Asia has emerged as the top market for Generative AI downloads like ChatGPT driven by the rapid adoption in regions like India and China Mainland, according to a Sensor Tower report.

Generative AI apps downloads in Asia in January-June this year grew over 175% to 684 million as compared to 247 million in the same period last year. 

In comparison, Generative AI app downloads in North America jumped around 59% to 181 million against 114 million in the first half of last year. In Europe, Generative AI app downlands was at 289 million in January-June against 137 million in the same period of last year.

The US and other English-speaking market were quick to adopt Generative AI apps following the release of ChatGPT in 2022, resulting in North America initially accounting for roughly 20% of the Generative AI download market. 

"However, as Generative AI apps have gained global traction, North America's share of downloads declined to 11% in H1 2025, though it's worth noting that downloads are still growing in the region," the report noted.

Overall, global downloads for Generative AI apps (including AI Assistants and AI Content Generators) neared 1.7 billion in the first half of 2025 and in-app purchase (IAP) revenue reached around $1.9 billion.

IAP revenue for the Generative AI apps increased rapidly with North America topping the list at $762 million in the first half of this year followed by Europe with $498 million; Asia with $319 million; Latin America with $147 million; Middle East with $81.7 million; Oceania with $39.7 million; and Africa with $14 million.

ChatGPT accounted for 63% of all Generative AI app revenue in January-June 2025, leading every major market except for China Mainland, the report said.

Notably, users spent a massive 15.6 billion hours in these apps in the first half of 2025. This equates to more than 86 million hours each day, it said.

Total sessions for Generative AI apps reached 426 billion in H1 2025. "To put this number in context, that's an average of around 50 sessions for every person on Earth," it noted.

The report also highlighted how the launch of China's DeepSeek in January this year shook the market.

"Through its first six months, DeepSeek garnered more global downloads than any other Generative AI app, including ChatGPT, largely driven by a significant edge in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa," it said.

However, as of the end of June 30, ChatGPT continues to maintain the lead in all-time downloads at 940 million. This is followed by Google Gemini at 200 million and DeepSeek at 127 million.

The report also said that ChatGPT has quickly become more "sticky" for its users, with the average user turning to the app around 13 times each month.

 

"This frequency is similar to that of users on other popular apps like X and Reddit," it added.

Despite the growing popularity of Genertive AIs like ChatGPT, Google continue to remain the go-to place for users seeking information. Users turned to Google for more than 18 days on an average in June.

"It's notable that ChatGPT (and AI Assistants more broadly) have yet to fully replace search engines like Google when it comes to consistent usage," it stated.