A new study carried out by Sortlist calculated the world’s most popular apps’ total revenue per user by looking at the number of users and the app’s overall revenue to calculate the total revenue per single user of each app.
For the complete findings, read the full research here: https://www.sortlist.com/datahub/reports/apps-earnings-per-users/
The top 10 highest earning social apps:
| Rank | App | Number of Users (M) | Revenue ($M) | Revenue Per User |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2.9B | 117.9B | $40.53 | |
| 2 | 206.0M | 5.1B | $24.65 | |
| 3 | 2.1B | 47.6B | $22.43 | |
| 4 | 1.2B | 17.5B | $14.11 | |
| 5 | 822.0M | 11.6B | $14.06 | |
| 6 | LINE | 178.0M | 2.4B | $13.26 |
| 7 | Snapchat | 332.0M | 4.1B | $12.36 |
| 8 | 433.0M | 2.5B | $5.88 | |
| 9 | TikTok | 1.2B | 4.6B | $3.83 |
| 10 | 2.4B | 8.8B | $3.69 | |
| 11 | 430.0M | 350.0M | $0.81 |
Facebook makes the highest revenue ($40.53) per user. The social networking service owned by Meta Platforms has made almost $118 billion in revenue, more than every other social media platform combined.
Twitter is the second highest paid social media app on our list and makes $24.65 in revenue per user. Twitter has 206 million daily users worldwide, which is projected to increase to 340 million by 2024. The app was founded in 2001 and has since made over $5 billion in revenue.
Instagram is the third highest paid social media app in terms of user revenue, with 2.1 billion active monthly users and an estimated revenue of $48 billion. The app makes approximately $22.43 in revenue per user.
The top 10 highest earning entertainment apps:
| Rank | App | Number of Users (M) | Revenue ($M) | Revenue Per User |
| 1 | Hulu | 45.3M | 9.7B | $213.02 |
| 2 | Netflix | 192.0M | 25.0B | $130.19 |
| 3 | Twitch | 22.0M | 2.6B | $118.18 |
| 4 | Apple Music | 88.0M | 5.0B | $56.82 |
| 5 | Pandora Music | 52.0M | 2.1B | $39.83 |
| 6 | Disney Plus | 137.0M | 5.3B | $38.64 |
| 7 | Spotify | 422.0M | 9.6B | $22.73 |
| 8 | YouTube | 2.5B | 28.8B | $11.49 |
| 9 | TikTok | 1.2B | 4.6B | $3.83 |
| 10 | SoundCloud | 76.0M | 218.0M | $2.87 |
Hulu is the highest earning app on our entertainment list, in terms of its revenue made per user. Hulu makes approximately $213.02 in revenue per user, which is considerably high considering the monthly subscription cost for Hulu’s ad-supported plan costs just $6.99 per month.
Uber popular video streaming service, Netflix, is the second highest earning app on our list. Netflix has a huge 192 million users and makes approximately $130.19 in revenue per user.
Live streaming service, Twitch, is the third highest earning app on the list. With 22 million users worldwide, the app makes approximately $118.18 in revenue per user.
Further findings:
- The highest earning finance app is FTX, with a revenue per user of over $850.00. FTX is also the highest earning app across all the categories analysed.
- Peloton is the highest earning lifestyle app ($681.36 revenue per user), as well as the only non-financial app on the general podium.