ios

Flurry Analytics' Guidance for Apple’s Updated App Data Collection Policy

LisaMoshfegh — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 19:57:03 +0000

Flurry Analytics' Guidance for Apple’s Updated App Data Collection Policy

By Raj Kaur, Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering

LisaMoshfegh Mon, 12/07/2020 - 11:57

2020-12-07

Tags

Product News

Apple

ios

ios 14

Apple is changing the information required to submit new apps and app updates to the app store effective December 8, 2020. The new submission process will give users transparency about app data usage via a new privacy details section of an app’s product page in the app store. This “nutrition label” will also include data used by third-party partners integrated into an app. If you are not familiar with Apple’s new policy, please familiarize yourself with it here. This blog post provides guidance on what data Flurry Analytics uses in your app.

Developers that work with Flurry need to acknowledge and detail the Data Use around each type of data Flurry collects. Please note that the information we are providing is only relevant to your use of Flurry Analytics. Based on your own app’s data collection practices or those of other third-parties you work with, you may need to select additional data types.

As a user of Flurry Analytics, you MUST select the following Data Types as they are collected by Flurry Analytics: Device ID, Product Interaction, Other Usage Data. Optionally, if you use Flurry Crash Analytics, you must select the following Data Types: Crash Data, Performance Data. If you use Flurry Revenue Analytics, you must select the following: Purchases.

The UI flow on App Store Connect is as follows:

Step 1: Navigate to App Privacy section within App Store Connect and click Get Started

Step 2: Select “Yes, we collect data from this app” and select Next

Step 3: Scroll down and check the boxes for ” Device ID” ,”Product Interaction”, and “Other Usage Data” and click Save.

Step 4: Upon saving you will see at least 3 boxes populated in the Privacy Section where you will need to fill in further information on the data type being collected.

Step 5: Click on “Set Up Device ID” text, select the “Analytics” checkbox and hit the Next button

Step 6: On the next screen, choose the option applicable to your app. Flurry does not link IDs to user identity.

Step 7: On the last screen choose the option applicable to your app and click “Save”

Step 8: Repeat steps 5 and 6 for “Product Interaction” and “Other Usage Data” Data types. Once you have finished providing all the necessary information, the App Privacy page should look like the following:

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@flurry.com.

The Top 5 Mobile App Trends of 2020

LisaMoshfegh — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 17:45:49 +0000

The Top 5 Mobile App Trends of 2020

By Lisa Moshfegh, Product Marketing

LisaMoshfegh Tue, 12/01/2020 - 09:45

2020-12-01

Tags

Mobile Insights

App Category Insights

Mobile Gaming

Mobile News Consumption

ios

Android

2020 has been a tumultuous year. A global pandemic claimed the lives of nearly 1.5 million people, a worldwide movement emerged for racial justice, and American political division created widespread concern. With COVID-19 forcing unprecedented social distancing, the mobile app economy has also experienced radical shifts. App consumption has exploded, Gen Z is gaming more than ever, and mobile news consumption dwarfed that of 2019. And Apple’s announcements of impending data policy rule changes have upended an ecosystem. In this report, we’ll revisit the biggest mobile app trends in 2020.

1. Society Ground to a Halt

As COVID-19 began to spread, non-essential business closed, schools transitioned to distance learning, and most recreational activities were paused or canceled. Governments issued stay-at-home orders to further limit the spread, which forced the most people to stay home. The transition to working from home and reduction in travel turned financial districts and airports into ghost towns. And with restaurants closed, many people chose to cook for themselves or order takeout. In fact, while usage of recipe and takeout apps increased during shelter-in-place, usage of restaurant apps declined by 36%. In addition, we analyzed traffic to both airport and financial districts across the United States to gain insights into people’s movement.

In the chart above, we show the percent change in daily mobile app users in U.S. financial districts beginning in March, when the pandemic went into full swing, comparing each month to baseline usage from January. We display this change in blue against the rising number of new coronavirus cases in gray. Starting in April, travel to financial districts plummeted by 60% compared to pre-coronavirus levels. Read the full report here on the dramatic decline of traffic to America’s largest financial districts.

2. App Category Booms and Busts

The onset of COVID-19 forced most Americans to shelter-in-place as non-essential businesses and schools closed. As people suddenly found themselves with more free time, many reached for mobile devices to help pass the time. And while aggregate app usage is up, usage across individual app categories varies wildly. Let’s check out the top movers.

