TikTok is the first app to reach 10 billion in-app purchases

TikTok recently won a golden crown made of its users' money.
It became the first app in history to surpass the threshold of $10 billion spent on in-app purchases.

This result emerged from the analysis of app spending in 2023 published by Bloomberg; a record never achieved by anyone else, which clearly underlines the strong presence and influence that the Chinese social media has in the market.

In a year when the amount of time people spend on their mobile devices is expected to increase, that dominance probably is destined to grow.
With user spending topping $10 billion through 2023 alone, TikTok's ability to generate revenue in an innovative way and to find new methods of monetization is confirmed in the context of emerging trends.

This record was achieved in an exceptional year for the app economy, with 11% growth in revenue, driven primarily by increased demand for video streaming services such as those offered by TikTok and Disney+.

Thanks to the community

The report highlights an upward trend towards in-app spending over gaming, with users investing in streaming services, user-generated content and dating apps.

Additionally, the report suggests that users have extended their screen time on mobile devices, with Indonesia leading the way, where the daily average exceeds 6.05 hours, more or less attributable to extensive part-time work .

This highlights the engaging power of TikTok and similar apps, which stand out for their ability to excite audiences with entertaining, short-term content and win their appreciation.

The reward system introduced by the Chinese social network, which allows users to remunerate creators and streamers, has revealed the “secret of monetization on mobile devices”, according to market analysts cited by Bloomberg.
Purchasing credits for donations has remained among the main sources of revenue for TikTok.

Mobile direction

Advertising maintains its predominance by representing i two-thirds of the mobile economybut direct spending by consumers is becoming increasingly important.

In 2023, in-app spending surpassed 170 billion dollarsrecording an increase of 3% compared to the previous year.
The nascent creator economy is shaping new forms of monetization that are alternatives to traditional advertising models, and approaches like TikTok's, based on direct user support, could spread further.

After careful examination of the statistics, one wonders whether 2024 can even surpass last year in terms of revenue. The promises of numerous technological advances portend a further intensification of user interaction, offering them additional motivations or pretexts to prolong the use of their smartphones.

As the spread of content generated by artificial intelligence in modern phones, the numbers can be expected to grow even more as 2025 arrives.

The only negative sign comes from the mobile video game sector which, after years of growth, recorded a 2% decline on an annual basis globally in 2023.
This decrease is in line with the limits that the sector industry has encountered over the past year.