Photo and video app revenue and downloads continue to boom

Photo and video apps are more popular than ever. According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, photo and video apps have seen their revenue more than triple in five years, reaching $12 billion in 2023, according to a blog post by Jastra Kranjec, an editor, writer, and PR specialist with years of experience in news, research, and report writing. The 2022 Statista Global Customer Survey showed four in ten smartphone users regularly use photo editing apps, even more than basic apps like email, browsers, and messenger apps. These apps also have an army of users in the content creator’s industry but still makeup just one part of the market, according to Kranjec. The photo and video app market also includes some of the biggest and most popular apps for video streaming, like YouTube and Twitch, which also had a significant role in surging revenues.

According to Statista Market Insights, the global photo and video app market grossed around $5 billion in revenue in 2019. Two years later, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure jumped to $9 billion and continued growing. Statistics show last year saw an 11% revenue growth, with smartphone users spending roughly $10 billion on photo and video apps. This figure is expected to jump by 20% and hit $12bn in 2023. By 2027, the entire market will hit $16 billion in revenue.

The Statista survey showed that half of the total revenue in 2023, or $6 billion, comes from in-app purchases. Advertising and paid apps follow with $3 billion and $2 billion in revenue, respectively. Statista expects the following years to witness impressive growth in all three revenue streams. While in-app purchases and paid apps revenue are forecasted to grow by a massive 50% by 2027, the advertising segment will see revenue surge by 66% in the next four years.

Some of the most popular photo and video apps hit millions of users in weeks. In 2019, FaceApp went viral after users across social media platforms shared pictures of their older or younger selves generated by the app. The photo editing app powered by artificial intelligence, Lensa AI, also had overnight success, reaching more than 19 million downloads in a single month after adding the Magic Avatars feature.

The surging popularity of photo and video apps has helped the total number of downloads more than double in the past five years. Statista expects people worldwide to download 29.1 billion photo and video apps by the end of 2023, 107% more than the 14 billion downloads reported in 2019. However, the following year will see slower growth rates, with downloads increasing by 27% to 37 billion in 2027.