We talk too much about growth... Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, open me up, it's newsletter time!
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This week at Apptopia
Hey there,
Happy Friday 😎
If you missed last week's action packed newsletter, you can check it out here.
Business
Mobile Signal
Starbucks (SBUX) is scheduled to report earnings on 2/1. User sessions of its mobile app are up 6% YoY and 11.4% QoQ. Dive deeper into SBUX with a free trial of our Bloomberg Terminal app.
App Acquisitions
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard, a premiere games publisher, for $75 billion. The company's suite of mobile games, which includes those from King (maker of Candy Crush), have generated more than $1B via IAP revenue in just the past 365 days.
MUSINGS
Has the peak passed?
Looking at the top 18 hypercasual game publishers, we notice a peak in early January 2021 of about 29 million daily downloads for the grouping. The success of hypercasual games are more predicated on download numbers than other genres because they are not built for long term investment from the players. The strategy includes launching more games per year than a typical game publisher in order to provide players with a fresh time killer. Because of this, advertising is the main monetization avenue. Looking between iOS and Google Play data, it is not immediately clear that Apple's App Tracking Transparency rules are the main cause in the slow decline of downloads, but this trend is something to monitor.
A rainy day for savings
I can't help but think this downtrend in people using rewards & savings apps is a combination of individual brands/retailers offering rewards programs and the emergence of buy now, pay later apps. Groupon is the biggest culprit in the downfall of this market but even if we remove Groupon from the cluster, the same trend exists. Players like Fetch and Honey are actually growing, just not enough to change the market's trajectory. Fetch was actually the 7th most downloaded shopping app in the U.S. in 2021. If you're interested in retail, stay tuned to this newsletter and Apptopia social channels for next week's landscape report!
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Uber Eats, DoorDash and other food delivery apps focused on restaurants underperformed in 2021, as the grocery and convenience delivery app category grew.
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Adam and Madeline discuss the latest news in tech and mobile followed up with a little earnings preview for Netflix and Peloton. This episode has its first ever guest in Chris Radtke of Braze. He discusses their latest guide on reaching your customers in the moments that matter. After that the crew reviews the latest Apptopia insight on Facebook Games and more, followed by our own game of In or Out. Here's the rundown:
Introduction [2:08] Mobile News Review [10:43] I know what you did last quarter [15:38] Discussion w/Chris Radtke of Braze [41:27] This week on Apptopia [46:51] In or Out
