Even with apps that have free versions, people still choose to subscribe to their paid versions for multiple reasons like getting rid of ads, getting more content and enjoying exclusive features. There are a lot of apps on the internet that are offering paid versions to their users, but what type of apps are they? It's not like people get paid versions of every app so which apps do they prefer to spend their money on. State of Mobile 2024 by SensorTower found the answer to that. Spending on mobile games isn't included in this ranking.
According to SensorTower’s report, Digital entertainment services like Netflix, Disney+ and HBO got the most consumer spending in 2023 ($8.2 billion). It's not surprising because people love to watch movies, series, live sports and even listening to music and reading books online. The second top category is dating apps like Tinder and consumers are willing to spend big bucks on them, with $5.7 consumer spending in 2023. Tinder was also the first non-game app that reached $1 billion in consumer spending in 2020 and is still dominating the dating apps category. Third one is short video apps like TikTok which have $4.3 billion consumer spending in 2023. Video sharing apps ($2.4 billion) like YouTube and comics apps ($2.3 billion) like Picomma were fourth and fifth top paid app categories respectively.
Other app categories in the top ten included Music and Podcasts ($2.1 billion), File Management ($2.0 billion), Live Sports ($1.2 billion), Live Streaming ($1.2 billion) and Communication ($1.1 billion). There were also other app categories like photo editing, language learning business software, fiction and fitness on which people were willing to spend money as long as they could get their exclusive features.
According to SensorTower’s report, Digital entertainment services like Netflix, Disney+ and HBO got the most consumer spending in 2023 ($8.2 billion). It's not surprising because people love to watch movies, series, live sports and even listening to music and reading books online. The second top category is dating apps like Tinder and consumers are willing to spend big bucks on them, with $5.7 consumer spending in 2023. Tinder was also the first non-game app that reached $1 billion in consumer spending in 2020 and is still dominating the dating apps category. Third one is short video apps like TikTok which have $4.3 billion consumer spending in 2023. Video sharing apps ($2.4 billion) like YouTube and comics apps ($2.3 billion) like Picomma were fourth and fifth top paid app categories respectively.
Other app categories in the top ten included Music and Podcasts ($2.1 billion), File Management ($2.0 billion), Live Sports ($1.2 billion), Live Streaming ($1.2 billion) and Communication ($1.1 billion). There were also other app categories like photo editing, language learning business software, fiction and fitness on which people were willing to spend money as long as they could get their exclusive features.
In all of these categories, paid versions of dating apps were probably a very helpful feature because users can set their own preferences and restrict all kinds of profiles they want. They are also able to boost their own profiles through the paid versions of dating apps (mostly Tinder) and it was found that 11% of the total Tinder users are paid members, which give 60% of the total revenue to the app. WHO has already predicted that loneliness is going to be a global health concern so people are going towards dating apps in order to find their partners.
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| Category | Consumer Spending 2023 | Example App |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Entertainment | $8.2B | Disney+ |
| Dating | $5.7B | Tinder |
| Short Videos | $4.3B | TikTok |
| Video Sharing | $2.4B | YouTube |
| Comics | $2.3B | Piccoma |
| Music/Podcasts | $2.1B | Spotify |
| File Management | $2.0B | Google One |
| Live Sports | $1.2B | ESPN |
| Live Streaming | $1.2B | BIGO LIVE |
| Communication | $1.1B | LINE |
| Photo Editing | $1.0B | Picsart |
| Language Learning | $0.9B | Duolingo |
| Business Software | $0.9B | Adobe Reader |
| Fiction/Books | $0.9B | GoodNovel |
| Fitness | $0.8B | Peloton |
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