In the chart above we show the percent change in monthly sessions compared to the January 2020 baseline for the top changing app categories. On the right, we rank app categories based on their app usage growth since the beginning of the year. A surge across Investment apps were the result of wildly volatile financial markets. And as gyms and yoga studios closed, Health & Fitness apps spiked by helping people maintain a workout regiment. On the other end, Sports and Food & Drink suffered double-digit declines as sporting events were cancelled and restaurants were forced to close. Read our full analysis of all app categories from January to July.

3. Mobile Gaming Exploded

As people spent unprecedented amounts of time at home, with limited recreational activities, mobile gaming filled the void. In an earlier report, we concluded that the quarantine created such an unusual surge in mobile gaming that every day was like Sunday. The typical weekend spikes were erased, and every day saw elevated usage. On average, mobile gaming sessions were up by 21% compared to the pre-coronavirus levels! Although much of this growth was driven by Gen Z who found themselves with minimal schooling and limited recreational activities, mobile gamers of all generations were gaming more.

In the chart above, we plot 2020 game sessions by user in dark blue. The light blue line represents 2019, to illustrate the increase in usage that occurred this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, mobile gamers averaged 17% more gaming sessions than in 2019. Considering that gaming is one of the largest app categories, even modest increases are remarkable.

4. Mobile News Consumption Soared

The first two months of 2020 began with a standoff with Iran, the impeachment trial of a sitting U.S. President, and the death of a basketball icon. Then COVID-19 began to spread, forcing governments to issue shelter-in-place orders that led to economic uncertainty. As the country attempted to recover from the initial COVID-19 wave, the death of an unarmed African American man at the hands of the Minneapolis police department triggered a global movement calling for racial equality. These headlines culminated with a tumultuous campaign for the United States Presidency that resulted in the most votes ever cast in a U.S. election. All of these stories led to massive spikes in mobile news consumption. Let’s take a look.

In the chart above, we chart daily mobile news app sessions in the U.S. for both 2019 and 2020. We show 2019 in light blue and 2020 in dark blue to demonstrate just how significant this year has been for mobile apps in the News category. You can read our earlier report covering mobile news consumption for the first half of 2020 here and our second report specifically highlighting the leadup to the U.S. Presidential election here.

5. Apps Reduced Ad Revenue Dependence

Many app developers’ bottom lines got hit with a double-whammy in 2020. First, the economic uncertainty due to COVID-19 caused many advertisers to reduce ad spending. And second, Apple announced at WWDC that iOS developers would have to gain permission from end users to share data with third parties, which is expected to reduce CPMs for iOS apps running ads. Although Google has yet to announce similar privacy measures, there is speculation that Android app developers could face a similar fate. Let’s review what changes app developers made to their business model in light of these two shifts.

In the chart above, we analyze the change in share of advertising-only revenue models compared to a January 2020 baseline to understand if app developers are in fact moving away from advertising-supported business models. We separate the two operating systems, with Android on the left and iOS on the right. Typically, Android apps rely more on advertising than iOS apps, largely due to Google simplifying the process of incorporating ads into mobile apps. Given this reliance on advertising as a source of monetization, Android developers were much more impacted by the reduction in ad spend due to COVID-19. However, the chart shows consistent recovery throughout the year as advertising spend slowly increased. iOS developers, on the other hand, were less impacted by the reduction in ad spend, but are still moving away from an advertising-only revenue model, likely because of the impending privacy changes Apple is expected to launch in early 2021. You can find our full report on shifting business models for app developers here.

Make sure you subscribe to the Flurry blog and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest reports on the mobile industry, including holiday forecasts and 2021 predictions.

The Flurry blog (https://www.flurry.com/blog/) is an independent blog and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.

Smartphone Market Profile: Southeast Asia

LisaMoshfegh — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 16:21:05 +0000

Smartphone Market Profile: Southeast Asia

By Aman Bansal, Flurry Analyst

LisaMoshfegh Thu, 10/29/2020 - 09:21

2020-10-29

Tags

App Insights

Android

ios

With 8.5% of the world’s population, Southeast Asia is a culturally and ethnically diverse region and one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. It’s made up of several countries, anchored by Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populated country. In this report, we’ll analyze the current smartphone landscape in Southeast Asia.

Flurry Analytics is used in over 1 million mobile applications worldwide, providing insights from 2 billion devices per month. Let’s begin by reviewing the distribution of mobile devices across Southeast Asia by country.

