App Store revenue distribution is extremely uneven, but independent developers still have opportunities

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Recently, Marco Arment, a well-known iOS developer, shared the sales of Overcast, which included many statistics and charts. Overcast is quite successful and has been able to stay on the "best-selling app rankings" for a long time, so Charles Perry of Metakite Software roughly estimated the revenue distribution in the App Store based on its situation.

We have probably all heard of the Pareto Principle (80/20 Principle). This principle is widely used, and the most well-known one is that the distribution of wealth among the population is unbalanced, with 20% of the population owning 80% of the society's wealth. Can this principle also be reflected in the income distribution of the App Store? Through data analysis, Charles Perry found that the imbalance in the income distribution of the App Store exceeded expectations.

From this chart, we can see that the turning point of the curve is about 870th in the "Best-selling Apps Ranking" of the US App Store. According to the data at that time, there were 1.2 million apps in the App Store, so 99.93% of the apps were in the "long tail" position. The top 870 apps in the "Best-selling Apps Ranking" accounted for 40% of the store's app revenue with a market share of 0.07%.

However, even in the long tail, developers can still earn good income. The 871st app in the "Best-selling Apps Ranking" earns $700 a day, or about $260,000 a year; the 1908th app earns more than $100,000 a year. As long as you are above 3175, the developer's income is equivalent to that of the middle class ($53,891), and many developers have more than two apps. If a developer's apps are all ranked above 6,000, it will be no problem to support their family.

“There’s a ton of money flowing around in the ecosystem, and independent developers only need a small portion of it. It seems that even with such a steep revenue curve and high revenues from blockbuster titles, it’s still possible to achieve sustained profitability in the long tail of the App Store. Those who work hard, pay attention to detail, and have a business sense still have a chance to succeed,” Charles Perry concluded.