Following a stall in growth in 2022, the global app market is set to bounceback this year and generate $34.1bn in consumer spend for Q1 2023, according to figures from data.ai.
In its new Q1 review, data.ai has projected that 2023’s first quarter will welcome the biggest quarterly spend on record, highlighting consumer’s immense enthusiasm for the mobile landscape. These findings signal the market is showing signs of resiliency amidst wider economic uncertainty, and as the quarter draws to a close, data.ai neatly recaps an impressive few months.
A tale of two app stores
Both iOS and Google Play performed well in Q1 2023. iOS grew 5% YoY, which has helped the platform generate $21.8 billion worth of spending. Google Play accounts for around $12.3 billion.iOS users spend significantly more than their Google Play counterparts, accounting for 65% of total app store spend.
Notably games, entertainment and social were some of the largest categories by consumer spend.
Which apps are powering the industry to its greatest spend yet?
There aren’t many surprises here, social, chat and streaming apps – Facebook, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Netflix, etc. remain incredibly influential. Though it is interesting to see TikTok climb the leaderboads to become the world leading app for consumer spends and downloads in Q1 2023, topping the likes of YouTube and Instagram.
Downloads are trending upwards
Consumers downloaded 38.4 billion apps in Q1 2023 — not far from the highest ever Q3 2022 total of 38.7 billion. The biggest spike was on iOS, where estimated installs grew 12% YoY to approximately 9.2 billion. On Google Play, installs grew 1% YoY to 29.2 billion.
