Mobile app ad revenue continues to soar

Income from advertisements continues to fuel the mobile app industry. According to the numbers presented by NoKyc.com, ads are expected to contribute almost 66% of the entire revenue for mobile apps in 2024. Furthermore, the share of revenue from ads is expected to grow even more in the coming years.

Apps expected to make $344.11 billion from mobile app ads in 2024

Ads are responsible for two-thirds of the global revenue of mobile apps. These figures come from the latest Statista report on mobile apps. As per the analysis, mobile apps are expected to make $522.73 billion in global revenue in 2024. This figure represents a healthy year-on-year increase of 11.9% on $467.08 billion earned in 2023.

In 2024, ads are expected to bring $344.11 billion in revenue for apps, making up 65.8% of overall annual revenue. In-app purchases are expected to bring in another $172.53 billion, or 33% of the overall revenue. Revenue from payments for paid apps is expected to be just $6.09 billion - 1.2% of total revenue.

Ad revenue is expected to grow

As compared to 2023, the ad revenue is expected to grow by more than 12% in 2024. It’s worth observing that the share of ad revenue as part of the overall revenue has increased steadily over the years. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years but at a slower rate.

For example, in 2018, ad revenue was $100.77 billion, making up 50.2% of the overall revenue. In the last six years, the rate of growth in ad revenue has performed better than the rate of overall growth. In 2024, as per the estimations, ad revenue is set to reach 65.8% of the total annual revenue.  

If we look into the coming years, the overall annual revenue is set to grow to $673.78 billion in 2027. Ad revenue is expected to grow up to $451.38 billion by the same year. Thus, the share of ad revenue as part of overall revenue is expected to grow up to 67%.

Highlights of the report

• Total revenue in the App market is projected to reach US$437.80bn in 2022.
• Total revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2029) of 7.84%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$781.70bn by 2029.
• In-app purchase (IAP) revenue in the App market is projected to reach US$167.30bn in 2022.
• Paid app revenue in the App market is projected to reach US$4.59bn in 2022.
• Advertising revenue in the App market is projected to reach US$265.80bn in 2022.
• The number of downloads in the App market is projected to reach 235.30bn downloads in 2022.
• The average revenue per download currently is expected to amount to US$1.86.
• A global comparison reveals that most revenue is generated in China (US$162.40bn in 2022).

Revenue Growth Mobile

In-scope:

• Apps that can be downloaded from major app stores such as Apple, Inc.'s App Store and the Google Play store, or in the case of China, from stores such as Huawei AppGallery and Tencent Appstore.
• Apps that are run on iPhones and Android phones.

Out-of-scope:

• Apps exclusively offered by Microsoft Store and Amazon Appstore for Android.
• Custom-made apps not available from any official app store.
• B2B/C2C app sales of any kind.
• Subscription revenues outside of in-app purchases (for example, Netflix and Spotify use their own payment systems outside of their apps).