The rise of digital platforms has changed the way we consume and distribute products and services in a great number of industries. In particular, since the introduction of mobile apps and app stores in the late 2000s and the spread of connected devices, platforms help distribute products, apps and digital content on a wide range of devices. This report presents a benchmark of fees applied by selected app and content distribution platforms to developers and content providers. It recalls the importance of considering the role of the two-sided nature of these platforms, the services they provide and the different criteria they use to set their fees when doing a comparative analysis.
The selected app and content distribution platforms are the following: | ||
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Amazon Prime Video Direct
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Huawei AppGallery | Samsung Galaxy Store |
Amazon Appstore
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Kindle Direct Publishing | Sony PlayStation |
Apple App Store
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Kobo | Soundcloud |
Audible
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Microsoft Store | Spotify |
Deezer
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Microsoft Xbox | Steam |
Epic Games Store
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Nintendo Switch | |
Google Play Store
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ONE Store |
Our benchmark study does not purport to be exhaustive. However, we believe it provides a rigorous overview of fees and services of selected platforms from public sources. It comprises a sample of well- known app stores, consoles and digital content platforms. It is the result of our best efforts to study the existing public information of relevance to our report.
Our research presents different types and levels of distribution fees applicable to transactions of developers and content providers and highlights the following aspects:
The main benchmark results can be summarized as follows:
Our research identified registration fee information for 9 out of 19 platforms. Among them, the majority apply a registration fee (including Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Store, Microsoft Xbox, Soundcloud and Steam).
Services fees vary from 5% to 80% of developer and/ or content provider revenues. Platforms generally charge different levels of service fees, depending mainly on the content type, developer’s revenues, exclusivity of content, the use of developer’s own or third-party billing/ payment systems and the developer’s monetization strategy. A single platform can apply between one and five distinct service fees.
Out of the 19 platforms studied, 68% apply a 30% service fee.3 Four apply a single 30% rate to all content providers (Deezer, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Galaxy Store and Sony PlayStation), while the others additionally apply lower or higher rates depending on the different criteria mentioned above (e.g., the developer’s revenues, monetization strategy, or billing/ payment system).
At the lower end of the spectrum, some platforms have service fee offerings below or equal to 15% (Apple App Store, Epic Games Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Store and Xbox and ONE Store). ONE Store and Google Play can apply service fees as low as 5% to 10%.
At the higher end of the spectrum, a few platforms charge service fees greater than or equal to 50% (Amazon Prime Video Direct, Audible, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo and ONE Store). Audible and Kobo charge the highest service fees, between 75% and 80%, depending on the specificities of the content/apps.
1 Economists generally consider a two-sided market to be “one in which at least two distinct sets of agents (or sides) interact through an intermediary – the platform– and in which the behavior of each set of agents directly impacts the utility, or the profit, of the other set of agents”. See Jullien et al. (2021).
² The term “billing/payment systems” used throughout this study captures the fact that platforms use different terminology when referring to services to help facilitate transactions. For example, some platforms may refer to an integrated billing system that supports various forms of payment and offers billing-related services (e.g., centralized tracking of transaction history, a process for issuing refunds, etc.). Other platforms may refer to payment management while providing users with a list of acceptable forms of payment.