Microsoft has provided some new details and trends about the Windows Store, currently home to 146,395 apps worldwide. These details are based on recent trends in the Windows Store across categories, markets, and much more.
According to Microsoft, in-app purchases account for the main revenue source for monetizing apps, especially games. In fact, Games was the top category with over 40% of downloads during the month of January.
“In January, in-app purchase was the main revenue source for monetizing games, and drove more than 30% of the revenue in Entertainment, Lifestyle, News and Weather, Photos and Productivity apps. Some categories where in-app purchase is used less frequently, for example Tools, Social and Health Fitness, might benefit from in-app purchase opportunities to potentially increase revenue,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
As you can see from the image above, the majority of in-app purchases were from paid games. The Government category provided the least amount of revenue for app developers, while the Entertainment and Lifestyle categories were among the top three. If you want to have the most downloads possible, Microsoft recommends the Social, Photos, Games, and Productivity categories, which offer the highest opportunity for downloads.
Microsoft also showcased the 25 top-grossing Windows Store markets for January and factored in the percentage of revenue generated from in-app purchase in these markets. These 25 markets that offer the best revenue opportunity via in-app purchases are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The Windows Store may be available in over 200 markets, but these are the markets you want to target if you want the most revenue from in-app purchases.
“In January, the top Windows Store markets were the United States and Canada, Germany, France, UK, followed by Western Europe and Latin America. That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t consider other markets. Your specific app may have characteristics that make it perform differently in these markets,” Microsoft explained.
As you can see in the image above, paid apps and apps that offer advertising account for 70% of the 2013 revenue, and in-app purchase was the fastest growing revenue model. Why? Because it reached 30% of all store revenue in the year and is growing so quickly, that it surpassed paid apps revenue in January of 2014.
For all you app developers out there, which revenue model do you utilize? If you utilize in-app purchase, how do you like it? Sound off in the comments below.