• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 1, 2023

Advertising in mobile apps reached $336 billion globally in 2022, according to Data.ai’s latest annual report on the state of app revenue.

That’s up 14% from the app analytics provider’s estimate of $295 billion in global app ad revenue in 2021.

Advertising accounted for 66.8% of total 2022 app revenue of $500 billion.

Although app publishers are pushing to diversify their revenue sources, particularly as privacy regulations curtail traditional targeting methods, consumer app purchases through app stores still accounted for a third (33.2%) of total revenue last year, or $167 billion—down from an estimated $170 billion in 2021.

North America accounted for 46% of global mobile ad revenue generated through iOS and Google Play apps on the AdColony, AdMob, AppLovin, IronSource, UnityAds and Vungle ad networks. (China and social media and OTT apps are excluded.) Asia accounted for 23%, Europe for 19%, Latin America for 7% and the Middle East for 3%.

Non-games apps accounted for $220 billion, or 65%, of total 2022 mobile advertising, and ad platforms owned and operated by the top social media and video streaming apps accounted for about half of overall ad spend.

Excluding those giants, 70% of mobile ad spend went to game apps. Gaming genres including hypercasual and puzzle rely on popular networks such as AppLovin and Vungle to monetize their apps.

In an early glimpse of the performance of consumer uptake of some leading streaming apps’ new ad-supported tiers, in-app purchases of Disney’s $7.99-per-month basic-with-ads mobile app, introduced in December 2022, has showed relatively slow growth (chart top of page), but is generating an estimated $500 million per month in revenue.

HBO Max’s $9.99-per-month ad-supported plan, introduced in June 2021, now accounts for 9% of the streamer’s in-app mobile purchases.

In comparison of a reverse model, Hulu, which launched in 2007 as a free, ad-supported platform before adding a subscription tier in 2015, currently generates 45% of its in-app mobile app purchases revenue from the with-ads plan ($7.99 per month) and 55% from the no-ads plan, which costs $14.99 per month.