Report: App-Based Video Service Revenues Hit $1.3 Billion in 2018
A new report by Sensor Tower Store Intelligence claims that mobile app users in the United States spent over $1.3 billion in 2018 on video-on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu. The data probably helps explain why Netflix recently stopped letting its customers pay for the service through the iPhone app: Apple’s cut is just too lucrative now.
“Mobile users in the United States spent an estimated $1.27 billion in the top 10 subscription video on demand (SVOD) apps last year,” according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data. “This represented year-over-year growth of 62 percent from the $781 million spent by consumers in the top SVOD apps during 2017. Mobile spending in these apps during 2018 was nearly three times more than in 2016.”
Netflix was the top performer in 2018, the firm says, with an estimated $529 million in revenues from in-app subscriptions, of which 30 percent (on the iPhone side) went directly to Apple. YouTube came in second, with $223 million in in-app revenues. And HBO NOW was third, with $166 million. Hulu and YouTube TV rounded out the top five.
As interesting, the top 10 video-on-demand apps accounted for almost 22 percent of all non-game app revenue in the U.S. last year. And their 62 percent revenue growth was higher than that of all other non-game apps combined, which grew 56 percent.