Netflix top grossing iPhone app after enabling content downloads

Less than a week after enabling downloads of select TV shows and movies for offline viewing, Netflix on Monday beat out popular games and rival streaming services to become the top-grossing iPhone title for the first time ever.

As noted by Variety, Netflix now sits atop the Top Grossing list of Apple's Top Charts for iPhone in the U.S. App Store, bypassing games like Mobile Strike and Candy Crush Saga. The performance also places Netflix above music streaming giants Pandora and Spotify, both of which are consistently listed as top-ten earners.

According to app tracking firm SensorTower, Netflix is also the No. 1 grossing title on iPhone in India, Mexico, and Colombia.

Alongside a rise in revenues for iPhone, Netflix is now the third highest grossing app on the iPad App Store.

The development comes less than a week after the streaming service activated offline viewing for select original shows. The long-awaited download feature is currently restricted to "Stranger Things," "Orange is The New Black," "Narcos" and "The Crown," but Netflix promises additional titles will be added in the near future.

After years refusing to sell subscriptions through in-app purchases, which means ceding 30 percent of revenues to Apple, Netflix finally gave in last year. More recently, Apple in June announced a new App Store policy that cuts revenue sharing rates to 15 percent for customers who hold a subscription for more than one year.

Apple is also rumored to halve App Store fees for video content providers who agree to integrate their services with the company's new TV app, a move designed to the bolster Cupertino tech giant's play for the living room.

13 Comments

cali 3494 comments · 10 Years

About 7 years ago

Kinda want Apple to buy this company.

Apple could pump money into original content and integrate the service into the OS.

Yes I know it's expensive. I feel like it'll pay off dearly in the long run.

robin huber 4025 comments · 22 Years

If the app is free to Netflix subscribers, where is the income to make it top grossing?

Metriacanthosaurus 880 comments · 8 Years

cali said:

Kinda want Apple to buy this company.

Apple could pump money into original content and integrate the service into the OS.

Yes I know it's expensive. I feel like it'll pay off dearly in the long run.

No. Apple is already doing it right. Have you seen the TV App? This is the right direction. It's still in the infant stage, but the TV is App is going to mature into the central content discovery and playback location. Users can add and subtract whatever services they want, and it all comes together in one central Apple-controlled UI under the TV App.

The solution isn't to just buy up everything thats halfway decent. The solution is to be the best platform and portal to the things out there...and stir up the innovation all over the wide developer world.

carnegie 1082 comments · 10 Years

robin huber said:

If the app is free to Netflix subscribers, where is the income to make it top grossing?

Subscription payments from those who pay through Apple rather than directly to Netflix or otherwise.

linkman 1040 comments · 11 Years

robin huber said:

If the app is free to Netflix subscribers, where is the income to make it top grossing?

You can pay your monthly Netflix subscription through the app.