YouTube earned a total of $138 million in the second quarter.
What you need to know
- Sensor Tower data shows that YouTube is the top earner in the Photo & Video app category for Q2 2019.
- That is an increase of 2.2x from Q2 2018 and accounts for $138 million in revenue.
- Despite being the highest earner, YouTube doesn’t even crack the top 10 for highest-earning Photo & Video apps on Google Play.
The results are in for the second quarter of 2019, and the highest-grossing app in the Photo & Video category might surprise you. It’s not a paid service like Netflix or Hulu, at least not according to Sensor Tower data, which puts YouTube at the top spot.
Rounding out the top five were Kwai, TikTok, 17 LiveAF, and PicsArt in the category. However, it’s important to note that Sensor Tower’s data comes from “gross user spending” and “does not include app revenue from third-party Android stores.”
Overall, YouTube brought in $138 million worldwide, which is an increase of 2.2x from the same quarter last year. Users from the U.S. were the biggest spenders, responsible for 70% of YouTube’s revenue, followed by Japan at 7% and Great Britain with 4%.
The large disparity between spending in the U.S. versus other countries probably has a lot to do with the fact that YouTube TV is only available in the U.S. However, YouTube Premium is now available in 63 countries after adding 13 additional countries recently.
One of the most surprising revelations in the report is that while YouTube is the top-earning Photo & Video app on the iOS App Store, it’s not even in the top 10 on Google Play. Considering YouTube and Android share the same parent company, that’s a little shocking, to say the least.
Instead, the top spot on Google Play is 17 LiveAF, which ranks in at number four on the App Store. Despite not even cracking the top 10 on Google Play, that still didn’t prevent YouTube from making more revenue overall.
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