Google Announces New Features for Subscription Models Through Google Play

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Google offers many ways of monetization for Android developers to profit. Simple purchases and in-app purchases are just two that we can easily name. The typical monetization model can soon change, thought, as Google further encourages developers to use the subscriptions.

The data collected by Google shows 10-time growth in consumption over the past three years and double the number of active subscribers in the past year. The company wants to increase that number by offering new ways of managing subscriptions. Android users can already pay for subscriptions using the Google Play balance, though gift cards are still popular in some regions. The use of Google Play balance has resulted in as high as a 15% increase in subscription revenue.

Google does not only want developers to acquire new customers, but also retain current ones. To make it easier, there is a new account hold feature. This feature allows blocking the content or service for a certain user if a payment fails. Users whose payments faila will have to change the payment method in order to regain access to premium features. Android Developers claims that the renewal rate increased by 25 percent for developers that test the account hold feature, and it should be publicly available at the end of June.

In addition to the new features, a new subscription dashboard has also been announced. It’s available in the Play Console, which recently replaced the Play Developer Console. The dashboard brings together subscription data like new subscribers, cancellations, and total subscribers. It also displays daily and 30-day rolling revenue data, and highlights top-performing products. Who doesn’t like statistics after all?

Subscriptions are a great way of monetization both for developers and… Google. As we know, Google takes a cut of every transaction, just as every stick has two ends.

Did you ever use a subscription and what do you think about this model of monetization? Please share your thoughts in the comments!