Consumer spending on mobile apps hits a new high of $171 bn in 2023

Consumer spending on mobile apps hit a new high of $171 billion in 2023, a three per cent year-on-year growth, following a 2 per cent dip in 2022.

The mobile app economy is now a half-a-trillion-dollar market, with nearly $1.5 billion in spending each day in 2023 across app store spend and mobile ad spend.

This included $362 billion in mobile ad spend, an 8 per cent YoY increase, according to data.ai’s ‘State of Mobile 2024’ report.

Revenue wasn’t the only metric that performed well in 2023 as downloads and time spent also saw strong growth to new all-time highs.

Hours spent peaked at 5.1 trillion (over 6 per cent growth). Meanwhile, downloads remained flat at 257 billion (around 1 per cent growth).

“The uptick in app store spend is particularly notable given the unprecedented decline in 2022, which was largely driven by mobile gaming,” the report mentioned.

Apps outpaced games, driving the rebound in consumer spend at 11 per cent YoY to $64 billion and more than six times the total from 2016.

TikTok laid the groundwork through its content creator “tipping” mechanism, propelling it past $10 billion in lifetime spend.

Generative AI experienced explosive growth in 2023, expanding by 7 times, and led to the emergence of new sectors such as AI Chatbots and Art Generators.

“This AI growth also fueled embedded features across virtually all mobile sectors, paving the way for a fresh wave of digital innovation. Notable Generative AI apps include ChatGPT, Ask AI and Character AI,” the report mentioned.

Generative AI apps also surpassed $10 million in monthly consumer spend by late 2023.

“Mobile ad spend is projected to reach $362 billion, an 8 per cent increase, fueled by short-form video and video-sharing apps,” the report mentioned.

Social and entertainment apps experienced double-digit growth, with time spent up 12 per cent to 3 trillion hours and spending up 10 per cent to $29 billion.