• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, July 1, 2016

Only 1.13% of apps downloaded use a pay-per-download model, according to Juniper Research. Now, in-app purchases, advertising or freemium models support almost the entire app economy. 

The hard part is that most of that economy is driven by a very small percentage of paying users. The average paying user spends $9.60 in monthly transactions per app, but only 5.2% of users are paying users. Identifying those users and retaining them is essential for marketers.

iOS users spend more in-app than Android users, and this is due to a variety of factors, including Apple’s success at monetizing its applications. In 2015, iOS apps generated $1.31 per download, compared to just $0.20 for other operating systems, according to Juniper Research. 

In-app spending is forecasted to grow from $17 billion in 2015 to $37 billion by 2015. However, much of that spending will only be done by a handful of extremely valuable users.

Asian users spend 40% more on in-app purchases than the rest of the world, and AppsFlyer recommends that marketers look east for heavy in-app spenders. The average Asian user spends $.70 a month per app.

The Asian market also has lower costs associated with it, although it is an entirely different animal than western markets, and shouldn’t be entered into without a clear sense of what can be gained.

AppsFlyer’s study drew data from $300 million in transactions, across a network of about 1,000 apps.