14 DAY TRIAL // A new study from Sensor Tower reveals the most downloaded applications during the first quarter of this year, with Facebook applications dominating the charts both on Android and iOS. Thus, the most downloaded application for iOS was Messenger, followed by WhatsApp, Bitmoji, Instagram and Facebook.
On Android, Facebook’s app tops the chart, followed by WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat. Obviously, both iOS and Android users see social networking apps as the most important and most used. Facebook’s apps will surely continue to grow in popularity, especially after the company announced the new AI assistant M on its Messenger application.
While Facebook managed to dominate the app market in terms of downloads, it was video and audio streaming applications that recorded the most revenue. Netflix generated most revenue and recorded $133 million globally, up 286% compared to last year. The application is followed by Line, Tinder, Pandora, and Spotify.
Google Play recorded more downloads, but less revenue than App Store
Worldwide app downloads grew from 11.9 billion to 13.5 billion last year, thus marking a 14% increase. 4.7 billion downloads were made for applications in the App Store, while Google Play Store accounted for 8.8 billion. This isn’t surprising, considering that the number of smartphones running Android is much greater than those on iOS.
But iPhone users are known to spend more on applications and the latest study shows that $1.7 billion of all earnings came from the App Store, while Google Play generated $504 million in revenue. It’s worth noting that the numbers don’t include revenue from games, a section that’s quite popular on the App Store and that represents the main source of revenue for the platform.
Overall, the app industry grew 63% compared to last year, recording a total of $2.19 billion during the first three months of 2017, compared to $1.34 billion in the same period of last year.
