App Annie: Top 10 mobile apps and games with the highest downloads and revenue in China from 2010 to 2019

From 2010 to now, it is undoubtedly a period of "wild growth" for the Chinese Internet. In the past ten years, we have witnessed the qualitative leap from 2G to 4G, witnessed the transformation of Chinese mobile manufacturers from acceptors to pioneers, and personally experienced the explosive growth of mobile apps. In these 10 years, which apps are in your top 10? App Annie exclusively presents you the most popular apps and games in the Chinese iOS app market in the past 10 years (2010-2019).

iOS market revenue surpasses that of the United States, and China is transforming from a follower to a leader

In December 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 4G TD-LTE licenses to my country's three major telecom operators, announcing that China has officially entered the 4G era. The increasing popularity of high-speed 4G and convenient smartphones has also driven the gradual transformation of the Internet to mobile Internet.

As the importance of mobile terminals continues to emerge, the iOS market has also seen tremendous development in China. As early as 2016, China surpassed the United States to become the largest iOS application revenue market. Not only has game revenue grown rapidly, but non-game application revenue has also grown significantly. Excellent self-made original content has not only received widespread attention in China, but has also successfully gone abroad and successfully made money in the vast overseas market. China has gradually transformed from a follower to a leader in the mobile Internet market. In the next 10 years, we look forward to greater breakthroughs.

BAT giants dominate the download list, and online video is the biggest trend in payment

Focusing on the iOS app download list in China, we found that:

• The top ten download rankings are almost all occupied by the three Internet giants "BAT". At the same time, the social genes of Tencent and the e-commerce genes of Alibaba can be clearly seen from the apps on the list.
• After transforming from a group-buying giant to a lifestyle service platform, Meituan not only successfully went public, but also became one of the top 10 Chinese Internet companies in just two quarters after its listing. Not only does it have the size to challenge BAT, it has also become the only unicorn that does not belong to BAT in the 10-year app download rankings.
• QQ topped the download list, while WeChat ranked third, behind QQ and Taobao. Although WeChat became popular as soon as it was released, QQ not only has a group of "post-90s" memory groups, but also has become the new favorite of Generation Z and "post-00s" with its many functions and gameplay, winning the championship.

Turning to China’s iOS app revenue rankings:

• Tencent occupies half of the revenue list, and involves many different fields such as video, social, music, literature, etc., demonstrating Tencent's ambition and strength in the mobile entertainment market.
• As one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 4G generation, online video remains the core trend of payment. Tencent Video, Baidu's iQiyi Video, and Alibaba's Youku Video all achieved impressive results in the first, second, and fourth places in the revenue rankings. High-quality original content and the popularity of online dramas and big IPs have driven a surge in the number of members and a continuous increase in consumption.
• The short video app "Kuaishou" successfully broke through and occupied the top 3 position in the revenue list. In addition to the usual user rewards and other behaviors, short videos are also accelerating their integration with e-commerce and other fields, exploring new business models to promote their own profit growth.
• The strong presence of QQ Music and QQ Reading on the list shows that the entertainment content ecosystem is gradually taking shape. With IP as the core, from novels, comics, to online dramas, variety shows, movies, animation, etc., to games, peripheral products and services, a closed ecological chain is gradually formed to strengthen the profitability of the platform.
• Himalaya FM, which completed the paid transformation the earliest, became the only audio content app to enter the revenue rankings. Since launching the paid audio course "Speak Well" in cooperation with Ma Dong in 2016, Himalaya FM has successfully caught the early train of knowledge payment. At present, it has not only attracted more than 3,000 knowledge-related Internet celebrities to settle in, but also opened paid courses covering more than ten categories such as foreign languages, emotions, business, music, etc., using knowledge payment to bring huge revenue growth.

Honor of Kings tops the charts, and Chinese-style board games remain popular

Specifically, let’s look at the Chinese iOS game download list:

• Tencent occupies six of the top ten download positions, from the phenomenal mobile game "Honor of Kings", the national entertainment mobile game "Happy Landlords", to the representative battle royale game "Peace Elite". Tencent not only tops the download list, but also covers a wide range of game themes including competitive, chess and card leisure, and shooting, which is very comprehensive.
• Super casual games such as "Happy Match 3" and board games with Chinese characteristics are also very popular among users. Compared with other types of games, board games do not have a clear life cycle, and users spend a long time online and have high stickiness, but how to achieve differentiation is a problem that must be solved in future development.
• The rapid development of mobile networks has driven the transformation of mobile games from stand-alone games such as "Snake" to massively multiplayer online games such as "Honor of Kings". The 5G era has arrived, and network speed will have a qualitative leap. The latency problem that has troubled gamers and publishers will be significantly improved. This transformation will also bring about the further development and popularity of massively multiplayer online games.

Which are the most profitable games on iOS in China in the past 10 years?

• As expected, Tencent's "Honor of Kings" has become the top earner in the decade. However, NetEase's "Fantasy Westward Journey", "Westward Journey Online", "Onmyoji" and other games have also begun to compete with Tencent. The two have occupied all the top 10 seats in the revenue list, and no new player has yet to break through.
• The themes of NetEase games have their own distinctive cultural characteristics, and both the story background and the game style are highly recognizable. Among them, there are many niche boutique games. With exquisite graphics, interesting game settings, and sentimental storylines, NetEase games have attracted a large number of "face fans" in addition to the heavy game group, reaching a wider audience group.
• The "chicken-eating" craze that became popular in 2018 continues to this day. "Peace Elite", which was just launched in May this year, has now ranked among the top ten revenue lists in the past 10 years. The freshness brought by strong randomness, the high stickiness brought by the scalability of operations, and the game mode that combines fun and interactivity have all kept this game alive. With the advent of the 5G era and the continuous updating and improvement of gameplay, it is expected that this "chicken-eating" wave will not stop for the time being.