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The price of in-app purchases (IAP) has reached a new high as consumers spent a record amount on mobile apps in 2020, according to data intelligence firm, Sensor Tower. It estimates the median IAP price among top non-game apps on Apple’s App Store in the United States has grown 50% to $5.99 in 2020, from $3.99 three years ago.
The Photo & Video and Health & Fitness categories contributed the most to the increase in IAPs. Food & Drink apps have also seen a surge in IAPs.
"This increase in price may correspond with a growing consumer comfort with paying for premium content, particularly in a year when many users were turning to mobile devices for entertainment, work, and education," Sensor Tower noted.
Sensor Tower believes that the increase in IAPs for Photo & Video category apps may correspond with a rise of user interest in video-centric social media platforms such as TikTok, which had a record-breaking year.
Forced by COVID lockdowns, consumers have been seeking recipes, guided workouts, and more on online platforms rather than going out to restaurants and gyms.
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Sensor Tower believes that developers may have capitalised on this leading to the increase of IAP in these categories.
The median subscription price for gaming apps also increased about 17% to $6.99 in 2020 from $5.99 in 2019.
The data intelligence firm had studied the top 20,000 most downloaded apps in the U.S. App Store between 2017 to 2020 for this analysis.
Published - March 19, 2021 06:14 pm IST
