Global spend on mobile games is forecast to reach $100bn in 2020, up from $86bn in 2019, and games now account for almost three-quarters (72%) of all spending in app stores, according to new research from App Annie.

The mobile data and analytics firm further revealed in its State of Mobile 2020 report that mobile games witnessed 25% more spending than all other games combined in 2019.

And spending on mobile gaming was 2.4 times that of the spending for PC and Mac games, as well as 2.9 times more than the spending on game consoles.

The study, which examined mobile’s impact across several industries, also revealed that $120bn was spent on apps globally in 2019, up from $101bn in 2018, with the US accounting for $25bn of the total.

Meanwhile, total worldwide downloads topped 204 billion last year, representing a 45% increase since 2016 and up 6% year on year, and consumers spent an average three hours and 40 minutes on mobile.

Mobile’s ever-increasing worldwide popularity is also translating into what App Annie describes as a “massive year for mobile advertising”, and the report forecasts that advertisers will spend more than $240bn on mobile in 2020, up 26% from 2019.

However, subscriptions are the main way for many non-gaming apps to generate revenue – especially dating apps like Tinder and video apps like Netflix and Tencent Video.

Elsewhere, the report found that mobile-focused companies, such as Alibaba and Uber, had a combined IPO valuation of $544bn, or 6.5 times more than those without a mobile focus. And it also predicted that the mobile industry will contribute $4.8 trillion to global GDP by 2023.

Finally, looking at the performance of TikTok in particular, the report found that global time spent in the Chinese video-sharing platform increased 210% year on year.

And even though 80% of the time spent in TikTok was in China, its usage grew in other countries, including the US where time spent on the platform surged 375% year on year in 2019.

Sourced from App Annie; additional content by WARC staff