SensorTower: Global AI app revenue surged by 51% year-on-year to $2 billion from January to August, with revenue expected to reach $3.3 billion by 2024

According to the Zhitong Finance and Economics APP, SensorTower stated in a post that 2023 is a year of explosive growth in global AI applications, with total revenue in the first 8 months of 2024 increasing by 51% year-on-year driven by the strong performance of top AI applications. It is expected that the full-year revenue in 2024 will reach $3.3 billion.

Rapid Rise in AI Application Revenue in 2024

After the explosive growth in 2023, the AI application market in 2024 has become more mature. Benefiting from the strong growth of top applications, global AI application revenue from January to August 2024 surged by 51% year-on-year to $2 billion, with the full-year revenue expected to reach $3.3 billion in 2024.

AI applications are widely downloaded and used by users around the world, but the revenue mainly comes from the North American market. In terms of download volume, India has become the largest market for AI application downloads in 2024, contributing 21% of the total downloads. The North American market accounts for 47% of the total global AI application revenue, making it the most profitable market for AI applications.

"ChatGPT" Leads the Global AI Application Market

In the 2024 global AI application download rankings, the top 30 are almost dominated by Chatbot applications and image editing applications.

In terms of download volume, revenue, and active user base, OpenAI's "ChatGPT" is undoubtedly the champion of the AI application market. From January to August 2024, "ChatGPT" was downloaded over 160 million times and generated revenue of nearly $230 million. As of August 2024, "ChatGPT" has accumulated revenue exceeding $270 million, with monthly active users exceeding 190 million.

Bending Spoons' image editing application "Remini" gained popularity on major social networks due to its AI portrait generation feature and AI clay filters. From January to August 2024, it was downloaded over 120 million times, ranking 2nd in the download rankings. By August 2024, "Remini" had accumulated a global download volume of 450 million times, with in-app purchase revenue exceeding $200 million.

"Google Gemini," "Microsoft Copilot," and "Chatbot AI & Smart Assistant" are three new AI applications that ranked 4th, 8th, and 9th on the list ByteDance's chatbot app "Dou Bao" ranks 5th on the download list, being the only Chinese AI app on the list. Other ByteDance AI apps in the Top 30 download list include the image editing app "Hypic" and the AI education app "Gauth".

Turkish mobile app publisher Codeway Dijital has 4 AI apps on the download list, including "Chatbot AI & Smart Assistant", "Chat & Ask AI by Codeway", "Retake AI: Face & Photo Editor", and "Face Dance: AI Photo Animator".

Global AI+Chatbot app revenue from January to August 2024 has exceeded 1.5 times the full year revenue of 2023

2023 was a breakout year for global AI+Chatbot apps, with downloads increasing by over 14 times compared to 2022, reaching nearly 600 million downloads. From January to August 2024, AI+Chatbot app downloads surpassed 630 million, exceeding the full year level of 2023.

In the first 8 months of 2024, global in-app purchase revenue from AI+Chatbot apps reached nearly $580 million, already more than 1.5 times the full year revenue of 2023.

Companion AI apps are highly favored by young users

With the development of AI+Chatbot apps, emotionally supportive AI is gradually emerging. The leading app "Character AI" reached a record high of 22 million MAU in August 2024, with nearly 19 million downloads from January to August, becoming the leader in the niche market. Globally, "Talkie AI" closely follows "Character AI" with 17 million downloads, but in the U.S. market, "Talkie AI" has surpassed "Character AI" in downloads.

Companion AI apps are loved by young users, with "Character AI", "Talkie AI", "Linky AI", "HiWaifu", and other leading apps having over 70% of users aged 18-35. Among them, "Character AI" has a user base of 66% in the 18-24 age group.

Different companion AI apps have varying gender distributions, with female users preferring "Character AI" and "Talkie AI", while "Linky AI" and "HiWaifu" attract more male users

Special Note: This report only includes the estimated value of in-app purchases in the app store, excluding advertising revenue and third-party Android channel revenue in China