HBO Is Back! The Highest-Earning Apps in the World in June
This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - But Is It Real?. Check out the full article for more insights.
I crunched the numbers and analyzed the highest-earning mobile apps in the world in June, and for the first time in quite some time, all apps across both stores are identical to May, but with different numbers (and icons).
Let's start at the top: TikTok was the highest-earning app in the world in June. It was the highest-earner across both stores and combined, and with a generous lead preventing any other app from catching up quickly with a mega $384M haul, according to our estimates. And that's net, which means what Bytedance gets to keep and share with creators after Apple and Google take their fees.
This is the highest amount of revenue TikTok has earned in a single month!
ChatGPT, which is racing to become the top earner, grew a little slower than expected in June to $185M in net revenue, according to our App Intelligence. ChatGPT is in a unique position where it's getting closer to becoming a household name, but isn't exactly there quite yet. That said, its growth has been impressive and I can see it closing in on TikTok and even taking the lead by 2026.
YouTube, Tinder, and Disney+, round out the top five highest earners in June, but all three earned less in June than they did in July, with Disney+ taking the biggest hit, dropping $9M to $112M, according to our estimates.
Streaming apps are facing a big problem.
Right below, in #6, is HBO Max - the latest rebrand from just Max. HBO Max, just like YouTube and Disney+, took a bit of a hit in revenue in June, likely due to the prevalence of short drama apps. The top three short dramas cleared a little over $100M in June, and that revenue has to come from somewhere...
When looking at the total revenue for all four, it's very clear where that revenue is coming from.
Our estimates show that HBO's share of the pie dropped from 54% in January of this year to 46% in June while gross revenue for the group rose 7% to $286M. I've been watching the rise of short dramas for over a year now and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Short drama apps are here to stay and big streamers, like HBO Max, will need to fight them at some point, possibly by releasing their own versions.
Back to the list! Together, the top 10 highest-earning apps brought in $1.4B in June, a bit more than May but the difference got rounded away. And like May, the trend I've been talking about for over a year now continues - downloads are down but revenue is up. Make sure you're doing as much as you can with your downloads.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
