Consumer Spending on Apps Grows 8 Percent to $210 Million on Christmas Day: Sensor Tower

Christmas Day turned out to be one of the biggest moneymaking days ever for Apple and Google as far as app sales go.

A new report from mobile analyst firm Sensor Tower shows that consumer spending on apps and games totaled almost $5.1 billion USD globally during December — 8 percent more than the same period last year — with around 5 percent of that coming on Christmas Day.

Consumer spending on mobile games grew 8 percent to $210 million USD on Christmas, up from $195 million last year. U.S. mobile gamers spent $58 million USD or 2 percent more than Christmas 2018. And mobile games accounted for 76 percent of worldwide app spending on Christmas and 73 percent of U.S. spending.

Apple’s App Store accounted for most of the money, taking $193 million USD (70 percent), up 16 percent YoY, while $84 million USD was spent on Google Play, which marks 2.7 percent yearly growth.

Christmas is always a profitable time for mobile apps and games, mostly due to new device sales, first-time mobile users, and consumers who’ve received gift cards. Even non-game apps saw a 2 percent increase in spending compared to the previous year, making around $67 million. The majority of money in this category — 24 percent — came from entertainment apps such as Disney+ and Tencent Video, though the top non-gaming app for spending was Tinder, with $2.1 million.

Unsurprisingly, the top-grossing mobile game on Christmas was “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.” The battle royale game made an incredible $8.5 million USD from in-game spending on the day, up 431 percent from the $1.6 million it made last Christmas.

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