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Women are 79 percent more likely to spend money on mobile games

Women are 79 percent more likely to spend money on mobile games

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A shift in the market focus

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Image: Liftoff

Female users are 79 percent more likely than male users to make in-app purchases in mobile games. The data comes from a marketing report by Liftoff, a firm that studies the mobile gaming market, as spotted by VentureBeat today.

Female users purchase in-app content 16.7 percent of the time after installing an app, and the report encourages app developers to focus on this segment of the market in the future. The report states that although it takes $0.18 more to make an app appealing enough for a female user to install than a male user, “a closer examination of conversion rates reveals females are in fact the most valuable gamers.”

Based on geographic and OS insights

The report looked at data collected from 350 apps between June 2017 and May 2018, showing that, compared to the period between 2016 and 2017, female users’ in-app purchases had nearly doubled. These results, and similar past studies, may drive app developers to start tailoring more apps specifically for women, at least in the most popular categories for female users like puzzle games and games recommended by word of mouth.

Beyond this insight, the Liftoff report also noted that getting iOS gamers to install apps and make in-app purchases costs more than recruiting Android ones. But once convinced, a gamer on iOS tends to spend more. Even so, since the Android mobile market is expanding faster — about 1.5 million new devices are activated each day — developers will still focus on both platforms.

The report also noted that it’s becoming harder and more expensive to get gamers in Asia to make in-app purchases, meaning that markets in Russia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have become more appealing as mobile connectivity continues to expand.