App Store Optimization reports and market data
Documents
Building Appstore pages and promo videos that don't suck
Optimizing app store product pages is a critical strategy for developers, as over half of all app downloads originate from organic discovery.
- Optimizing screenshots to prioritize actual gameplay over menus or login screens can increase conversion rates by 35%.
- Promotional videos that feature clear gameplay and descriptive text provide a 19% to 35% lift in conversions, with further optimization yielding an additional 22% increase.
- Upgrading amateurish icons to professional designs results in a measurable conversion rate improvement of 8% to 17%.
China Mobile Market Update: April 2017
This analysis of the Chinese mobile market, based on February 2017 data, examines the landscape of device usage, app store penetration, and consumer connectivity trends.
- Apple leads the Chinese mobile market with a 26.3% share of active devices, followed by Huawei at 15.6% and Xiaomi and Oppo at 13.8% each.
- 4G connectivity has become the standard, with 57.9% of active devices using the network in February 2017 compared to 31.6% in 2015.
- WeChat maintains near-universal dominance in the Android ecosystem, installed on 93.6% of active devices.
China Mobile Market Update: December 2017
The Chinese mobile market remained stable throughout October 2017, characterized by consistent brand rankings and steady adoption rates.
- Apple maintained a 25.6% market share in China as of October 2017, with the iPhone X showing significantly higher adoption rates among high-end users compared to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
- Domestic manufacturers OPPO, Huawei, Vivo, and Xiaomi continued to dominate the remainder of the 947 million device market, primarily focusing on mid-to-low-end segments.
- Tencent and NetEase dominated the gaming sector, with Honor of Kings leading Android revenue while both companies aggressively pivoted toward mobile battle royale titles.
What market trends and developments in the app stores mean for indies
The mobile gaming industry remains a high-growth sector, with the market projected to reach $37 billion.
- The mobile gaming market is highly concentrated, with the top 100 companies capturing 75% of all downloads and 60% of total revenue.
- Independent developers face a severe discoverability trap where 90% of new games entering the top 200 charts exit within one week, and only 4% remain for more than two weeks.
- Recent platform updates from Google Play and the Apple App Store, including search advertising and subscription adjustments, are designed to favor established, large-scale publishers rather than independent studios.
How to maximise organic downloads for your game
Maximizing organic downloads requires a disciplined, data-driven approach to app store optimization rather than relying on deceptive tactics.
- Optimizing video content to showcase actual gameplay rather than cinematic trailers can increase conversion rates by 19% to 35%.
- Crafting engaging marketing copy for product descriptions instead of keyword-stuffed text can improve conversion rates by 11% to 23%.
- Selecting an app name that strategically incorporates relevant keywords for a target audience can boost conversions by 22%.
Massively improved discovery on Google Play Store
The Google Play Store has undergone a significant transformation over the past 18 months, evolving from a disorganized repository into a sophisticated platform for mobile game discovery.
- Google Play has shifted from a disorganized repository to an algorithmic, data-driven discovery platform, prioritizing automated personalization over traditional human-led curation.
- The platform now utilizes user download history and genre preferences to create personalized discovery loops that connect players with relevant content from similar publishers.
- A robust pre-registration system allows users to express interest in upcoming titles and receive automated push notifications upon release, a feature currently underutilized on competing platforms.
China Mobile Market Update: November 2016
The November 2016 China Mobile Market Update provides a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese mobile ecosystem, focusing on device market share, app store performance, and top-grossing applications for September 2016.
- Tencent and NetEase dominate the Chinese mobile gaming revenue landscape, with Tencent’s 'King of Glory' leading Android and NetEase’s 'Onmyoji' achieving top-grossing status on iOS shortly after its release.
- Apple remains the leading mobile brand in China with a 23.6% market share, while OPPO has displaced Samsung to become the fourth-largest manufacturer behind Huawei and Xiaomi.
- Tencent’s Myapp holds 24% coverage of the Android app store market, while Alibaba’s acquisition of Wandoujia has driven significant growth in that platform's user base.
Get discovered on the Galaxy Apps store
Samsung’s Emerging Platforms division focuses on fostering developer partnerships to revitalize the Galaxy Apps store and expand the company’s presence across mobile, tablet, television, wearable, and virtual reality (VR) ecosystems.
- Samsung is transitioning the Galaxy Apps store into a curated, premium storefront to address app discovery challenges by prioritizing quality over volume through expert-led selection.
- Samsung devices currently generate approximately 65 percent of all revenue within the Android ecosystem, a market share the company aims to increase through exclusive, high-quality content.
- The wearables market is projected to reach over 120 million units shipped annually by 2018, maintaining a 35 percent year-over-year growth rate.
Biz Daily: Apple TV's discovery problem
The launch of the fourth-generation Apple TV has introduced a dedicated App Store and tvOS, aiming to unify the gaming experience across iPhone, iPad, and television hardware.
- The Apple TV platform is suffering from a critical discovery crisis where apps remain virtually invisible to consumers unless they are manually featured by Apple.
- The current storefront lacks essential discovery tools like top-grossing or most-downloaded charts, forcing developers to rely on a limited number of featured slots often dominated by major publishers like Ubisoft.
- Despite launching with over a thousand apps and significant developer enthusiasm, the lack of effective discovery mechanisms is resulting in negligible download numbers and sales for most titles.
Biz Daily: Lower App Store pricing for India and Indonesia
Apple has implemented a strategic adjustment to its App Store pricing structure, responding to shifting global exchange rates and tax regulations.
- Apple has introduced two new low-price tiers, 'alternate tier A' and 'alternate tier B,' to lower the cost of digital content in India, Indonesia, Russia, and other markets.
- South Korea, a key mobile gaming hub, is experiencing a 10% price increase on the App Store as part of a broader global pricing adjustment.
- Price increases are being implemented in four specific markets: South Africa, Mexico, Turkey, and South Korea, to account for shifting exchange rates and tax regulations.
Too Many Games - Why Can't You Find the Games You Want? - Extra Credits
The rapid expansion of digital distribution platforms has led to a perceived crisis of oversaturation in the video game market.
- The perceived crisis of market oversaturation is actually a failure of digital storefront infrastructure to provide effective search and discovery tools for consumers.
- Current platforms like Steam and the Apple App Store rely on outdated search technology that fails to accommodate modern browsing behaviors, such as searching by mood, theme, or similarity to previously played titles.
- Existing discovery features, including user reviews and category tagging, are often insufficient, inaccurate, or buried, preventing users from navigating vast catalogs effectively.
An Analysis of Download Sources on Apple's App Store 2021
This analysis examines the primary drivers of first-time app downloads on the Apple App Store between 2018 and 2020.
- Search is the primary discovery mechanism for the App Store, accounting for 59% of all first-time downloads in 2020.
- Non-game applications rely heavily on search for user acquisition, with 70% of their total downloads originating from this channel.
- App referrals for games grew from 26% in 2018 to 38% in 2020, driven largely by the hypercasual genre's reliance on cross-promotion.