50% Of All App Store Revenue Is Split Between Just 25 Developers

According to a research by analyst firm Canalys, almost 50% of total revenue generated from paid app downloads and in-app purchases on App Store in the US, is split between just 25 developers (via The Register). Interestingly, 24 out of those top 25 earners are game developers.

App store

The firm said that  during the first 20 days of November 2012, $120m total revenue was generated from app downloads in the US, half of which was split between just 25 developers. All but one of those top 25 earners were game developers, including Disney, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Glu, Kabam, Rovio, Storm8, and Zynga, among others. The analysis also notes that 145 of the top 300 apps in the Apple App Store were games during its sample period.

The one exception on the top-earners list was Pandora, which markets the popular Pandora Radio app for its personalized music service.

In most of the other cases, however, Canalys found that the top-selling game makers managed to dominate the charts by offering multiple products through the app stores at once, to strengthen their respective brands.

For example, Rovio currently markets eight different variants of its Angry Birds franchise through the Google Play store, in addition to spinoffs such as Bad Piggies. Electronic Arts, on the other hand, publishes some 962 games for iOS, either under its own brand or those of its subsidiaries.

The research firm added that developers who don’t already have a strong brand presence will find it increasingly difficult to crack the market, given the huge volume of apps available in the App Store.

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