Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-02-27

The Boom In Non-Game App Revenue And What's Driving It – Olivia Moore, Andreessen Horowitz

Short market-commentary episode (for RevenueCat's State of Subscription Apps report) with a16z AI partner Olivia Moore. Non-game app IAP grew 21% YoY and passed games; only ~$3.5B of the growth was generative AI, with short dramas, social, utilities and entertainment also growing. ChatGPT reset willingness to pay from ~$60/year to $20/month; AI apps monetize at ~2x pre-AI ARPU; usage-based and ultra-premium tiers (Grindr's AI matchmaker) capture whales. Advice: build opinionated vertical products that benefit when models improve. Few company-level tactics.

Play the episode

3 tactics

Grindr · B2C · gay dating app

Add a several-hundred-dollar monthly AI tier that does the swiping and matching

“Grindr now has a several hundred dollars a month for an AI that swipes and makes matches for you.”

Unknownpricingupsell-expansion

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-02-27

Short drama app startups Olivia has met

Make short dramas with AI to cut costs, then spend the savings on ads

Short drama apps now earn hundreds of millions; no per-company numbers

“And I personally have met several startups that are largely using AI to either fully generate or edit these short dramas, and so then they can make them at much lower cost and spend more on marketing to distribute them.”

Unknownfeature-developmentpaid-social

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-02-27

AI consumer startups subsidizing model costs

Give costly AI features away free to grow fast

Fast growth, but unit economics usually catch up later

“a lot of startups now are achieving really fast growth by essentially subsidizing the model costs, the end consumer. So giving away Nano Banana Pro for free, things like that.”

Mixedpricingproduct-virality

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-02-27

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
marketNon-game (consumer) app in-app purchase revenue, worldwide, per Sensor Tower	growth rate	+21%/year approximate	“So 21% year-over-year growth in non-game apps, which amounts to billions and billions of dollars.”
marketPortion of non-game app revenue growth attributed to generative AI apps, per Sensor Tower	revenue	+USD 3,500M/year approximate	“And so only three and a half billion of that according to Sensor Tower was attributed to generative AI.”
marketAI app in-app purchase revenue	growth rate	+3 x/year approximate	“I think AI in-app purchases were up something like 3X year over year”
marketRatio of game to consumer (non-game) app in-app purchase revenue a decade ago; consumer apps have now passed games	share	6 x approximate	“consumer application in-app purchases finally passed games, and a decade ago it was like six to one the other way”
marketShort drama apps revenue	revenue	hundreds of millions of dollars approximate	“Both in downloads and in revenue, they're making hundreds of millions of dollars now.”
benchmarkTypical ceiling of a pre-AI consumer subscription price	price	USD 60/year approximate	“it's not just the $60 a year anymore, which feels like it was kind of the preset pre AI consumer subscription”
ChatGPT	price Anchored consumer willingness to pay	USD 20/month	“I think ChatGPT anchored a lot of people on $20 a month if not more.”
Grindr	price AI tier that swipes and makes matches for you	several hundred dollars a month approximate	“Grindr now has a several hundred dollars a month for an AI that swipes and makes matches for you.”
Grindr	conversion rate Share of users expected to buy the ultra-premium AI tier	1% illustrative	“Is the average user going to pay for that? No, not at all, but 1% of users will”
aggregatea16z's top 50-100 consumer AI apps list vs pre-AI consumer app counterparts	arpu AI apps monetize at 2x (or more) the ARPU of pre-AI counterparts	2 x approximate	“what we found is that these companies are monetizing at two times the average revenue per user, if not higher than the pre-AI complements”
aggregateSome AI companies a16z has seen or invested in	arr 'a million plus in ARR per employee'	USD 1Mper employee approximate	“We've seen and invested in companies that are doing a million plus in ARR per employee”