Data.ai's State of Mobile 2023: global consumer app spending rose 3% YoY to $171B, non-game spending rose 11% YoY to $64B, and app downloads rose 1% YoY to 257B
After the app economy slowed for the first time ever in 2022, things picked up pace again over the past year.
Context & Ripple Effects
The mobile app economy entered 2023 after Data.ai recorded a 2% decline in global consumer spending in 2022, even as downloads continued to grow. The new figures mark a return to spending growth, but with downloads nearly flat.
The stronger 11% rise in non-game spending relative to total app spending indicates that the recovery was concentrated outside games rather than broadly driven by new installs.
First-order effects
- Non-game app publishers gain a clearer monetization tailwind: spending in their category rose to $64B while total consumer app spending reached $171B.
- Developers cannot rely on audience expansion alone; downloads rose just 1% to 257B, making conversion and retention more consequential for near-term growth.
Second-order effects
- Game publishers face a relatively weaker spending backdrop than non-game developers, increasing pressure to improve live-service monetization or diversify revenue sources.
- App stores and mobile growth teams will place greater value on revenue per active device as install growth slows, favoring products that can deepen spending among existing users.
Third-order effects
- If spending continues to outpace downloads, the mobile economy shifts from acquisition-led growth toward extracting more recurring value from an installed user base—a pattern later reflected in rising spending alongside falling downloads in 2024.
- The uneven recovery suggests the app market may increasingly split between categories with durable paid or subscription demand and those dependent on large volumes of new installs.
The trend: Mobile apps are moving toward a mature monetization cycle in which consumer spending growth increasingly matters more than download growth.