TikTok becomes first app to cross $10 billion in in-app spending
ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok became the first app to surpass $10 billion in cumulative consumer spending, helping power mobile app sales to a new high in a year revenue from games was down, according to the latest annual report by data.ai.
Video-streaming platforms like TikTok and Disney+ drove an 11% rise in consumer app sales in 2023, showing resilient demand while the games industry dealt with a double-digit sales decline in China that dragged global sales down 2%.
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“Social apps and the creator economy pioneered new pathways to monetization beyond advertising,” said Lexi Sydow, director of corporate marketing and insights at data.ai. “TikTok laid the groundwork through its content creator tipping mechanism. In 2024, direct consumer monetization in social apps through in-app purchases is set to grow 150% to $1.3 billion as competition ramps up.”
Spending in apps, rather than games, grew as consumers spent more on streaming, user-generated content and dating apps. Still, the bigger revenue driver remained advertising, which rose 8% in 2023 to $362 billion and accounted for two-thirds of mobile sales. That makes the
