App economy hauls in $277mn on Christmas Day

Some are preoccupied by presents, others by the mountains of food, and a few are even napping on the comfy sofa, but more of us are spending money on in-app purchases on Christmas Day.

According to data from mobile analyst firm Sensor Tower, $277 million was spend on apps across Google Play and Apple’s App Store on December 25. This represents an 11.5% increase on the amount spend in 2018 while the entertainment category brought in the biggest gains across the app economy.

While the US accounted for the largest proportion of spend globally, it trailed the average grow. In the US, just over $80 million was spend across both the app markets, representing a comparatively sluggish year-on-year growth of 4.8%.

Christmas is usually a profitable time for those involved in the app economy due to the number of new devices, first-time mobile customers and vouchers being offered as last-minute gifts, though interestingly enough, the non-game segment also grew, indicating that perhaps there were some urgent Uber’s called once the realities of spending the evening with the in-laws kicked in.