This Week in Apps - What a Year!
This Week in Apps is a short, no-fluff, round-up of interesting things that happened in the mobile industry. Here are our top highlights.
U.S. Revenue Index (vs. 30 days ago)
Insights
1. ChatGPT's App Revenue Grew More Than 1,000% in 2024
It's hard to say 2024 wasn't the year of AI, and not just for the tech folks but for pretty much everyone. We can see that very clearly by looking at the growth of ChatGPT, the tool most people think about when they hear AI these days.
And by growth, I mean revenue growth:
According to Appfigures Intelligence, users spent a whopping $486M on ChatGPT in 2024. OpenAI kept $340M of that after Apple and Google took their fees. What's very interesting here is that the majority of the revenue came in Q4.
Our estimates show that ChatGPT's mobile app brought in $214M of gross revenue in Q4, which amounts to roughly 43% of the total for the year.
ChatGPT's mobile app launched in May of 2023 to the App Store and a bit later on to Google Play, so comparing totals isn't exactly fair, but I did it anyway, and the difference is massive. Revenue rose 1,033% between 2023 and 2024 showing just how much appetite consumers have for AI.
It's worth noting that the majority of revenue - 82% in 2024 - came from the App Store. Google's share of revenue increased in Q4 by a little, suggesting that adoption by Android users is also rising rapidly.
Our AI report is coming soon and includes an even deeper look into ChatGPT's journey and a very comprehensive look into 1,000+ successful AI apps. Keep an eye out for it.
2. Hinge Beat Tinder and Bumble with 28% Revenue Growth Last Year
2024 was a rough year for the big dating apps. That's what it looked like a few months ago, at least. The rise of niche dating apps like The League and Raya has stolen some demand away from bigwigs Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge.
But now that we have the entire year in our rearview mirror, things aren't as bad as they once seemed. For two out of the three, at least. For one of those, it's pretty bad.
I charted consumer spending on Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge - the three biggest dating apps in the US in terms of revenue. There are a few other dating apps making money, but none early as much as those three so I didn't look at them.
Between January and December of 2024, the trio saw $2.8B of gross revenue, according to our App Intelligence. Billion, with a capital B! Apple and Google kept about $400M of that. That's a pretty nice payday, but not surprising considering all three aren't just at the top of their category but also at the top of the overall charts.
This haul also marks a healthy rise in revenue when compared to 2023. Our estimates show an increase of 8.8% or roughly $225M of pre-fee revenue. To put things in perspective, only 227 apps made more than $50M in all of 2024 according to Explorer - the "difference" in year-over-year revenue for these dating powerhouses.
But not all three had the same journey.
Tinder is big, so even single-digit growth means big money. Our estimates show Tinder's revenue rose a tad over 10% in 2024. That amounts to a plus of more than $143M in gross revenue. Hinge, which is the smallest of the three, saw revenue rise even more than Tinder. Our estimates show a 28% increase for a little more than $106M of gross revenue.
But not Bumble. Bumble's revenue dropped in 2024 by 3.4% for a loss of roughly $25M in gross revenue.
What's pushing revenue? An increase in subscription cost and a shift towards weekly subscriptions across the board have made the value of a paying user considerably higher in 2024. We've seen this trend of subscription revenue maximization across a variety of verticals, but dating apps seem to get away with even more egregious increases. I don't expect that to change in 2025.
3. Duolingo's Subscription Revenue Rose 567% in Four Years
Is your New Year's resolution to learn a new language? If so, you're not alone. That's where Duolingo, the now defacto gold standard for language learning comes in.
Duolingo's revenue shoots up every January as if it were a gym, but after it drops in February, it continues to grow.
2024 was Duolingo biggest year of revenue, and not by a little. Our App Intelligence shows users gave the green bird $678M in 2024, up 37% from 2023 and more than 560% higher than revenue in 2020.
The US accounts for a little under half of Duolingo's revenue but the total comes from all 100+ countries our App Intelligence covers.