In the chart above, we list each country in Southeast Asia by its percentage of smartphone users. Indonesia accounts for 45% of all smartphone users in Southeast Asia and 40% of its total population, followed by the Philippines (16% of smartphone users, 16% of population), Thailand (12% of smartphone users, 10% of population) and Vietnam (11% of smartphone users, 14% of population).

As seen in the chart above, the Southeast Asia region saw a strong increase in device activations, growing 20% YoY. This was primarily driven by the larger markets such as Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand that continued to grow despite their huge existing user base. In the case of Indonesia, a 25% growth rate for a country of 274 million people is a significant shift. Among the reasons growth is so high across these countries is low existing smartphone penetration, which stands at 31%, 34%, and 40%, respectively. Their relative market sizes and growth rates provide lucrative opportunities for app developers to monetize and grow their own user bases. Singapore’s 28% decline in mobile device activations is likely due to their extremely high smartphone penetration rate of 90%. Based on our analysis, their device activations peaked in 2018 and have declined each year thereafter.

Next, let’s review the platform preference in Southeast Asia.

In the chart above, we list each country by its share of Android devices compared to iOS devices. Brunei, the least populated country in Southeast Asia, has the highest share of iOS devices at 65%. Indonesia, the most populated country in the region, has the highest share of Android devices at 96%. While the average Android share in Southeast Asia is 86%, it varies considerably amongst different countries. This wide variation speaks to the diversity within the region which app developers should keep in mind as they vie for success in these markets.

Next, let’s take a look at market share by smartphone manufacturers in Southeast Asia.

In the chart above, we list the top 5 smartphone manufacturers in Southeast Asia as of September 2020. We then combine the remaining manufacturers into “Others,” represented by the gray slice of the pie. Samsung is the clear leader controlling 34% of all smartphones in the Southeast Asian market, followed by OPPO at 18%, Apple at 14%, vivo at 13%, and Xiaomi at 8%. From 2019 to 2020, both Samsung and vivo gained market share, by 1 and 2 percentage points, respectively. Meanwhile, OPPO and Apple remained flat, while Xiaomi lost 1 percentage point.

Finally, let’s review the most popular device models in Southeast Asia.

In the chart above, we list the 10 most popular smartphone devices in Southeast Asia as of September 2020 by the number of active devices in the market. We list OPPO models in blue, Samsung models in orange, and vivo models in green. OPPO phones feature prominently as amongst the most popular smartphones in the region, taking 3 out of the top 5 spots, followed by Samsung phones taking 5 out of the top 10 spots, and vivo taking the remaining 2 spots. Notably missing from this list is Apple, which despite being the third largest OEM in the region, did not figure amongst the most popular devices.

Southeast Asia’s low smartphone penetration rate combined with a large population and high new device adoption rates make it an enticing market for both app developers and device manufacturers. We’ll continue to analyze smartphone markets around the world. Make sure you subscribe to the Flurry blog and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for more country profiles and other market analyses.

Galaxy is a trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in the United States or other countries.

The Flurry blog (https://www.flurry.com/blog/) is an independent blog and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Samsung.

Are App Developers Shifting Revenue Models as Advertising Gets Challenged?

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 22:47:47 +0000

Are App Developers Shifting Revenue Models as Advertising Gets Challenged?

By Peter Farago, Flurry GM, and Aman Bansal, Flurry Analyst

Anonymous Thu, 08/13/2020 - 15:47

2020-08-13

Tags

Mobile Insights

Android

ios

App Category Insights

Since the App Store and Google Play launched over a decade ago, advertising has enabled app publishers to offer free, high quality applications. Even when users fail to explicitly pay an app publisher for the use of an app, the publisher can still earn revenue. With 76% of all apps generating revenue from advertising, according to a recent Ad Colony survey, the ad revenue model has been a cornerstone of app monetization—at least until this year.

In 2020, two events have started to impact advertising revenue. First, COVID-19 has driven a large drop in ad spending. eMarketer initially forecasted U.S. mobile ad spending to grow by more than 20% in 2020, but due to COVID-19 ad spending is now instead expected to decline by 10%. Second, at WWDC in June, Apple announced that app publishers will soon be required to gain end-user opt-in for sharing data, which will cause an even larger drop in ad revenue. This requirement goes into effect when iOS 14 launches in September. While the stated reason is user privacy, which Flurry supports, opt-in rates are expected to be so low that Apple’s IDFA, the key identifier used for advertising, will become largely unusable. Think of it as de facto deprecation. With the removal of this identifier from the ecosystem, the IAB estimates that publisher ad revenue will drop by another 52%.

