ChatGPT hit a new milestone of $3 billion in global consumer spending on mobile devices this week, according to estimates from app analytics provider ChatGPT Applications. This figure represents total spending on iOS and Android devices since the app first launched in May 2023, and then on iOS only.
What's notable is that most of this spending occurred this year. Global consumers are expected to spend approximately $2.48 billion on the ChatGPT mobile app in 2025, a 408% year-over-year increase from the $487 million spent in 2024. In 2023, the app's first year of availability, it earned $42.9 million, growing 1,036% to reach its 2024 figure.
These numbers represent a sharp increase in consumer usage of the app compared to other popular apps. For example, it took ChatGPT 31 months to reach $3 billion in consumer spending, but it took top earner TikTok 58 months, Appfigures told TechCrunch.
ChatGPT also reached the milestone faster than top streaming apps like Disney+ and HBO Max, which reached the $3 billion mark in 42 and 46 months, respectively.
However, xAI's Grok is seeing a similar revenue path to ChatGPT compared to other AI rivals.
Grok was released in late 2023 for X Premium Plus subscribers before becoming more widely available last year. However, if you compare the pace of consumer spending on AI applications, Grok was closest to ChatGPT's level of cumulative revenue at the same time it started making money. (You can see this in the chart below, which shows AI app spending adjusted for when each app started monetizing.)
While the $3 billion spend represents a significant level of consumer interest, it is not the only way to measure AI application adoption or potential long-term revenue.
ChatGPT mobile customers purchase paid subscriptions such as ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month or ChatGPT Pro for $200 per month for advanced users. However, AI applications can generate revenue in other ways, including through offers to developers and, perhaps soon for ChatGPTadvertising. Additionally, ChatGPT launched its own app store on Wednesday, which the company suggests will be monetized in some way in the future. – noted the blog post.
Meanwhile, Google is exploring opportunities to shift its successful search advertising business to AI-powered search, with AI ads, AI reviews, AI shopping and an increasingly AI-powered Discover site, among others.
Anthropic is focused on the business market and is reportedly on track to reach $70 billion in revenue by 2028.
