Tag: data.ai

California, USA – Sensor Tower, a data provider for the digital economy, announced today the acquisition of market intelligence platform data.ai. This strategic move allows Sensor Tower to broaden its reach and develop marketing intelligence solutions. 

With the acquisition of data.ai, Sensor Tower has taken a step forward by expanding its clientele to include companies like Microsoft, Sky, and Bandai Namco, all of which make use of data.ai’s mobile app intelligence solutions. This move strengthens Sensor Tower’s standing as a supplier for investors, top brands, agencies, and gaming publishers. It is also a crucial step toward extending its reach throughout the Asia-Pacific area and partnering with more Fortune 500 organisations.

In this transaction, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP provided legal guidance to Sensor Tower, and William Blair & Company, LLC acted as the financial advisor.

Speaking about the acquisition, Oliver Yeh, CEO of Sensor Tower, said, “Today we celebrate the beginning of a new and exciting chapter, not only for Sensor Tower, but for the digital marketing and mobile app intelligence industry. We have long admired data.ai’s stellar product and high-quality team. The acquisition will allow Sensor Tower to broaden its audience and expand its best in class offerings to any company that participates in the digital economy – helping bridge the gap between companies and consumers.” 

Meanwhile, Ted Krantz, CEO at data.ai., stated, “Since 2010, data.ai has helped some of the finest brands and publishers globally to optimise their mobile performance. This evolution offers the best path to innovation, more insights across more channels, and ultimately, more value derived by clients.”

Jeff Parks, co-founder & managing partner, Riverwood Capital and member of Sensor Tower’s board of directors, expressed, “We were excited to invest behind Oliver and the team in 2020 and continue to be impressed by Sensor Tower as they shape the future of how intelligence solutions can be used to make strategic decisions. We believe the combined company is now the gold standard for how data can deliver value to customers seeking to better understand and participate in the digital economy.” 

Ramesh Venugopal, partner at Riverwood Capital and member of Sensor Tower’s board of directors, also added, “The trend of companies actively pursuing a holistic understanding of a consumer’s digital footprint has been a vision we have shared with the Sensor Tower team since day one. It has been incredible to see this pattern continue to emerge as more companies embrace a sophisticated multi-channel market intelligence approach.” 

Furthermore, Chunsoo Kim, managing partner at Paramark Ventures, said, “This merger isn’t just about scaling Sensor Tower’s global presence – it’s about amplifying the impact on the entire marketing industry’s ability to measure the digital economy, which the combination of these two entities now have made possible through deeper insights and improved product experience. We’re especially thrilled to support the team as they delve deeper into the dynamic APAC market, where the digital economy is booming.” 

Lastly, David Healey, director at Bain Capital Credit, commented, “Riverwood and the Sensor Tower team have built an excellent business with unique technology, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them to support the acquisition and the company’s next phase of growth.” 

Singapore – The popular mobile game League of Legends: Wild Rift, based on the League of Legends franchise, now officially joins the list of other multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games such as Mobile Legends and Arena of Valor that have crossed the$1b consumer spending milestone. This is according to the latest data from data.ai.

The game has seen its highest downloads in China (inclusive of iOS downloads only), followed by Vietnam and Brazil, resulting in a global total of 22.4 million. This pushes its overall lifetime downloads to 111 million worldwide.

Notably, consumer spending in the game was most significant in China, reaching close to $141m over the same period, with the United States following at approximately $8.2m.

The data notes that due to the game’s mobile optimisation, the mobile adaptation maintains the original core mechanic of picking champions and duking it out on a simplified three-lane map, and adopted touch based control mechanics for accurate movements and targeting. 

Moreover, the graphics and character animations were optimised for smaller screens, while retaining high production values and iconic team battle action gameplay that the franchise is known for.

