TikTok to Be Most Downloaded, Highest Grossing App of 2021: Sensor Tower

Worldwide consumer spending on apps is projected to reach $133 billion (roughly Rs. 10,03,835 crore) in 2021, the latest Sensor Tower report says. This suggests a 19.7 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth from $111.1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,38,475 crore) in 2020, nearly mirroring the 21 percent YoY growth consumer spending in 2019. TikTok will be the top-grossing app worldwide in 2021, followed by YouTube, Piccoma, Tinder, and Disney+. On Google Play, the report says that TikTok will take the fourth position but will remain on top in terms of App Store revenue.

Sensor Tower's latest report on consumer spending in 2021 claims that App Store revenue will remain more than Google Play. The two platforms' spending will remain the same as 2020, with App Store seeing about 1.8 times the revenue as Google's marketplace. The report adds that App Store is expected to reach $85.1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,42,277 crore), a 17.7 percent growth from $72.3 billion (roughly Rs. 5,45,770 crore) in 2020. Google Play, on the other hand, will see more year-over growth, climbing 23.5 percent to $47.9 billion (roughly Rs. 3,61,650 crore) from $38.8 billion (roughly Rs. 2,93,026 crore).

TikTok, in the first 11 months of 2021, saw $2 billion (roughly Rs.15,109 crore) in revenue, up 67 percent year-over-year from $1.2 billion (roughly Rs. 2,15,102 crore). By the end of the year, Sensor Tower forecasts that the app will see $2.3 billion (roughly Rs. 17,368 crore) in spending, bringing its lifetime total to $3.8 billion (roughly Rs.28,703 crore).

Gaming apps revenue is projected to hit $52.3 billion (roughly Rs. 3,95,192 crore) globally by the end of the year, up 9.9 percent YoY from $47.6 billion (roughly Rs. 3,59,655 crore) in 2020. Honor of Kings from Tencent is said to be the highest-grossing iOS game, generating $2.9 billion (roughly Rs. 21,907 crore) on that platform, up 16 percent year-over-year from $2.5 billion (roughly Rs.18,885 crore). PUBG Mobile to make most money in the overall gaming category worldwide this year.

The highest-grossing title on Google's platform is said to be Moon Active's Coin Master, which saw its revenue increase 13 percent year-over-year to nearly $912 million (roughly Rs. 6,888 crore) from 2020's total of $809.8 million (roughly Rs. 6,729 crore) on that marketplace.

Coming to downloads, TikTok is reportedly the most downloaded app on the App Store for 2021, racking up 745.9 million installs across both app stores. This is despite a dip of 24 percent year-over-year from 980.7 million installs in 2020. On Google Play, Facebook tops the charts with about 500.9 million installs on that marketplace alone. Across both marketplaces, the app will see about 624.9 million installs, down 12 percent YoY from 707.8 million.