Is Duolingo the only language elarning app?!?!?!?
Not at all! But...
I searched Explorer for the keyword "language learning," and it found more than 10,000 results. When summed up, those apps saw a little more than $440M in gross revenue in all of 2024.
All of the competitors combined made less than Duolingo in 2024. Let that sink in.
Duolingo's gamification of learning has a lot to do with its success, but it's also one of the most discoverable language learning apps on the App Store, commanding the top rank for most language-related keywords thanks to a carefully crafted ASO strategy and loooots of new ratings.
I expect to see this trend continue into 2025, but I'm curious if any competitor can get close now that AI is enabling so many opportunities for language learning, especially with voice.
Grow Smarter, with Data.
Affordable tools for ASO, Competitive Intelligence, and Analytics.
4. Streaming App Revenue Crossed $5B in 2024 - Here Are The Winners & Losers
The streaming race felt a bit cooler in early 2024, but looking at revenue for the top streamers, that's not at all true. Not only did the top streaming apps end 2024 with more than $3.8B in net revenue, which is almost twice as much as 2023, but every app grew double digits.
Except for one.
I analyzed the most popular streaming apps, which include Max, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, and Hulu, to see if there's more money in streaming even though there hasn't been much in terms of new content, password sharing is no longer possible, and subscription fees continuing to grow.
And no, none of those factors mattered in 2024. Maybe just a little. Maybe. Because our App Intelligence shows that the group's collective net revenue, which is what's left after store fees, rose 120% in 2024. That's more than twice as much. And it was already in the billions to begin with.
Every app but one saw revenue grow double digits but it was Amazon Prime Video that saw the most growth - 61%, according to our estimates. Max was right below it with a respectable 56% increase in 2024 while Peacock and Paramount+ ended the year with 32% and 31% increases, respectively.
Disney, which led in previous years, had the lowest increase in 2024 with 23%, which isn't terrible, but many expected it to be on Max's level and that didn't happen. And then we have the other Disney property - Hulu, which saw revenue decrease by 17%!
Disney's decision to stop offering subscriptions on the App Store is seemingly a result of Apple's high fees, but and I've said this before, I think it's more about the platform's inability to attract and retain paying users at a low enough cost, which the numbers support.
Amazon has been aggressive on new content, and it seems to have paid off, and given the success of their latest release - Beast Games - I think it's something we'll see them continue to push into 2025 for the same reason Netflix got into live sports.
Content is still king!
5. Users Spent a Record $25M via X's Mobile Apps in December
December is behind us, which means it's time to continue the monthly tradition and check in on X's revenue. I've been doing that since day one and a few years in, things are nothing like where they started.
Oh, and December was a record month for consumer spending on X thanks to a simple strategic move that I'm sure all social platforms will employ next year.
Numbers first. Our App Intelligence shows X grossed a total of $25M between the App Store and Google Play. The most X saw in a single month. Gross revenue means what users paid not what Elon gets to keep. After fees, Elon's take was $17.6M.
December's record revenue comes after a very strong November where X saw almost $24M in gross revenue, according to our estimates.
You might think this revenue is a result of the elections in the US and everything that means, but looking at the daily revenue that isn't exactly the answer. The strategy that helped X get to these numbers is simpler. X ran two promotions in December: a Black Friday sale and end of year sale.
The Black Friday campaign pushed X's daily revenue to the highest it's ever been, and not by a little. Our App Intelligence shows that gross revenue peaked at a massive $1.9M. In just one day. It might not be TikTok money, but it's more than 5 times higher than an average day for X.
The majority of the revenue came from the US App Store with Japan coming in second. Japan has always been a strong source of revenue for X and has seen monthly revenue triple in 2024, suggesting growth won't be slowing down even though in the US, the platform has become very political.
App Intelligence for Everyone!
The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.
Are you a Journalist? You can get access to our app and market intelligence for free through the Appfigures for Journalists program. Contact us for more details.
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.
