A market worth more than a billion dollars: weather apps have become a gold mine

Take advantage of a sunny period to go to the beach or plan a visit to the museum in case of rain? This month of August with uncertain weather invites you to periodically look at the forecasts. Enough to power weather apps on smartphones.

Climate change, rising temperatures and increasingly frequent torrential rains make people want to be informed in real time. So much so that these applications constitute a market of almost one billion dollars, as reported by the echoes.

Meteorological information is no longer content with warning of rain, good weather and giving temperatures for the next few days. On the United States side, the massive use of these applications seems similar. According to a YouGov survey published last May, 53% of the population finds out about the weather almost exclusively through apps.

Beyond institutional applications, it is therefore a future market for private companies. An investigation carried out by the firm Big View Investigation reveals that this sector accounts for $800 million in revenue in 2021 worldwide and that this figure is expected to rise to $1.4 billion in 2028. These revenues are derived from advertising and subscription-based formulas.

The GAFAM also want to seduce

On the other side of the Atlantic, this sector is dominated by a few leaders such as AccuWeather, The Weather Company or Yahoo, which represent almost 30% of the world market.

Other more sensitive apps have been bought by tech giants who have also seized the opportunity this market represents. Like Apple, which bought Dark Sky in 2020 to enrich its weather app.

Deepmind, the artificial intelligence arm of Google, has partnered with the Woodwell Center for Climate Research to create a tool to monitor Arctic ice melt in real time. His tool, called Flood Hub, is capable of predicting a river overflow a week in advance, thanks to artificial intelligence.

But some free weather apps are accused of recovering a lot of data. In 2019, the City of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against The Weather Channel, alleging deception about its business practices and collection of user data.