Sensor Tower Store Intelligence, a site dedicated to everything related to the app economy, has published a report about the highest-grossing apps in the video and photo category. This report shows a ranking only covering the second quarter (April, May, and June) of 2019. It also shows the overall revenue of the apps, as well as the revenue for the App Store and the Google Play Store, individually.
At the top of the overall revenue list, we have YouTube. According to Sensor Tower, the video-sharing website made an amount of almost $138 million in this year’s second quarter. This represents a growth of 100-percent compared to the company’s second-quarter in 2018.
The United States is YouTube’s biggest source of revenue. Followed by Japan and Great Britain, which only represent 7-percent and 4-percent, respectively.
YouTube is followed by Kwai, an app used to make and share short videos. If you are not familiar with this app, it is because it’s mostly popular in China. Kwai raked up a revenue of $78 million in the second quarter, with 99-percent of that revenue coming from China. This represents an exponential increase for the company, which is showing a 5-percent growth compared to the same period last year.
TikTok took the third place on the list, and that is another app made to create and share short videos. Unlike Kwai, TikTok has found worldwide popularity, becoming one of the most popular apps in 2018. It’s become so popular that ByteDance, the company that created TikTok, is looking to expand and develop a smartphone.
At the end of the top five on the overall ranking list, we have 17 LiveAF, an app designed to create content through live video. In fourth place. And last but not least, in fifth place, we have PicsArt, which is a photo editing app.
When it comes to the rank on the App Store’s top 5 highest-grossing apps, we can see that YouTube, Kwai are still on top of the list, just like in the overall revenue ranking.
The Android Applications on top of the Google Play list, however, are completely different compared to the previous lists’ top 5. Right at the top, we see the Twitch app, an app for a popular streaming service which is focused on gamers. That app does not appear on the list for App Store, though.
On the Google Play list, you can also see that YouTube doesn’t appear at all. A surprise when you take into consideration the platform’s success and the fact that Android and YouTube are part of the same parent company.
Although it is important to note that, as stated by Sensor Tower, its revenue estimates come exclusively from the Google Play. Meaning that they don’t include any of the revenue that comes from third-party Android Stores.
Despite the controversy YouTube has faced as a company, the platform keeps on growing. With approximately a 60 million dollar difference between YouTube and the other applications in the same category, it seems the company is doing just fine.