“Newcomers to the genre are greeted by beginner-friendly tutorials that get them in the game, and a revamped deep-progression system has been crucial in maintaining long-term player engagement. Ultimately, Wild Rift complements the PC version, driving downloads and spending by giving players a solid mobile alternative,” data.ai said in a press statement.

Singapore – Along with the peak season of summer 2023, consumers are turning to their mobile devices more than ever before for travel and transportation needs, increasing year-over-year usage by 14%, which is more than three times the total from the summer of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by mobile analytics provider data.ai.

Data from the report mainly suggests that time spent in travel apps reached new heights with time spent on Android phones surpassing four billion hours, or an average of more than one billion hours per month, between May and August 2023.

Interestingly, the increase in time spent between 2022 and 2023 came mostly from apps used for more day-to-day travel, not vacations. Transportation apps and rail & coach booking apps had significant increases in time spent in the summer 2023 season.

Meanwhile, apps related to vacation and business travel like integrated travel service, hotel booking, and airline apps, were able to mostly maintain the gains seen from the previous year, with time spent in these apps notably surging in the summer of 2022 with consumers planning trips for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The report also listed the travel and transportation apps that saw the most time spent in the summer of 2023, with transportation apps being prominent in the list with apps such as Where is my Train, inDrive, and Grab Driver being top breakout apps of the season. 

However, apps outside of the transportation subgenre such as Flightradar24, United Airlines, Trainline, and Jet2 managed to reach the top breakout rankings in many key markets like the US and the UK. 

“The trend seen in the results suggests that this is not just a one-off spike following the pent-up demand after pandemic-related travel restrictions, and that these travel and transportation apps will continue to see positive growth, especially during peak travel seasons,” data.ai said in a press statement.

Singapore – Despite a softening in direct consumer gaming spend overall, mobile gaming is still the most significant market opportunity for video games in 2023, according to the ‘Gaming Spotlight’ 2023 report by mobile data analytics provider data.ai, and market research agency IDC.

Data from data.ai and IDC suggests that while mobile gaming is expected to have a slight decrease of 2% in spend, the platform is still set to surpass $108 billion worldwide in 2023 — maintaining its lead over PC/Mac.

The report also revealed that APAC saw the most significant growth in market share for global consumer spend across Mobile, PC and Mac gaming. It is also worth mentioning that South Korea significantly accounted for the gains in market share for mobile spending in APAC, whilst Brazil, Turkey and Mexico led growth outside of it. 

The top played and spent on mobile games which defined H1 2023 are notably, Monopoly GO, Honkai: Star Rail, Royal Match, and FIFA Soccer, which all saw success in H1 2023, signaling that publishers who capitalize on strong IP, market momentum and in-game events can succeed in a down market. Furthermore, cloud-streamed gaming (CSG) on smartphones and tablets projected a worldwide usage rate of 26% this year, up from 16% in 2019.

The given data also specifically mentioned that in Singapore, mobile gaming consumer spend grew up to nearly USD $100 Million in Q1 2023, compared to $82.3 Million the year prior, accounting for around 5.7% of total gains in revenue for the APAC Region, putting  Singapore at 19th place for the largest mobile gaming market by revenue in SEA, above other higher population markets such as Malaysia (20), Indonesia (22) and Vietnam (25). 

Commenting on the data, Lexi Sydow, head of insights at data.ai., said, “Mobile continues to level the playing field for gaming. Now more than ever, publishers can target consumers in niche areas, and many markets are primed for growth.” 

“The ‘new gamer’ is one of the most diverse and inclusive cohorts yet. Especially in a market that’s slowed by headwinds, having the right data is critical to staying ahead in this fast-changing landscape in order to streamline acquisition and optimize monetisation opportunities,” he added. 

Singapore  – Official sports streaming applications and those with close associations to the tournament or FIFA itself observed a huge increase in user acquisition activity as the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament came to a culmination, according to the latest report from data.ai. 

All around the world, streaming partners given official broadcast rights to stream the World Cup Final saw a surge in user acquisition activity around key matches for their respective countries’ teams. 

