Sports Apps Revenue Remained Strong in Q3 2019, Growing 73% Year-Over-Year

The fifth and final excerpt in a series from our Q3 2019 Data Digest looks at the top grossing sports apps for Q3 2019. Sports app revenue growth was strong in Q3 2019, particularly for a few large apps like ESPN and DAZN. There is still room for growth in this category, with Sports ranking as the No. 12 category by App Store revenue in Q3 2019 and ranking No. 13 on Google Play. The app revenue estimates presented in this chart are from Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform.

Top Sports Apps Worldwide by Revenue

Sports apps grossed more than $150 million in Q3 2019, an increase of 73 percent year-over-year. Top apps grew even faster, with revenue from the top five sports apps growing 210 percent Y/Y. DAZN and ESPN, both of which used subscription services for video streaming, each earned more in Q3 2019 than the top five sports apps combined in Q3 2018. DAZN led the way with $29.6 million with ESPN close behind at $27.7 million. They also each grossed nearly as much as the entire Sports category in Q3 2016. The third top sports app was MLB at Bat, followed by onX Hunt and Gamechanger.

Top Sports Apps in the U.S. by Revenue

ESPN released its subscription service, ESPN+, in April 2018. It became the top grossing sports app in the U.S. in Q1 2019 and earned $27.7 million in Q3 2019. DAZN also emerged as a top sports app in the U.S. in 2019. Its U.S. revenue is primarily driven by subscribers for boxing matches, though it does also stream baseball and MMA.

Top Sports Apps in Europe by Revenue

DAZN was responsible for most of the revenue growth in Europe at $10.4 million, which represented 38 percent of the total sports app revenue in 3Q19. It has earned 85 percent of sports app revenue in Italy so far in 2019. DAZN was available in five European countries including Italy, Germany, and Spain. It earned nearly $4 million in both Italy and Germany and $1.7 million in Spain during Q3 2019

Interested in additional Q3 2019 insights? Download a free copy of our Q3 2019 Data Digest Report here.

Store Intelligence users can see revenue and download estimates for the above apps in addition to historical performance metrics on the Sensor Tower platform. Our estimates include worldwide revenue for the App Store and Google Play between July 1, 2016 and September 30, 2019. Apple apps and Google pre-installed apps are excluded. We report unique installs only. Android estimates do not include third-party stores. Figures represent aggregate installs of all app versions, ex: Facebook and Facebook Lite.