The social media arena is very competitive when it comes to app store downloads.
Recent trends show major wins for Meta in regards to Threads and Facebook. Another winner is Snapchat.
Here’s a look at 3 major highlights of overarching trends. We discuss each further below.
- Meta’s family of Apps are on fire: 177m downloads in August
- Threads is #1 App again: 28m downloads and 200m active users
- Snapchats surprising subscription success: Adds nearly $600m in cumulative sub revenue
Meta Reigns Supreme
Each month, we review app downloads to spot any significant shifts among the major players in the app ecosystem. In August, the trend continued with Meta leading the pack, achieving over 177 million downloads across its apps in the top 10. They held three of the top four spots and four of the top six. Other notable performers include Snapchat, TikTok, and TEMU. We’ll discuss Snapchat more in this week’s final data point.
Meta’s dominance suggests they’re excelling at driving both downloads and engagement. In their latest earnings call, they emphasized how their AI tools are enhancing content recommendations on social feeds and offering personalized solutions for small and midsize businesses through AI-powered advertising. We’ve consistently stated that Meta is best positioned in the AI space—they don’t need to launch new products to benefit. They’ve developed the most widely used AI chatbot and LLMs, backed by unparalleled data and resources.
Threads at the Top
Continuing with Meta, Threads—the Twitter/X competitor—is performing exceptionally well. With over 200 million monthly active users and 28 million downloads in August, it’s currently the number one app in the App Store. Clearly, something is working. Interestingly, this doesn’t imply that X is struggling with downloads or engagement. Instead, it suggests Meta has successfully carved out its own niche in the news/social app space.
Also high on the list is ChatGPT, the leading AI-powered search tool. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has recently been valued at over $150 billion—a significant milestone.
Snapchat’s Subscription is Working
When Snapchat launched their subscription service, I was skeptical about the actual value it offered. Surprisingly, they’ve generated over $500 million in revenue from paid subscriptions. While the features—like story boosts, rewatch tools, and other minor benefits—still seem limited, the numbers speak for themselves. It appears that the sum of these small perks enhances the user experience enough for people to see value in it. That’s business, and it’s hard to argue with the results. Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how Snapchat evolves this offering, as it’s a strong indicator of the platform’s sustainability.
Twitter: @_SeanDavid
The author and/or his firm have positions in the mentioned companies and underlying securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.
