Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store saw massive gains over the Christmas holiday as people stayed at home.
As the coronavirus pandemic has hit record levels, health experts urged people to stay at home and cancel their holiday plans. While some refused to do so, many did change their plans. As a result, people looked elsewhere for entertainment and distraction, specifically to app stores.
According to Sensor Tower’s estimates, people spent a shopping $407.6 million on the App Store and Play Store on Christmas. This represents a 34.5% year-over-year (YoY) growth from 2019.
The biggest category was games, which grew 27% YoY, representing $295.6 million. Aside from games, Entertainment was the biggest category, with $19.3 million being spent on the App Store and $4.3 million on the Play Store.
Sensor Tower’s figures are just the last example of the digital transformation currently underway, accelerated by the global pandemic.