In 2024, consumer spending on in-app purchases and subscriptions hit $150billion globally, according to digital economy data provider, Sensor Tower. In its latest research, the firm uncovers how consumer spending on apps has evolved in the past year.
In total, the State of Mobile report for 2025 by Sensor Tower, shows there has been a 13 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase in subscriptions and in-app purchases. Interestingly, consumers are not spending this money in the gaming sector. In fact, for the fourth consecutive year, spending in non-games has outpaced spending in games with the former increasing by nearly $14billion in 2024 (25 per cent YoY growth).
Breaking down the findings further, Sensor Tower reveals that film and television streaming, and social media were the largest subgeneres for consumer spending, accounting for $11.9billion and $11.7billion respectively.
AI soars once again
However, in 2024 AI Chatbots stole the show. A surge of interest in generative AI saw consumers spend nearly $1.1billion (+200 per cent YoY) in apps such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Doubao, growing at a rate that could catapult the subgenre into the top 10 by consumer spending within just a year.
Time spent in AI apps like Character AI and ChatGPT nearly eclipsed 7.7 billion hours, and apps mentioning AI were downloaded 17 billion times, emphasising the growing appetite among consumers for AI features at their fingertips.

“Apps continue to capture consumer attention, particularly in non-games. And as consumers spend more time on mobile, they are becoming far more comfortable making purchases on their devices,” said Oliver Yeh, chief executive officer and co-founder, Sensor Tower.
“Apps have shifted their monetisation strategies to capitalise on this increased attention, finding innovative ways to streamline and improve consumers’ digital experience. As we look ahead, we expect to see more apps experiment with AI, finding novel and creative ways of incorporating the technology.”
Improving in-person customer experiences
Interestingly, the report points to signs of consumer digital fatigue in top app categories like streaming where engagement is experiencing a slight pullback from recent highs. However, it also highlights the success of apps that improve in-person customer experiences.
Many of the fastest-growing categories connect users across devices or to their in-person experiences. Food and drink app downloads (+8.5 per cent YoY) and session count (+9.2 per cent YoY) saw accelerated growth as more companies integrated the app into the customer buying process.
More key findings include:
- New billion-dollar club members: Four games and one app: Last War, Whiteout Survival, Dungeon & Fighter, Brawl Stars, and WeTV were the latest to reach the billion-dollar club, surpassing $1billion dollars for consumer spending for a calendar year
- The AI Takeover: ChatGPT has reached 50 million (+500 per cent YoY) Monthly Active Users faster than Temu, Disney+ and YouTube Music
- Apps offer financial services convenience: Led by the popularity of digital wallets and mobile banking, finance apps maintained double-digit growth YoY for time spent, and approached 7.5 billion downloads ( ( plus eight per cent YoY)
- Cryptocurrency apps establish global appeal: Binance (sixth) and Tonkeeper (ninth) rank among the top 10 finance apps by downloads in 2024
- Chinese e-tailers boost retail globally: Temu and SHEIN continue their expansion into Europe, Latin America and Asia, ranking first and second respectively for top app downloads in the retail subgenre
- A saturated streaming app market: While streaming mobile apps have seen ongoing growth in in-app revenue and downloads, engagement is falling as users experience ‘digital fatigue’. The absence of switching costs has made it challenging for newer and smaller platforms to drive loyalty and subscriber growth
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