Consumer mobile app spending across Europe hit $14.8 billion in 2020, according to Sensor Tower.
Moreover, this represents a growth rate of 31 per cent year-on-year. Unsurprisingly, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been cited as a major contributor to the impressive growth.
Last year, millions upon millions of people were confined to their homes in a mandatory lockdown. As such, many turned to mobile, particularly games, as a form of entertainment.
Overall, the App Store proved to be the most lucrative market place as it generated around $8 billion in Europe last year, an increase of 31 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, with a rise of 30.8 per cent, Google Play earned $6.8 billion.
On the downloads front, combined, the storefronts generated 28.4 billion installs across Europe. However, the Android store accounted for 21 billion as it grew 19.2 per cent year-on-year while the iOS marketplace saw a rise of 12.3 per cent as it hit 7.3 billion downloads.
Top countries
In Europe, the UK proved to be the most fruitful market, as the country generated $2.9 billion across both storefronts, an increase of 33 per cent year-on-year. However, the UK was the largest source of revenue for the App Store at $1.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Germany was a close second with $2.9 billion across both the App Store and Google Play. Moreover, it was Europe’s most lucrative country for the Android marketplace with $1.6 billion.
However, when it came to downloads, Russia proved to be the top country in Europe as it accumulated six million installs, a rise of 12.8 per cent year-on-year. Moreover, the majority of Russia’s installs, 4.9 billion, were on Google Play.
In second place was Turkey as it racked up 3.9 billion installs last year, but the UK proved to be the top country for Apple as it generated 1.4 billion downloads on the App Store.
Hey big spender
Overall, mobile games in Europe earned $9.6 billion last year, a rise of 28 per cent year-on-year. As such, the category made up 64.8 per cent of all mobile app revenue in 2020.
Worldwide, mobile games revenue in Europe accounted for 12 per cent of total earnings.
In Europe, Google Play proved to be the more lucrative storefront when it came to games as it racked up $5.4 billion in revenue last year, giving it 56.3 per cent of the market share. Meanwhile, the App Store grossed $4.2 billion in the region.
Europe boasted 12.5 billion installs last year on the downloads front, up 20.2 per cent from 2019. Google Play had the lion’s share as it picked up 10 billion downloads in the region, while the App Store saw 2.4 per cent.
Overall, the Android marketplace made up 81 per cent of all mobile game installs in Europe last year.
Wanna play a game?
In 2020, Moon Active’s Coin Master proved to be the top-grossing mobile title as it accumulated $398.2 million via player spending.
Supercell followed in second place with Brawl Stars, which earned $259 million. Meanwhile, PUBG Mobile by Tencent claimed the No.3 spot in Europe with $253.5 million. However, the battle royale smashed $3.5 billion in lifetime revenue last September.
Gardenscapes by Playrix and Niantic’s Pokemon Go closed out the top five games via revenue.
Meanwhile, State of Survival proved to be the fastest-growing title with $165 million. The post-apocalyptic game also grew on the downloads front as it recently hit 60 million.
In terms of downloads, Among Us reigned supreme in Europe with 64.7 million downloads across the region, more than 50 times what it racked up in 2019. However, the social deduction game also claimed the No.1 spot worldwide with 264 million installs.
Back in November, InnerSloth’s title managed to hit 500 million monthly active users.
When it came to downloads, other notable games are Brawl Stars, Gardenscapes, Brain Test and Subway Surfers. The latter of which has surpassed three billion lifetime installs.
