generate income. The dating app Tinder has over 50 million registered users. The Tinder dating app is free to download, but makes money by charging users for bonus features like unlimited swipes, which give users endless opportunities to match. “Tinder’s “Passport” add-on allows users to match with users in other locations, while “Boost” allows users to bump their profile to the top of the pile of users in their area. In Q1 of 2018, Match Group reported generating over $407.4 million in revenue. Tinder charges $9.99 a month for a Plus subscription and $14.99 for a Tinder Gold upgrade. This approach has made Tinder one of the highest-grossing apps worldwide.”
Reference Source: https://muchneeded.com/tinder-statistics/
Bumble, another dating app makes $172 per minute in 2018 thanks to its monthly $9.99 subscription option and premium features like Bumble Boost and SuperSwipe.
Reference Source: https://appdevelopermagazine.com/5734/2017/12/6/this-is-how-much-dating-apps-make-every-minute/
Personal trainer Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app is a top-grossing app that serves as a great example for beginning app developers. The app provides subscribers with 28-minute workouts, diet plans, and yoga videos. Sweat quickly gained a cult-like following after its release in late 2015 and currently generates $100 million in revenue yearly.
Reference Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sweat-kayla-itsines-fitness/id1049234587
Android v/s iOS Platform – How Are Payments Made?
Before we begin with how much an app developer gets paid, we can determine that in-app purchases or app purchases are done more by iOS users rather than Android. Let’s take a look at the below chart to understand:
For app developers who have their app on the iOS platform must provide the below documentation:
- Bank details
- Tax details and documents
The payment guidelines are as below:
- Payments are usually made in under 45 days of the last working day of a month when the app purchases were made.
- To receive the payments, you must maintain a minimum payment level.
- There should be a minimum threshold amount you should have earned before getting the amount credited in your account otherwise it carries forward to the next payment date
- Apple takes 30% (per download) of the revenue made on the Apple app store and the app developers earn 70%.
How are Payments Made in Android Play Store?
The payment guidelines are as below:
- Payment is credited to your account within a 30-day cycle
- There is no minimum payment level; even if your app earns $1, it gets credited in your account
- Play Store takes 30% (per download) of the revenue made on the Apple app store and the app developers earn 70%.
Expand Your App’s Horizons
With the ever increasing technological advancement, apps are now limited to the phone or a tablet – Smart TVs and Wear-able Devices are the next step.
More than 70 million homes in the US have a smart TV. The most popular apps used on a Smart TV are entertainment apps such as Amazon Prime, Nexflix, Hulu, etc.
Smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home have also dominated the app market. Ownership of these devices is predicted to skyrocket to 125.65 million by 2020 with a steady growth of third-party app purchases that surpass 1500%.
Reference Source: https://voicebot.ai/google-home-google-assistant-stats/#amazon-alexa-google-home-growth
Smart watches are also getting increasing popular, especially when it comes to health and fitness apps. Smart watches are predicted to reach a 51% share of wearable devices sold in 2022, a huge jump from the previous status of 21% in 2016. Optimizing your app to be smartwatch-compatible could likely be a competitive advantage.
Reference Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2017/11/29/smartwatch-sales-to-double-in-next-5-years/#162883b735ed
Wrapping It Up
The first thing to understand is that not every app can earn like Tinder, Candy Crush, Clash of the Clans or PubG – every app has its limitations. Hence, the money that you can earn from an app depends upon the type of app that you choose. You need to do thorough market research and test your application with users. Remember, not all ideas that look solid of paper turn out to be monetizing apps. The most important factor is that if you are meting your user’s emotions, needs and demands.
The future holds great potential if your app is directed towards augmented reality, artificial intelligence or virtual reality based. These are the latest technology set to enter the mobile app development industry and will change the whole market. The market may be a bit oversaturated, but it’s promising to see that worldwide app store revenue reached $19.5 billion during the first quarter 2019 with huge windows of opportunity opening in China, Brazil, and India.
Reference Source: https://sensortower.com/blog/app-revenue-and-downloads-q1-2019
If you need any further assistance in monetizing your app or learning how to plan an app that can earn, feel free to contact the App Scoop mobile app developers and app development Team – https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html.