For this study, Flurry looked at what revenue models app developers have been using in 2020 and whether those have been shifting over the course of the year. With ad revenue under siege, we wondered if app developers are showing signs of moving toward more paid models. Flurry Analytics, owned by Verizon Media, is used in over 1 million mobile applications, providing aggregated insights across more than 2 billion mobile devices per month. For this analysis, we identified 3,500 unique applications that use ad revenue, in-app purchase or a combination of both to monetize their applications. We limited the sample to include apps that have a minimum of 10,000 monthly active users. Let’s start by looking at which revenue models were used at the beginning of 2020, before the impact of COVID-19 began.

The side-by-side donut charts above show which revenue models were used by app developers at the beginning of this year for both iOS and Android. We grouped models by Ads only, In-app Purchase (IAP) only or using a combination of Ads & IAP. At a high level, app publishers use IAP more on iOS, and Ads more on Android. 38% of apps use IAP on iOS versus 28% on Android. Likewise, the number of apps that use a combination of IAP and Ads is slightly higher on iOS at 23%, versus 21% on Android. When it comes to monetizing only with advertising, 52% of apps do so on Android versus just 39% on iOS.

We next took a snapshot of revenue models in July and compared that to the January baseline established in the charts above. By then, COVID-19 had deeply impacted advertising spending, by as much as 30% according to eMarketer. Additionally, Apple had made its announcement regarding use of the IDFA in June. While the impact of this announcement might not have been fully understood yet, the news was out.

The chart above shows the percentage point change in revenue models used within applications from January 2020 to July 2020. On the left we show iOS, and on the right we show Android. The total changes within a platform balance out to zero between ‘Ads Only’ versus the sum of ‘Ads & IAP’ and ‘IAP Only.’ For example, on iOS, the percentage points of apps using Ads Only declined by 3%, while the sum of Ads & IAP and IAP Only increased by 3%. On Android, ‘Ads Only’ decreased by 6% where the sum of apps using IAP increased 6% (+2% Ads & IAP and +4% IAP only). What this chart tells us is that app developers are shifting away from using only advertising for monetization on both iOS and Android. To date, we believe the main driver is due to the drop in ad spending as a result of COVID-19. While Apple’s announcement may lead to a larger, longer-term impact to ad revenue viability, the effects are not yet fully understood or realized. It also makes sense that Android is seeing a larger drop in apps that use advertising only to earn revenue since Android is known to be the platform where ad revenue tends to perform better. Google, with its roots in advertising, has invested more in enabling ad revenue generation over transactions such as in-app purchases. Now that we’ve looked at the revenue model shift by platform over time, let’s drill down to see changes at the app category level.

The above chart compares the change in app categories using an advertising only revenue model for monetization between January 2020 and July 2020. In gray, we show the percent of apps within a category using advertising only, and in blue we show the percent of apps using advertising only as of July 2020. And we ranked the categories in descending order based on using advertising only to generate revenue. At the top of the chart, you’ll see that News & Magazines, Education and Business app categories use advertising to generate revenue more than other app categories. By contrast, at the bottom of the chart, you’ll see the categories that rely least on advertising exclusively for revenue. From the bottom up, those are Games, Photo & Video and Social. Note that apps in these categories may still use advertising as a main way of monetizing but that revenue is blended with other models. This chart shows apps that use advertising only, and no other revenue models. For example, around 35% of game apps use advertising only. The rest of game apps use a blend of Ads & IAP, or IAP exclusively.

As app developers face the prospect of declining ad revenue, and in particular from changes brought about by iOS 14, we expect there to be a shift toward paid models. In this future state, developers with a dependency on ad revenue may prioritize their Android apps over iOS, for as long as Android supports advertising. It still remains to be seen whether or when Google might follow Apple to enforce a similar opt-in tracking policy. We’ll continue to monitor which business models are employed by app developers as iOS 14 rolls out and beyond. For the latest mobile insights and to share those insights with others, please consider also following us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Valentine's Day 2013: Looking for Love with Apps

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 23:45:26 +0000

Valentine's Day 2013: Looking for Love with Apps

By Mary Ellen Gordon, PhD

Anonymous Wed, 03/11/2015 - 16:45

2013-02-14

Tags

Android

App Insights

ios

Today as those in relationships rush to stores to pick up Valentine cards and gifts for their significant others, single women looking for relationships may want to pick up their smartphones. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Flurry explored user composition and behavior in a sample of smartphone dating apps. We found that in dating apps targeting both genders, there are typically almost twice as many active male users as active female users. For this analysis, we examined 20 top dating apps whose combined 17 million active users delivered more than 2.1 billion sessions in January 2013.

