Non-gaming apps start making serious money: Line, Spotify are top grossers

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People love to splurge on games in app stores, even as other apps struggle to make money. But this is starting to change as companies figure out ways to monetize their non-game apps, says a new report from mobile market research firm Newzoo.

The share of revenue for non-game apps in app stores worldwide rose marginally from 15 percent in 2015 to 16 percent last year. But it’s projected to accelerate by 30 percent annually to reach nearly a quarter of total app revenue by 2020.

Source: Newzoo Global Mobile Market Report 2017.

Chat apps Line and Kakao – from Japan and South Korea respectively – topped the revenue list on Google Play. Tinder – the leader in dating apps from the US – came in third, while French dating app AdoptAGuy, where women make the first move, climbed to number 8 after launching in the US.

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Even as chat and dating apps made hay on Google Play, music and video apps dominated the iOS app store, with streaming services Spotify and Netflix leading the way. Chinese video-on-demand app iQiyi was eighth, with its American counterpart Hulu coming in tenth. Line and Tencent were other Asian companies on the iOS list, but these rankings are based only on direct revenues from app stores, and not secondary sources of revenue such as ecommerce on Tencent’s WeChat.

Top grossers on Google Play for non-game apps

Source: Newzoo Global Mobile Market Report 2017.

Top grossers in iOS non-game apps

Source: Newzoo Global Mobile Market Report 2017.