How does the app make money?
In the era of mobile Internet, Apps have become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. Whether it is social networking, shopping, entertainment or utility applications, Apps have various business models. This article will combine the hot topics and hot content in the past 10 days, analyze the main profit model of the App, and display relevant cases through structured data.
1. The main profit model of App

The profit models of Apps are mainly divided into the following categories: advertising revenue, subscription services, in-app purchases, e-commerce transaction commissions, data monetization, etc. The following is an analysis of the profit models of popular apps in the past 10 days:
| App name | Category | Profit model | Typical cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Douyin | short video | Advertising revenue, live streaming rewards, e-commerce commissions | The recent hot topic "Oriental Selection Live Delivery" brings high commissions |
| Spotify | music streaming | Subscription services, advertising revenue | Paid members enjoy ad-free music |
| King of Glory | game | In-app purchases (skins, items) | New season skin launches, single-day revenue exceeds 100 million |
| Meituan | local life | Transaction commissions, advertising revenue | Commission for each takeaway order is 20%-30% |
| professional networking | Subscription services, data monetization | Companies pay to obtain talent data analysis |
2. Advertising revenue: the most common way to make money
Advertising revenue is the main source of profit for most free apps. According to hot data in the past 10 days, short video and social apps account for the highest proportion of advertising revenue:
| platform | advertising form | Revenue proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Douyin | Information flow advertising, open screen advertising | 60% |
| Moments advertising, public account promotion | 40% | |
| Hot search list advertising, blogger promotion | 50% |
3. Subscription services: Users’ paying habits gradually develop
As users' demand for high-quality content increases, subscription services are becoming the choice of more and more apps. Popular subscription apps recently include:
4. Data Monetization: Invisible Profit Giant
Some apps analyze user behavior data to provide precision marketing services for enterprises. For example:
| App | data type | Realization method |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | geolocation data | Provide customer flow analysis for merchants |
| Taobao | Shopping preference data | Personalized recommendation ads |
5. Future Trend: Mixed Profit Model Becomes the Mainstream
A single profit model can no longer meet the development needs of apps, and more and more platforms are adopting a hybrid model of “advertising + subscription + e-commerce”. For example:
From the above analysis, we can see that App’s profit model is diversified and continues to innovate as technology and user habits change. In the future, whoever can better balance user experience and business monetization will stand out from the competition.
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