Women wishing to further stack the odds in their favor may wish to download an Android dating app. When we compared the user composition for a sample of dating apps available on both iOS and Android phones, we found that active users of Android dating apps skew even more male.

Young adults in search of a Valentine (or those in search of a young adult Valentine) also may want to download a dating app on an Android device. In looking at the sample of dating apps available on both iOS and Android, we found that adult users of Android dating apps are more likely to be under 25 than adult users of iOS dating apps.

The millions of people who use dating apps do so regularly. They typically open their dating apps eight times a week and use them for seventy-one seconds at a time. Users of dating apps for gay men are even more active. They typically use them twenty-two times a week for ninety-six seconds at a time.

The Great Distribution of Wealth Across iOS and Android Apps

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 23:19:22 +0000

The Great Distribution of Wealth Across iOS and Android Apps

By Peter Farago, VP Marketing

Anonymous Wed, 03/11/2015 - 16:19

2012-07-31

Tags

The iTunes App Store and Google Play now offer more than 600,000 apps each. And Apple’s most recent earnings call revealed that the company has paid out more than $5.5 billion to developers since the launch of the App Store. With unprecedented consumer adoption of iOS and Android devices, low barriers to entry for developers and throngs of paying customers, Apple and Google have created massive economic opportunities for developers.

In particular, iOS and Android have made it possible for independent developers and mobile app start-ups to thrive. As industries mature, however, we expect established players and brands to invade from other platforms, depressing opportunities for many early entrants. Along with this, we expect to see market revenue concentrate among fewer larger players. For this report, with these typical patterns in mind, Flurry modeled worldwide mobile app revenue, revenue sources and revenue concentration among top-ranked mobile apps on iOS and Android. For this report, we used data from over 200,000 mobile applications in the Flurry Analytics data set. Let’s start with market growth.

The chart above compares worldwide revenue generated by iOS and Android apps in 2011 vs. 2012. For 2012, we modeled the first half of the year based on actual data, and then applied growth rates to estimate the rest of the year based on the proportion of revenue observed in 2011 between the first and second half of that year. In 2011, Flurry calculates that iOS and Android applications generated a total of $5.4 billion across premium, in-app purchase and advertising revenue. Advertising made up 18% of the revenue. In 2012, Flurry forecasts that revenue will grow by 60% over the previous year, reaching $8.7 billion. Advertising is the fastest growing revenue category with growth forecasted at more than 100%, from $980 million in 2011 to $2 billion in 2012, delivering 23% of 2012 total revenue. Likewise, premium and in-app purchase revenue is also increasing at a rate of 50%, from $4.5 billion in 2011 to $6.7 billion in 2012.

Next, we look at the concentration of revenue among top ranked apps from 2010 to 2012. Please note that for this analysis, we focus on premium and in-app revenue only, excluding ad revenue. Comparing these two years shows how dramatically the distribution of revenue is shifting across the long tail. Starting on the left, in 2010, the green part of the column shows that 28% of revenue was generated by the Top 25 ranked titles on iOS and Android. In 2012, we estimate that the Top 25 will drop to commanding about half of total revenue, or 15%. Likewise, comparing the grey sections of each column, the rest of the Top 100 apps will drop from earning 27% of revenue in 2010 to 17% of revenue in 2012. Conversely, revenue generated by the long tail significantly grows from 2010 to 2012. Comparing the blue sections, any apps ranked beyond the top 100, we observe that long tail revenue explodes from earning under half of all premium and in-app purchase revenue in 2010 to over two-thirds in 2012.

Finally, we rank the revenue generated by each of the top 100 positions across the iTunes App Store and Google Play. For each year, we set the revenue generated by the top spot at 100%. Then, relative to the top spot, we take the percent each position generates from the 2^nd rank all the way through the 100th. By normalizing each curve in this way, we can compare the relative revenue generated per ranked position in the top 100 per year. For example, we can see whether ranking number 50 generates more relative revenue in 2012 versus 2010. Most interestingly, this kind of analysis shows whether the developer “middle class” is better off today than its “parents’” generation.

