Great Britain and Germany Lead the Way as European App Spending Grows 17.6% to $2.85 billion in Q3 2019

Mobile consumers across Europe spent an estimated $2.85 billion on apps across the App Store and Google Play in Q3 2019, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.

This represented a 17.6 percent increase on gross revenue generated in Q3 2018, based on user spend for in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps. Based on data from our global Q3 2019 market report, launching next week, Europe accounts for 13 percent of global mobile app revenue.

In this report, we take a closer look into non-gaming and gaming app downloads and revenue figures across Europe, along with which countries are driving the market.

European Mobile App Revenue and Downloads

The App Store drove the greatest share in gross revenue in Europe during Q3 2019, generating $1.5 billion, up 19 percent Y/Y from Q3 2018. Google Play users, meanwhile, spent $1.3 billion on mobile apps, an increase of 15.9 percent from the same period last year.

In total, App Store spending made up 54.1 percent of total mobile gross revenue in Europe, with Google Play accounting for 45.9 percent.

That's a closer share of revenue between the two stores than on a global level, as our recent worldwide report showed, where the App Store generated $14.2 billion, or 65 percent, in total spending, with Google Play accounting for $7.7 billion, or 35 percent.

Google Play accounted for the lion's share of downloads in Europe, generating 4.4 billion unique installs in Q3 2019, up 10.9 percent from four billion in Q3 2018. The number of downloads on the App Store increased 5.6 percent Y/Y from almost 1.6 billion unique installs in Q3 2018 to just below 1.7 billion in Q3 2019.

In total, the number of downloads across both stores increased by 9.4 percent from 5.6 billion to 6.1 billion last quarter.

Europe's Top Countries For Mobile App Revenue and Downloads

Great Britain was the largest mobile app revenue generator in Europe, taking $543.2 million in gross revenue in Q3 2019 across the App Store and Google Play, up 18.6 percent Y/Y. That was higher than Germany, where users spent $521.6 million, up 16.3 percent Y/Y, and France, which accrued $350.6 million, an increase of 18.4 percent Y/Y.

App Store user spend was highest in Great Britain, which accounted for $360.6 million, or 23.3 percent of all spending. Germany, however, was the leader for Google Play spend, generating $302.5 million, or 23.1 percent of the total.

Russia generated by far the most downloads in the last quarter, picking up 1.3 billion unique installs, up from 1.1 billion in Q3 2018.

Great Britain generated the most downloads on the App Store in the quarter with 302.1 million unique installs, but it only ranked No. 7 on Google Play with 265.3 million downloads. Russia and Turkey took No. 1 and No. 2 on Android, picking up one billion and 617.8 million downloads, respectively.

Europe's Top Mobile Apps

As with on a global basis, Tinder was the top grossing app in Europe in Q3 2019, generating $72 million in the region, up just 1.3 percent Y/Y. One of the fastest risers for the quarter was the Google One app. Released in 2018, it was the fifth highest grossing app in Europe last quarter, making $14.665 million despite not being available on the App Store.

Facebook was the clear dominant force in Europe when it comes to downloads. WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and the Facebook app generated a combined 94.9 million unique installs in the quarter.

FaceApp saw a spurt of huge growth in in Q3, racking up nearly 13.7 million downloads in July 2019, its best month ever and up 2,152 percent month-on-month and 4,267 percent Y/Y. In total it generated nearly 18.1 million unique installs last quarter in Europe.

European Mobile Game Revenue and Downloads

Mobile games generated $1.9 billion in gross revenue in Q3 2019, up 14.4 percent from nearly $1.7 billion in Q3 2018. In total, gaming accounted for 66.2 percent of all mobile app revenue in Europe based on user spending.

Google Play users spent more money than their App Store counterparts, paying over $1 billion on gaming apps in the last quarter, up 13.8 percent from the year prior. Apple's marketplace generated $835.4 million, an increase of 15.3 percent from Q3 2018.

Overall, Google Play represented 55.9 percent of total gaming revenue, while the App Store accounted for 44.1 percent.

For comparison, when taking into account worldwide gaming revenue, total user spending between Google Play and the App Store stood at a 60-40 split in favour of Apple's marketplace in Q3 2019. In Europe however, Android is shown to be a greater driver of gaming revenue.

Combined downloads across Europe grew 17.9 percent from 2.3 billion in Q3 2018 to 2.7 billion in Q3 2019. Unique installs on Google Play increased 20.3 percent Y/Y from approximately 1.8 billion to 2.1 billion in the last quarter. The number of App Store downloads rose 10 percent from 523.2 million to 576 million. Overall, Google Play accounted for 78.5 percent of total downloads in Europe, while the App Store made up 21.5 percent.

Coin Master from Moon Active was the clear winner for the quarter, generating $68.9 million in Q3 2019, some $16.7 million more than the $52.2 million earned by Niantic's location-based game Pokemon Go.

Finnish developer Supercell, however, performed the best in the top 10, with three games—Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, and Clash Royale—generating $116.3 million in gross revenue during the quarter.

Good Job Games's Fun Race 3D generated 30.2 million downloads for the quarter to take top spot in the download rankings. Mario Kart Tour from Nintendo, meanwhile, charged to 22.16 unique installs in the region despite its late September launch, ranking in third overall.

Sensor Tower will have further analysis of Q3 2019's top publishers, apps, and trends soon.

Note: The revenue estimates contained in this report are not inclusive of local taxes, in-app advertising, or in-app user spending on mobile commerce, e.g., purchases via the Amazon app, rides via the Uber app, or food deliveries via the GrubHub app. Refunds are also not reflected in the provided figures.