Apps Are Bigger Than Hollywood

I came across some mind-blowing charts and data at Asymco that shows that revenue on mobile apps is bigger than all of the combined domestic (US) box office of Hollywood studios. So how the hell did that happen? Apps have exploded while domestic box office numbers have remained stagnant. 

$ = Millions

If you haven't noticed, a huge focus is now on international releases, which for some huge summer tentpole movies can be as much as 70% of their worldwide total. All those recent box office records we've seen are largely because of the international markets.

Last year Apple paid out $10 billion to developers and Google paid out $3 billion. Apps on iOS employ 627,000 jobs in the US versus 374,000 in Hollywood.

One thing to think about is that these data points don't give a full picture of the wider movie industry and don't account for movie theaters, video sales, or merchandise, which for a franchise like Star Wars, you're almost paying for a two hour commercial. Then again, these are only numbers for Apple and don't even get into money made off of apps that don't go through Apple like advertising, subscriptions, and merchandise.

What we do know for sure is that Apps are taking our time and money away from other forms of entertainment or productivity. For the full data go to Asymco.

Shameless plug: Download the GeekTyrant app for iOS. Android coming soon.