Now that we have relative earning power mapped per ranked position, we can study the heights and shapes of the curves. Comparing 2010, the green curve, to 2012, the blue curve, we notice that two things are happening simultaneously. First, each position in the top 100 is more valuable now, which makes sense because the market has grown overall. Second, the blue 2012 curve is flatter. Unlike the green 2010 curve, which steeply drops during the top 10 ranked positions, indicating the wealth is more concentrated at the top, the blue 2012 curve stabilizes shortly after the top 5 positions and then maintains a high, gently sloping plateau all the way through the 80^thposition, where it then settles just above the green curve, ostensibly continuing to “fly” at an altitude higher than that of the green curve out across the long tail. In short, this means that the middle class has more earning power, taking a substantial share of total wealth in the economy.

With the app economy booming, companies like Facebook, Twitter and Zynga are under tremendous pressure from investors to seize the opportunity presented by this new platform. However, with software delivered in the form of downloadable applications, unguaranteed network connectivity, different consumer behavior and control exerted by platform providers such as Apple and Google, the mobile app landscape creates different, meaningful challenges for companies attempting to enter the app space from other platforms. Combined with a marketplace that reduces the power of brand recognition (e.g., apps are free for consumers to try risk free), market wealth unexpectedly continues to shift to the long tail, funding continued R&D, advertising budgets and other activities that increase their competitive strength. The age of middle-class app developer has arrived. In this economy not only are the rich getting richer, but so too are the poor, and gaining on the rich.

Mobile Freemium Games: Gen Y Plays, but Gen X Pays

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 21:33:34 +0000

Mobile Freemium Games: Gen Y Plays, but Gen X Pays

By Jeferson Valadares

Anonymous Wed, 03/11/2015 - 14:33

2011-09-08

Tags

Freemium games on iOS and Android continue to dominate the app economy, now accounting for over 65% of all revenue generated among the Top 100 grossing apps in the App Store alone. In a series of recent pieces on free-to-play mobile games, we’ve shared insights about the relevance of this business model, consumer spending by price point and what kinds of items consumers purchase.

In this report, we focus on the audience who plays these games. Specifically, we study differences between those who play and those who spend money in mobile freemium games. This study uses data from a sample of iOS and Android freemium games with over 20 million users across more than 1.4 billion sessions gathered from Flurry Analytics, which tracks over 110,000 apps across the major smartphone platforms. Let’s take a look at the results.

In the chart, we compare the relative distributions of time and money spent by age group. Starting on the left-hand-side, the green bars represent which age groups spend the most time playing freemium games. We see that ages 18 – 24 account for the most minutes spent, 32%, followed by ages 25 – 34 who represent 29% of usage. Ages 13 – 17, 35 – 54 and 55+ then account for the rest of usage time at 22%, 14% and 3%, respectively. The average age of the consumer, based on time spent, is 26.6 years old.

Next to the green bars, in blue, we show the amount of money these same consumers spend on in-app-purchases within the same set of games. The top spending group is 25 – 34 years old, accounting for 49% of total dollars spent, next followed by 35 – 54 year olds at 28%. By contrast, the most dedicated users of these games in terms of time, the 18 – 24 year olds, rank only third in terms of money spent, generating 16% of IAP revenue. 13 – 17 year olds, a popular target audience of these games, account for only 5% of revenue. Finally, the 55+ age group delivers 2% of revenue. The average age of consumers who spend money in these games is 32.2 years old.

Broadly, we observe that heavy users of freemium games are younger, while spenders in freemium games are older. The half that uses these games most, 13 – 24 year olds (55% of time spent), deliver only 21% of the revenue. And the half that spends heavily, 25 – 34 year olds (49% of money spent), represent just 29% of usage. We believe much of this has to do with play patterns, disposable income and relative available time.

In social games, consumers can advance in the game through “the grind,” the core set of gameplay activities that allows the user to level up, earn in-game currency and progress. But to progress via “the grind” takes time and patience. For consumers that have more time (or less money), they can afford (or must be) more patient. Younger gamers, presumably high school and college-aged, likely have more time but less money. So the grind is something they’re willing or must commit to, in order to progress. And with more total available time throughout their days, they can play more frequently. Simply put, they become your loyal users, but it’s harder to extract money from them.

On the other hand, 24 – 35 year olds presumably have more disposal income, but less time, due to work and family demands. This combination makes them less tolerant to engaging in “the grind,” but also better positioned to buy their way out of it. They play less often, but make quicker progress by simply spending. Further, when we expand the age range to 24 – 54, this older group generates nearly four-fifths of all revenue in freemium games. In short, your whales may be older than you think.

Our conclusion: Gen Y plays, but Gen X pays.