There’s good news and bad news for ChatGPT’s mobile efforts. On the plus side, the ai chatbot continues to see its number of app installs and revenue grow, with September setting a new record on both fronts: 15.6 million downloads and nearly $4.6 million in gross revenue in its applications for iOS and Android worldwide. However, according to new data from market intelligence firm Application Figures, revenue growth has now begun to slow. While revenue growth has exceeded 30% in recent months (31% in July and 39% in August), that growth slowed to 20% in September.
The slowdown in revenue growth could be the first sign that ChatGPT is approaching saturation in terms of how many mobile users are willing to pay for the updated ChatGPT+ subscription service: a fairly hefty $19 in-app purchase, 99 per month that offers faster response times, priority access during peak times, and early access to new features and improvements. The subscription has sold well so far, as ChatGPT on mobile generated gross revenue of $2.1 million in June, rising to $2.74 million in July, then to $3.81 million in August and now, the latest record, $4.58 million in September.
However, surprisingly, ChatGPT is not the top-grossing ai app. A competitor called Ask ai is earning more thanks to heavy ad spending, going from $6.48 million in May, when ChatGPT mobile launched, to a high of $6.55 million in August, Appfigures data indicates . It fell slightly in September, to $5.51 million, but is still larger than ChatGPT. Other competitors like Genie and ai Chat Smith have not grown as much as Ask ai.
Net income may be a different story, given Ask ai‘s ad spend, of course. As for ChatGPT, it made around $3.2 million in September after Apple and Google took their share of in-app purchase revenue.
In addition to its record revenue, ChatGPT recorded 15.6 million installs in September, bringing its total lifetime to 52.2 million, Appfigures estimates. Google Play is driving downloads, accounting for 9 million in September, while the App Store accounted for the other 6.6 million.
But, as expected, the App Store is generating revenue, or $3 million from total in-app purchases last month. The United States is the largest market for the ai chatbot application and accounts for 60% of ChatGPT’s revenue.