In particular, BBC iPlayer, RTVE Play, FOX Sports in the US, and Optus Sport in Australia became focal points for fans taking in the match and those leading up to it. 

FOX Sports saw dramatic spikes during the tournament around the US team’s matches. But building excitement can best be seen in the sudden increase in adoption of the BBC iPlayer app as England faced a make-or-break game against Australia, the outcome of which would determine if the UK team was in or out of the final.

Fans’ increasing need to watch the game and its results drove a 50% increase in downloads of the four apps as a cohort when compared to the same number of days preceding the tournament. In terms of numbers, these apps saw a combined 1.06 million new installs across the iOS App Store and Google Play globally during the first four weeks of the Women’s World Cup, which was up from approximately 706,000 in the four weeks leading up to it.

Also looking at how the apps performed in their home markets, there is impressive period-over-period growth in average daily downloads for Spain’s RTVE Play and US-based FOX Sports at 44% and 51%, respectively. Meanwhile, BBC iPlayer had yet to benefit from the full impact of England’s securing a final berth. Australia’s Optus Sport proved to be an outlier, with growth of more than 1,700% from its daily average coming into the tournament.

Furthermore, other apps with connections to FIFA and the Women’s World Cup tournament, like subscription or ad-supported live TV services, also posted impressive results. 

According to estimates by data.ai, the average weekly time spent by US mobile users in cohort apps like Hulu and Youtube TV that carry FOX Sports Live observed an appreciable increase from 48.9 million hours to 52.8 million. The analysis of app usage data also found a combined 8% increase in weekly time spent on them during the Women’s World Cup. 

Additionally, Booking.com, the official travel partner of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, delivered its best month ever for new downloads in July. The app reached 7.4 million, a significant improvement compared to how it performed in July 2022, its previous best month with 7.35 million.

Meanwhile, FIFA Soccer from EA Sports scored perhaps the greatest goal as it reached $1b in lifetime consumer spending.

Singapore – The popular dating app Bumble has surpassed the $2b milestone in terms of the amount of user spending across App Store and Google Play installs globally, according to the latest data from data.ai.

According to the data, Bumble was the second most downloaded dating app worldwide in the last 12 months ending June 2023, ranking behind Tinder and Hinge, but steaming ahead of counterparts like Happn and Bumble Inc.’s Badoo.

Moreover, revenue also tracked highest in the US, totaling $400m over the last 12 months, followed this time by the UK at $54m.

“Dating and matchmaking are now mobile-native habits. Finding friends is a natural extension of this behavior. The launch of Bumble for Friends is a testament to the success of Bumble and expands their offerings to a new cohort of users. The app also has the added benefit that a successful match increases stickiness and usage,” data.ai said in a press statement.

It should be noted that Bumble recently launched its new spinoff app called ‘Bumble for Friends’. The new app, a spinoff of the main app’s ‘friend mode’, focuses on genuine friendship connections in the user’s local area with an emphasis on meeting up in real life.  

“Conversely, dating apps are designed to be deleted: the more successful the matches, the more likely users delete or abandon the app. In this case, Bumble has created a value proposition that can follow you throughout your life stages and relationship statuses,” data.ai also added.

Singapore – The latest joint data from measurement and analytics suite Adjust and mobile data analytics provider data.ai revealed that in-app spending amongst Japanese users for this year’s first quarter has ballooned up to $4.65 billion–an increase of 13% compared to the previous quarter. The data also notes that this expending is expected to exceed $17.7 billion in spend this year.

In terms of mobile gaming, Japan is making a slow but steady comeback in 2023 with 12% and 6% increases in installs and sessions, respectively, from Q4 2022 to Q1 2023. In Q1 2023, Japanese mobile gamers increased their spending on gaming apps significantly, with a 13% increase over Q4 2022. Puzzle games are extremely popular in Japan, accounting for 19% of all gaming sessions.

