The vast majority of mHealth app publishers have not yet been able to generate significant revenues with their apps and have had to develop a broad range of monetization strategies, many of which seem atypical when compared to other app categories. The market is currently valued at $10 billion and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 15% to hit $31 billion by 2020.

According to research2guidance’s findings, only a few app publishers stay afloat from the revenues generated by their apps based on traditional app store-related revenue sources, such as paid downloads and advertising alone. In fact, transactions, paid downloads and advertising amount to less than 10% of total market revenue. Other publishers have been forced to develop other business models, transforming their apps into tools to sell devices and health related services.

Transactions, paid downloads and advertising amount to less than 10% of total market revenue.Today, the mHealth app market is driven predominantly by private users paying for apps. With a growing number of mHealth solutions being actively used, traditional healthcare providers and investors have slowly begun to integrate mHealth solutions into everyday healthcare delivery and reimbursement plans.

Meanwhile, the market is becoming increasingly competitive and each year the number of mHealth publishers entering the market increases. At present, 45,000 app publishers are responsible for some 165,000 mHealth apps.

The mHealth market will step out of its niche in the next few years, and in the process, publishers will have to concentrate on selling high value health services and devices with the help of their apps in order to grow.