Mobile app monetization - statistics & facts
Mobile apps have shifted from being convenient add-ons to becoming essential digital products that dominate consumer spending worldwide. The mobile app ecosystem in 2025 illustrates how diverse monetization strategies, from subscriptions and in-app purchases to advertising, drive billions of dollars in revenue each year. Major players such as gaming and social networking apps lead the market, while tech giants and digital storefronts like Apple and Google also play a significant role in shaping profit distribution.
However, it’s not only app developers and publishers that benefit from mobile apps: digital storefronts such as the Apple App Store or Google Play require developers to pay commission fees on the sales of paid apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions. The revenue split of digital platforms is a hotly contested topic and has already led to several lawsuits and adjustments of platform policies.
In 2025, advertising constituted the largest share of the app market revenues, with almost 381 billion U.S. dollars generated with this monetization method annually. During an early 2025 survey carried out among app marketers worldwide, roughly half of respondents said that their campaign budgets in 2025 were (significantly or somewhat) larger than 12 months earlier.
As of 2025, a weekly billing cycle was the most popular subscription duration for in-app subscriptions, representing 46 percent of overall subscription app revenue. The average price of weekly app subscriptions varies by region, with users in Europe currently paying 8.30 U.S. dollars on average.
As consumers increasingly recognize the value that apps bring to their digital experiences, monetization strategies are shifting away from an overreliance on advertising. The rise of in-app purchases and subscriptions reflects not only changing user preferences but also a strategic move by publishers to secure more stable and recurring revenue streams. This transition highlights a broader industry trend in which users see tangible, ongoing benefits. App monetization has become as much about cultivating loyalty and trust as it is about financial return.
Who makes money from apps?
As user behavior evolves, the balance between ads, subscriptions, and other payment models continues to redefine how value is created in the global app economy. The highest-grossing mobile app segments are gaming and social networking, with annual revenues of over 237 billion and 154 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Subsequently, app publishers in these segments also consistently rank among the highest-grossing mobile app publishers worldwide, with Tencent, Google, and ByteDance leading the way.However, it’s not only app developers and publishers that benefit from mobile apps: digital storefronts such as the Apple App Store or Google Play require developers to pay commission fees on the sales of paid apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions. The revenue split of digital platforms is a hotly contested topic and has already led to several lawsuits and adjustments of platform policies.
Advertising is still the top mobile monetization practice
While subscriptions are increasingly becoming an option for app publishers, in-app ads are still the preferred monetization practice worldwide.As of September 2025, about 27 percent of global app publishers decided to include ads in their products, while in-app billing only interested less than one in 10 app developers.In 2025, advertising constituted the largest share of the app market revenues, with almost 381 billion U.S. dollars generated with this monetization method annually. During an early 2025 survey carried out among app marketers worldwide, roughly half of respondents said that their campaign budgets in 2025 were (significantly or somewhat) larger than 12 months earlier.
Spotlight: subscriptions are slowly becoming more popular
Apps offering subscriptions have thrived from this monetization model, as it helped these apps retain users and redirect spending on their platforms without sharing profits with the app store's distribution system.As of 2025, a weekly billing cycle was the most popular subscription duration for in-app subscriptions, representing 46 percent of overall subscription app revenue. The average price of weekly app subscriptions varies by region, with users in Europe currently paying 8.30 U.S. dollars on average.
As consumers increasingly recognize the value that apps bring to their digital experiences, monetization strategies are shifting away from an overreliance on advertising. The rise of in-app purchases and subscriptions reflects not only changing user preferences but also a strategic move by publishers to secure more stable and recurring revenue streams. This transition highlights a broader industry trend in which users see tangible, ongoing benefits. App monetization has become as much about cultivating loyalty and trust as it is about financial return.
