The subscription model that was once popular in the app market is falling from grace. Fewer paying users, fierce market competition, more and more users canceling subscriptions and refusing automatic renewal. For developers, the once stable revenue model has begun to fluctuate, and app retention and paid conversion have become increasingly difficult.

So, after the subscription economy, what is the new direction for app monetization?

The Subscription Model Is Losing Its Appeal

The subscription model brings developers continuous income and stable financial expectations. But for users, this model is not satisfactory. In recent years, even the top applications have faced multiple difficulties such as low payment conversion and user cancellation of renewal. The reason lies in the market influence and the reduction of users’ willingness to pay.

● The market competition is fierce, and applications emerge in an endless stream.

● Paying users are a minority among the vast user group

● The existence of automatic renewal forces users to renew and creates boredom

● The functions of the application itself are not worth users’ payment

At present, the number of substitutes on the market is increasing year by year, and users are only willing to pay long-term for a small number of truly irreplaceable products.

Ads Are Not the Only Way to Monetize Free Apps

Advertising is the mainstream model other than subscriptions, and is the profit solution chosen by many free apps. However, advertising monetization has its flaws: the revenue is unstable, and it interferes with the user experience, which can easily cause user churn.

Therefore, some developers began to turn to new methods:

● Free core functions, charging for cloud synchronization or advanced functions

● Build an exclusive membership system or content payment platform

● Introduce a points or virtual props system in the app to encourage users to pay on demand

These methods have some effect, but users still need to pay actively. So, is there a monetization model that does not require user payment or user interaction?

Passive Background Monetization Is on the Rise

In recent years, a new monetization solution has been emerging: turning the app itself into a “passive income device.”

For example, by integrating a certain SDK that runs in the background, developers can use the idle bandwidth of the user’s device to earn revenue. Users do not need to interact, pay, or see any ads, making the user experience zero-interference. The SDK runs quietly in the background, allowing the app to generate a steady stream of passive income.

CastarSDK is a representative of this type of solution. It is designed with non-interference monetization as the core, allowing every user to generate revenue for the developer. As long as the user installs the app and stays connected to the Internet, the developer can continue to receive stable income.

A Shift in App Monetization Mindset

App monetization should change its thinking. It should no longer be centered around adver
tisers and users. In fact, the app itself is a resource.

The new direction in the future is to make the app itself more valuable. No longer “ask money” from users, but let the app “make money”.

Try monetization solutions such as CastarSDK to make “payment” disappear from the eyes of users.