?? It Finally Happened
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Revenue of the top earners on the App Store and Google Play has reached a new high in October. That, along with an update about Coinbase, news apps, and a look into what happens when an app just doubles its price, are all in this week's roundup.
FYI - The recording of last week's live onboarding teardown is here and it's full of valuable tips and one very common error almost every app I analyzed made.
In this newsletter:
Insights
1. It Finally Happened - The Highest-Earning Apps in the World in October
I'm going to start this in reverse because the thing we've been waiting to happen has finally happened. If you've been following the series for the last few months you know what that is - the highest-earning apps in the world crossed $1B in net revenue for the first time in October, according to our App Intelligence.
That's a pretty big deal and marks a big milestone for a journey that sped up considerably this year.
Okay, and now to the actual highest-earners, ranked by revenue using our revenue estimates:
TikTok was the highest-earning app in the world in October. Not only did TikTok retain its spot (very much expected), but it also grew its revenue by $17M to end October with $269M in net revenue, according to our estimates. Wow!
YouTube, Disney+, Tinder, and Max round out the top 5 and I'm skipping analyzing this group because they were in the exact same position in September - no fun. But! Revenue for all four grew nicely in October. We estimate that the group's revenue rose by $39M in October. Add that to TikTok's $17M, and you have quite a bit of new revenue.
This set has been pretty unchanged in recent months, but I expect Disney+ to drift out over the coming months as it chose to feud with Apple and not allow new subscriptions via the App Store. We can already see the result of that on the Top Grossing chart in the US.
But there's more!
CapCut made the cut in October and didn't just inch its way up our list but rather skipped ahead right into 6th place with $57M. TikTok's video editor is growing at an amazing rate and is now responsible for more than 40% of the revenue in its category.
Our App Intelligence shows that together, net revenue of the top 10 highest-earning apps in the world rose 6% to $1B in October. Net means after fees have been deducted. This is the first time the total has crossed a billion.
2. A Few New Faces - The Most Downloaded Apps in the World in October
October is behind us so we crunched the numbers and ranked the most downloaded mobile apps in the world. While I don't have anything nearly as exciting to announce as I did with the highest-earning apps, there are a few new faces on our list I want to highlight.
But first, Instagram was the most downloaded app in the world in October, maintaining the position it held every single month this year except for one. Our App Intelligence shows it made its way into 52M more devices through the App Store and Google Play in October, which is actually a teeny tiny bit lower than September.
"Rival" TikTok came in 2nd with 48M downloads, according to our estimates. A tad higher than September, but not enough to dethrone Instagram.
Facebook, WhatsApp, and Temu round out the top five in October - all with more downloads than in September. And if you're curious where Threads is, it didn't go far. It fell out of the top five but only by one spot "thanks" to Temu's downloads rising 13% in October.
But let's talk about ChatGPT and Meesho.
ChatGPT rose one spot into 7th place on our combined downloads chart in October. That's nice, but what's nicer is that its downloads rose to 32M up from 24M in September, according to our App Intelligence. Let's see if this growth is sutsainable now that Google's Gemini has its own iOS app.
Meesho, a shopping platform similar to Temu serving India that has yet to show its icon on our charts, made its way into the 10th spot with 21M estimated downloads. Unlike Temu, which placed 5th in October, Meesho is a social commerce platform that its transactions happening over social platforms and not directly.
The rise is likely a direct result of Meesho's mega sale, which ran between the end of September and the beginning of October.
According to our App Intelligence, the top 10 most downloaded apps in the world got 339M in October, up a smidge from September.
3. Coinbase Hits 2024 Downloads Peak as Bitcoin's Value Explodes
It's been a wild couple of weeks for Bitcoin, which saw its price rise to more than $90K! Just when you thought people moved on from crypto and interest in the currency not many understand faded.
I knew Bitcoin became cool again when I got a call from my mom asking me if it was time she got into crypto. How's everyone (and some mothers) getting into crypto? Coinbase.
According to our estimates, crypto marketplace Coinbase saw its best day of downloads since early 2022!
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Earlier this year, Coinbase was averaging 23K downloads per day from the App Store and Google Play, according to our App Intelligence.
Downloads dropped by nearly half over the summer as the elections were leaning away from Trump, who promised to make the US "crypto capital of the planet". But came back strong after Trump was elected.
Downloads jumped back to their daily average on election day and doubled the next day. The rise didn't stop there. Just as Bitcoin's price continued to surge so did Coinbase's downloads, peaking at 114K last Wednesday, according to our estimates. The most downloads the app has seen in a single day since early 2022 - more than two years ago!
Will this become Coinbase's new normal? It's too early to tell, but if Bitcoin remains as strong, it just might be.
P.S. - I told my mom it's definitely not the time for her to get into crypto.
4. This Is What Happens When an App Doubles Its Price
Robokiller is the highest earning app of its kind. Our estimates show users spent $3.8M in-app in October - the most revenue the app has ever seen in a single month.
Back in January, Robokiller was acquired as part of a portfolio purchase by Bending Spoons, an Italian company that's been acquiring distressed app companies in an effort to revive the apps and increase their performance as part of a mega portfolio. The same company that acquired OG notes app Evernote.
A few months after the transaction, Bending Spoons doubled its subscription price.
Over the summer, users of Robokiller awoke to a notification that their $39.99/yr subscription would be going up to $89.99/yr. More than twice as much.
You could argue that the new price is still a bargain for the service it offers. Not being a user, I don't know if that's true, but that's less relevant. What is relevant is whether its current users thought it was a bargain.
If they did, revenue would simply double starting in April, giving us an interesting glimpse into the price elasticity of an app that saw downloads get cut by more than half since its acquisition.
Well...
According to our estimates, revenue did increase following the increase but it didn't double.
October, which was Robokiller's biggest month in terms of revenue, saw a year over year increase of 28% - the biggest increase this year. Sounds like a lot, but considering the price doubled, that means quite a bit of churn.
A quick back of the napkin calculation suggests Robokiller may have lost more than half of its paying users since the price increased! We expect to see the drop continue into next year.
Fewer users and more revenue has its advantages, but it also makes you think - was this a good mid/long term strategy?
5. Breaking: The News Apps That Grew the Most on Election Day
There's been a lot of talk of people leaving major news outlets for the likes of X and Bluesky, but election week downloads tell a slightly different story.
I looked at downloads of all major news outlets during election week and compared them to the prior week. Can you guess who won without looking at the chart?
Fox News was the winner in terms of growth with downloads growing 519% week over week - the most downloads the app has seen in a single week this year. Our estimates show downloads rising from 19K to 119K.
CNN came in second with downloads rising a massive 413%. Like Fox, this was CNN's best week of downloads this year - and not by a close margin. Unlike Fox, CNN's downloads started higher at 46k and rose to 236K, according to our estimates.
AP News ranked third with downloads rising 253%, the app's best week this year, but overall much lower in absolute terms.
The New York Times rose 85% and the Wall Street Journal rose just 3%.
In comparison, X's downloads rose just 11%. But... X's downloads are muuuuch higher than all news apps combined. We estimate X's downloads rose from 1.9M in the week prior to the election to 2.1M during election week.
Upcoming Events
?? Live AMA with Ariel from Appfigures
I've covered a variety of topics lately to help you get more downloads and turn those into revenue, from App Store Optimization to paid ads and paywalls. My next stream is bringing all topics into one stream!
Submit your questions here and tune into our the live stream next Tuesday (Nov. 26th) to get your answers.
And that's all I have for you this week. I hope you've learned something new and please share the newsletter. Check out our App Intelligence to get ahead of your competitors.
Note: All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.