Sensor Tower’s Q2 2024 Digital Market Report shows it is more important than ever to understand how companies drive growth as the digital economy continues its rapid ascent in Q2, with global consumer spending in mobile apps climbing nearly 12% year-over-year.
Worldwide consumer spending in mobile apps and games broke a new record of $36.2 billion in Q2 2024, up 11.7% from the $32.4 billion consumer spending in Q2 2023.
Mobile games remain the primary category for consumer spending, totaling $19.7 billion. After several slow years, mobile games are showing strong growth, with Q2 2024 being the fourth quarter of positive year-over-year growth. Money spent on apps comes closer to money spent on games, as apps account for 46% of the total in Q2 2024. App spending in Q2 2023 was 42%.
Productivity, Photo and Video, Entertainment, and Utility apps have all seen positive year-over-year growth by at least 20%. Increasing time spent on mobile devices, the popularity of subscription models, and the ease of paying on mobile devices have allowed these apps to monetize better than ever.
TikTok topped the rankings for global consumer spend and downloads, standing alone in the app category as no other app could reach even the top 10 by both metrics. TikTok broke the record for global consumer spending in the quarter again, surpassing $1.3 billion in Q2 2024. TikTok is the second app to surpass $14 billion in all-time spending, after the mobile game Honor of Kings.
Five Meta-owned apps (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp Messenger, Messenger and WhatsApp Business), were among the top downloaded apps of the quarter.
Sensor Tower’s full report provides more details about digital ad spends in the United States on mobile.
