Report: Freemium leads the charge among mobile devs, in-app ads on the rise
The "freemium" revenue model is currently the top monetization strategy for mobile developers, but in-app advertising is expected to grow in prominence over the next several years, according to a new report from mobile revenue analytics company App Annie (via VentureBeat).
App Annie found that over 83 percent of the top 1,000 apps in the iTunes App Store and Google Play currently take the freemium approach to monetization. The survey additionally found that 92 percent of all revenue earned among its 2,000 surveyed developers arrived via in-app purchases in free-to-play games.
A majority of users in free-to-play games will never make a single in-app purchase, however. 80 percent of App Annie's surveyed developers stated that less than five percent of users spent money within their freemium apps, corroborating earlier reports of low spending rates among players.
While 58 percent of surveyed developers do not use advertising in their apps, App Annie predicts that in-app advertising revenue will surpass web-based ad earnings by 2017. Currently, only the top 75th to 90th percentile of developers earn more than $10,000 monthly from ad revenue, though outliers like the recent hit Flappy Bird have the potential to rake in more than $100,000 every month.
[Image: App Annie]
