Mobile internet powers app industry

China's booming mobile internet is playing an increasingly key role in supporting the growth of its mobile app industry, according to the latest annual report released on Thursday by App Annie, the US-based mobile analytics company.

According to the company's Top 52 App Publishers for 2016 list, tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd bypassed Finnish mobile gaming company Supercell Oy to become the top publisher by revenue in the world. Supercell, which topped the list for 2014 and 2015, was knocked into second place in the latest rankings.

Due to the rapid growth of the gaming sector, Chinese internet company NetEase Inc moved up to third place on the 2016 list, passing US-based Machine Zone Inc and Activision Blizzard Inc.

Among the list, 11 companies were headquartered in China. New top China-based publishers on the list include Perfect World Co Ltd, Baidu Inc and G-bits Network Technology Xiamen Co Ltd.

"As China's mobile market grows increasingly, we will see more Chinese publishers appear on the top publishers list than before," said Dai Bin, App Annie's region director in China.

Dai said in the future, more innovation in the industry would be boosted by China and then spread to other parts of the world.

"Now Chinese publishers' earnings are growing faster than the average in the globe."

Digital readers in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.[Provided to China Daily]

According to App Annie, China gained the top spot for iOS App Store revenue in 2016 and the country's iOS revenue exceeded $2 billion in the fourth quarter last year.

Xue Yongfeng, an analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys, said that because of the maturity and growth of the mobile market, more Chinese people were now prepared to pay for more different types of content than ever before.

"Before, the majority of netizens in China only preferred to pay for gaming," Xue said.

"But with the booming Chinese market and the increase in average incomes, they have more choice to try other stuff, such as watching online videos."

The list also showed that the Asia-Pacific region proved to be the stronghold for top publishers. Publishers from China, Japan and South Korea took 30 of the total 52 spots.

The rankings are based on revenue earned from paid downloads and in-app purchases on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

App Annie said they do not include earnings from in-app advertising or subscriptions outside app store channels.