Singapore — The gaming community has been familiar with the concept of the metaverse with Roblox, and Decentraland. However, the concept of the metaverse extends beyond gaming. While the idea of shopping, marketing, and interacting with others in a virtual world may not be mainstream yet, tech giants like Meta of Facebook are leading the charge with everyone else jumping on board, currently reflected in the mobile landscape. In fact, there is a spillover effect of interest in the metaverse causing a surge in global demand for Avatar-Based Social Apps -a new subgenre of data.ai’s APP IQ.
With collaborations occurring between brands and apps within the metaverse, like Chipotle and Nike both having stores within Roblox, it’s clear to see that consumer interest is spreading across numerous sectors, whether it be gaming, retail, restaurants, and events or others.
data.ai’s mobile data shows that avatar-based social apps, such as ZEPETO and BUD, have seen the largest year-over-year (YoY) growth in terms of downloads compared to any other social media category at 38 million – this is up 60% YoY and 215% from two years prior.
Globally, the top 5 avatar-based social apps by downloads in Q1 2022 were namely ZEPETO, BUD by bud technologies, Oasis, IMVU, and Makerblox of Create skins.
The report notes that in the US, downloads of avatar-based apps peaked at 4.6 million in Q2 2021, but still remain high at 4 million in Q1 2022, up from 2.4 million in Q1 2020 from two years prior. For publishers looking to reach these engaged consumers with an interest in metaverse-friendly content, it’s important to understand where they are spending their time, what motivates them and how these tastes and habits vary by country. Publishers can study the Cross-Genre Affinity data of users from around the globe.
Cross-Genre Affinity shows you what other subgenres of apps users are most likely to engage with compared to the overall population. It paints a picture of overall preferences and mobile proclivities.