Sensor Tower: Apple's App Store had 164 publishers earn their first $1M in 2018, up ~15% YoY, nearly double the 88 on Google Play, which was up 24% YoY
Apple has long led its primary rival in the app economy in terms of monetization on its App Store, consistently generating close to twice …
Context & Ripple Effects
Sensor Tower's year-end tally extends a pattern its own coverage has tracked all year: Apple's App Store generated $38.5B in 2017 versus Google Play's $20.1B — roughly double at the top line — and the new publisher-count data shows that monetization gap holds one level down the funnel, where 164 developers crossed their first $1M on iOS against 88 on Play.
The reason it matters is trajectory: Play's cohort grew faster (24% vs ~15%), but from half the base, and Sensor Tower's later projections show the combined first-time-$1M pool swelling from 475 in 2016 to a projected 906 by 2021 — making this 2018 snapshot an early reading of how quickly both stores are minting scaled publishers.
First-order effects
- The 164 newly scaled iOS publishers join Apple's revenue base at exactly the moment US iPhone spending per user was climbing toward $79 a year, meaning each new millionaire arrives into a paying audience rather than having to build one.
- Google Play's 24% cohort growth outpaces Apple's ~15%, but with 88 first-time millionaires versus 164, it still ends 2018 with roughly half as many newly scaled publishers to attract follow-on developer investment.
Second-order effects
- With games accounting for 68% of App Store revenue and 84% of Play revenue in 2019 per Sensor Tower, most of these new millionaires are game studios, pushing both stores' discovery and featuring systems further toward serving hit-driven game economics.
- Developers choosing where to build see the iOS monetization premium confirmed at the publisher level, not just the aggregate level — reinforcing Apple's ability to command its standard take rate on a growing base of successful studios.
Third-order effects
- If the funnel keeps widening — 475 combined first-time millionaires in 2016, 1,003 in 2020, 906 projected for 2021 — the structural outcome is a larger class of dependent publishers whose success is metered through two gatekeepers, strengthening the platform-leverage dynamic that later drew regulatory scrutiny of store take rates.
- Play's faster percentage growth off a smaller base points toward gradual convergence in publisher economics between the stores, which would erode the 'build for iOS first' default that Apple's monetization lead has underwritten.
The trend: App stores are minting scaled $1M-plus publishers at an accelerating clip, with iOS holding a durable monetization premium even as Google Play grows faster from a smaller base.