List shows top U.S. apps last month based on a rarely used method of revenue accounting
Pixalate has ranked the top-grossing apps in several countries including the United States. The reason why some of these apps are not familiar to you is because the rankings aren't based on the number of installs or the revenue generated by paid apps. Instead, these rankings are created using "the amount of open programmatic ad spend estimated to have been derived from those apps." These are ads shown on the app that appear via automated bidding (top dollar wins the auction) in real-time instead of from negotiated deals with publishers.
To put it another way, these apps generate the highest amount of programmatic advertising revenue based on estimates calculated by Pixalate. This data is computed for apps listed in the Apple App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android devices.
"We calculate estimated programmatic ad spend through proprietary statistical models that incorporate programmatic monthly active users (MAU), the average session duration per user, an average CPM for the store category of a given app, and ad density."-Pixalate
Let's start with the App Store where the top grossing app during November in the U.S. was the heavily promoted Vita Mahjong app. The tile matching game generated $4 million in programmatic ad spend during November. The app was developed with older Americans in mind and while it leads all App Store apps in programmatic ad revenue, in the App Store's Board category it has the second largest number of installs.
The next four App Store apps each took in $3 million last month from programmatic ads:
Happy Colors by Number Game-A colors by numbers app that is the 28th most popular in the Board category.
Musi Simple Music Streaming-This app has been removed from the App Store for violating YouTube's terms of service.
TuneIn Radio Music & Sports-Streaming sports talk, play-by-play, and music from radio stations. It is the 53rd most installed Music app in the App Store.
Solitaire-A solitaire game that is the 10th most installed app in the Board category.
Based on data estimated by Pixalate, these are the top-grossing apps in the U.S. Apple App Store based on programmatic ads. | Image credit-Pixalate
Other high grossing apps in the U.S. App Store include ESPN (#6) with $2 million in programmatic ad revenue during November and The Weather Channel (#9) which took in $1 million in such advertising last month.
Based on data estimated by Pixalate, these are the top-grossing apps in the U.S. Google Play Store based on programmatic ads. | Image credit-Pixalate
In the U.S. Google Play Store, the top app with $5 million in programmatic ad spend in November was Audiomack: Music Downloader. The music streamer "provides download access and unlimited streaming to the newest and hottest tracks, right at your fingertips." With $3 million generated from the app in November from ads selected by automated real-time bidding, music streamer Pandora Music & Podcasts was next in the U.S. Play Store.
Other apps of note in the Play Store's top ten include SoundCloud: Play Music & Songs (#5) and Tumblr-Fandom, Art, Chaos (#6). Both had $2 million in programmatic ad revenue during November.
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