Demand for generative AI will drive consumer spending on apps to $150 billion worldwide in 2024, an increase of 13% from the previous year. AI Apps have seen a surge in interest over the past year, according to the annual “Mobile of Mobile” report from App Intelligence provider Sensor Tower (which acquired data.ai, the author of the original report, last March). This led to over 200% year-over-year growth in consumer spending on AI apps like ChatGpt, Gemini, and Bytedance’s Doubao, bringing the total spent on the category to nearly $1.1 billion in 2024.
If this growth rate is maintained, apps in this category could move into the top 10 by consumer spending within a year, the company notes.
While the release of new AI models like Openai’s GPT-4O last summer has helped drive APP revenues to record times from time to time, consumer demand for AI apps is driving these It was consistent throughout the year, not just the peak surge. As a result, consumers spent nearly 7.7 billion hours using AI apps in 2024, while apps that mention “AI” were also downloaded 17 billion times per year.
ChatGpt alone has reached 50 million monthly active users. This is faster than Temu, Disney+ or YouTube Music, just for comparison.
This shows that there is still a growing appetite for AI apps and apps with AI capabilities.
Other app categories that will see movement in 2024 include streaming, crypto, e-commerce, and fintech.
Streaming apps saw a slight decline in engagement despite an increase in in-app revenue and downloads.
Crypto apps like Binance (No. 6) and Tonkeeper (No. 9) have moved into the top 10 financial apps by download in 2024. E-commerce apps Temu and Shein were ranked as No. 1 and No. 2 apps respectively. Retail subgenre thanks to expansion in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Meanwhile, financial apps maintained double-digit year-on-year growth in time spent in 2024, up 8% from 2023.
Additionally, Sensor Tower said four games and one app have been updated to reach the milestone of passing $1 billion in consumer spending in 2024. These include The Last War, Whiteout Survival, Dungeon & Fighter, Brawl Stars, and WetV.
The full report is available on Sensor Tower’s site and includes analysis for the iOS App Store and Google Play, but none of the third-party app stores for other regions like China.