Spending on mobile games jumps threefold in 2013

Tap happy consumers triggered a 30 percent jump in spending on digital music, movies, games, and apps in 2013, with games at the spearhead the growth.

That's according to the first ever joint study by App Annie and global market research firm IHS, with the two bodies looking to frame and contextualise the digital content market.

While spending on non-app digital games outpaced app spending by more than two-to-one ($34 billion versus $16 billion), spending on non-app digital games remained relatively flat with 1.0 times the growth.

Spending on game apps, by comparison, increased almost three times over from 2012 - 2013.

Unsurprisingly, large gains in game app spending in both Japan and Korea - 4.4 times and 5.8 times respectively - were a key driver to the overall global growth of game app spending in the report's 12-month period.

Apps are now the leading digital content category in Japan and might overtake digital game spending in South Korea in the years ahead, according to App Annie and IHS.

With this information in mind, it's even less surprising that a full half of the top grossing game app publishers are based in either Japan or South Korea with GungHo Online claiming the top spot.