News Apps: Revenue, Downloads and Monetization Statistics
TrendApps Research · updated September 11, 2026 · 1,753 apps
TrendApps tracks 1,753 News apps across the App Store and Google Play. 19.3% of them earn more than $1,000 a month, above the 18.3% rate across all categories. Among News apps that earn, the median is $20k a month. Free News apps with IAP earn 46.7% of the time. Store revenue only; advertising income is not included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning here.
- 19.3%
- of News apps earn $1k+ a month
- $20k
- median among earners
- 46.7%
- of free + IAP apps earn $1k+
- $3.33
- median revenue per download
How many News apps make money?
- Earn more than $1k/month338 apps
- At or below the $1k floor1,415 apps
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
339 of the 1,753 tracked News apps earn more than $1,000 a month from store sales and IAP. That is 19.3% of the category. Among those earners, a quarter make $9k or less and a quarter make $70k or more. The top 10% of News earners clear $200k a month.
Revenue estimates below $1,000 sit at a floor, so "earning" means clearing that line. The comparison against all categories tells you whether News is a category where store purchases are a normal way to pay, or one where users expect everything free.
Data table
| Percentile (earning apps) | Monthly revenue |
|---|---|
| 25th | $9k |
| 50th (median) | $20k |
| 75th | $70k |
| 90th | $200k |
News apps: iOS vs Android
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
iOS News apps earn more than $1,000 a month 21.3% of the time. Android News apps earn 15.7% of the time. Among earners, the iOS median is $20k a month. The Android median is $20k. Android News apps pass 1,000 monthly downloads 26.5% of the time, against 15.0% on iOS.
Read the two rows together: the earning rate tells you where a News app is more likely to make anything, the median tells you where the earners are larger. Across the whole catalogue Android earns slightly more often and iOS earns more per app; the category-level split above is the one that should decide your first platform.
Data table
| iOS | Android | |
|---|---|---|
| Apps tracked | 1,141 | 612 |
| Earn $1k+/month | 21.3% | 15.7% |
| Median revenue (earners) | $20k | $20k |
| Pass 1k downloads/month | 15.0% | 26.5% |
| Median revenue per download | $4.00 | $2.00 |
Free vs paid News apps
- Free + IAP723 · 41.2%
- Paid + IAP50 · 2.9%
- Paid, no IAP140 · 8.0%
- Free, no IAP840 · 47.9%
723 News apps are free with IAP, and 46.7% of them earn more than $1,000 a month. 140 are paid with nothing to buy inside, and 0.0% of those earn. When a free-with-IAP News app earns, the median is $20k a month.
A free News app with no IAP has no way to earn store revenue, so its row reflects ads that this data cannot see, not failure. The fair comparison is between the models that sell something through the store.
Data table
| Model | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo | Median (earners) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free + IAP | 723 | 46.7% | $20k |
| Paid + IAP | 50 | 2.0% | $8k |
| Paid, no IAP | 140 | 0.0% | — |
| Free, no IAP | 840 | 0.0% | — |
Ratings and revenue in News
- Under 100 ratings421 · 26.2%
- 100 – 1k409 · 25.5%
- 1k – 10k477 · 29.7%
- 10k – 100k222 · 13.8%
- 100k+76 · 4.7%
News apps with fewer than 100 ratings earn more than $1,000 a month 2.9% of the time. With between 1,000 and 10,000 ratings, 29.8% earn. With more than 100,000 ratings, 60.5% earn.
Rating count is the public signal of whether a News app has found its audience. Use it on competitors' store pages: the bands above convert a rating count into the probability that the app is clearing $1,000 a month.
Data table
| Ratings count | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Under 100 ratings | 421 | 2.9% |
| 100 – 1k | 409 | 14.4% |
| 1k – 10k | 477 | 29.8% |
| 10k – 100k | 222 | 36.0% |
| 100k+ | 76 | 60.5% |
How long News apps take to earn
News apps under a year old earn more than $1,000 a month 2.5% of the time. Between one and three years old, 5.9% earn. Past three years, 9.4% earn.
Age is time since the app first appeared on the store. Across the catalogue the earning rate roughly doubles after the first year and then flattens; the News curve above shows whether this category rewards patience more or less than average.
Data table
| App age | Apps | Earn $1k+/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 243 | 2.5% |
| 1 – 3 years | 185 | 5.9% |
| 3 – 6 years | 160 | 9.4% |
| 6+ years | 1,165 | 26.4% |
Revenue per download in News
Bar = 25th to 90th percentile · dot = median
Among 120 News apps with both revenue and downloads above the floor, the median makes $3.33 per download. The middle half spans $1.00 to $11.43. 43.3% make $5 or more per download.
Multiply your download forecast by the band that matches your model. Subscriptions with good retention track the top quarter; cheap consumables track the bottom. Advertising revenue is not included.
Data table
| Revenue per download | Apps | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50 | 17 | 14.2% |
| $0.50 – $2 | 29 | 24.2% |
| $2 – $5 | 22 | 18.3% |
| $5+ | 52 | 43.3% |
What this means if you're building an app
News is above the catalogue average on earning rate, at 19.3%. When a News app earns, the median is $20k a month.
The model that works here is free with IAP, at 46.7%. Start on the platform where News earns more often — iOS at 21.3% versus Android at 15.7% — unless your model is ads, which this data does not measure.
Before building, open the top-trending News list and check the rating counts of the apps already earning. That is the size of the audience you are competing for, and the ratings section above converts it into odds.
Questions developers ask
How these numbers are computed
- An app counts as earning when its estimated monthly store revenue is above $1,000. Estimates below that sit at a floor of $1,000, so medians across all apps would be meaningless; every ratio on this page is the share of a segment above that floor.
- Revenue and downloads are estimates in bands ($5k–10k by $1k, $10k–100k by $10k, then by $100k and $1M). Medians among earners are the median band.
- Store revenue only — paid downloads and IAP (in-app purchases, including subscriptions). Advertising income is never included, so ad-supported apps show as not earning.
- Apps enter the catalogue from the US top charts, including Top Paid, so paid apps are over-represented. Ratios by monetization model are unaffected; overall ratios lean slightly paid.
- Delisted apps are excluded; unrated apps are excluded from rating charts. Recomputed after every crawl — last data point 2026-09-11, 1,753 active apps.
Related reports
- Mobile App Revenue by Category: Which Categories Make the Most Money?
Highest share of earning apps: Dating at 60.4%.
- Free vs Paid Apps: Which Model Actually Makes Money?
Free + IAP: 47.1% of apps earn $1k+ a month.
- iOS vs Android App Revenue: Which Platform Pays Developers More?
Share of apps earning $1k+/month — Android 21.0%, iOS 16.4%.