Meanwhile, Japan’s progression toward a cashless society continues with digital payment apps capturing 77% of install share and sessions increasing 7% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022. Meanwhile, crypto apps have exploded in popularity with significant growth in both installs and sessions, with a captive audience leading to a day 1 retention rate of 28% in Q1 2023. Overall fintech app sessions increased by 17% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022.

Lastly, e-commerce apps have showcased remarkable resilience, with deal discovery apps growing 24% YoY in 2022 and another 11% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022. Notably, marketplace apps achieved an impressive day 1 retention rate of 28% in Q1 2023, highlighting their strong appeal and user engagement. Although there was a dip in installs of e-commerce apps in general, sessions increased 5% YoY in 2022.

Toby Torii, territory director for Japan at data.ai, said, “As the industry continues to grow and user behavior shifts, building strong partnerships, leveraging innovative technologies and staying ahead of industry trends are key factors for unlocking tremendous growth opportunities. With the right approach, mobile marketers can take their campaigns to the next level and capitalize on this exciting market’s enormous potential.”

In addition, connected TV (CTV) is already a large part of mobile users’ journey. Currently, 70% of Japanese TV viewers have a CTV device, and CTV and OTT devices are expected to be owned by 30 million Japanese households by the end of 2023. This presents a wealth of opportunities for advertisers to reach new and engaged audiences, and to drive users from CTV apps to mobile devices or back to CTV apps themselves. 

Gijsbert Pols, director of connected TV and new channels at Adjust, said, “CTV campaigns are set to become a fixture in app marketers’ user acquisition strategies, and early movers in Japanese CTV advertising stand to benefit greatly. CTV offers better ad quality, a more captivated audience, precise targeting for users interests, measurement and optimization for engagement rates, impressions and click-through rates.”

India – With Meta’s new microblogging social app Threads reaching an all-time high of more than 150 million downloads in total during its first week, India is said to be the leading force in contributing to the success of Threads, accounting for approximately 32% of its total downloads globally, according to data revealed by data science agency data.ai Intelligence. 

Until now, the origin of Threads installations has been limited to a single global figure. The app has established the largest footprint in India, which has accounted for about 32% of its downloads.

Indian consumers have been known to flock first to new social platforms in the past, with ByteDance’s TikTok becoming a cultural phenomenon there before it ceased operating in the country. At the same time, India is also Twitter’s second-largest market in terms of both lifetime downloads and monthly active users.

The report also found that besides India with 32% of global downloads, other major contributors to Threads downloads hail from Brazil with 22%, the United States with 16%, Mexico with 8%, and Japan with 5%.

Singapore – Mobile data analytics provider data.ai has announced the launch of Total App Revenue (TAR), a mobile performance metric that provides brands and publishers visibility into all mobile revenue streams. 

Powered by data.ai’s proprietary artificial intelligence, TAR introduces the first mobile performance metric that combines advertising revenue, first-to-market products, and in-app purchase, providing a competitive advantage for in-app advertising, cohort purchases, and ad network performance. 

With the solution, customers can now also break down revenue streams and anticipate market expansion opportunities based on shifts in consumer behaviour.

“Total App Revenue provides a clear picture of data we’ve been missing in our business development and model creation. With data.ai, we finally have a way to understand our full revenue streams and benchmark against competitors,” said Carlos Salvado, senior market analyst at Rovio Entertainment.

Theodore Krantz, chief executive officer of data.ai also said, “Total App Revenue is the ultimate mobile performance metric. The mobile app economy is worth half a trillion dollars and making sense of a competitor’s monetization strategy is key to improving their app position in the market.”

This follows data.ai’s launch of two offerings on measuring data on a mobile application’s ranking, as well as data intelligence, including performance against similar apps last year.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Amidst the observance of Ramadan, Indonesians have downloaded e-commerce apps more than any other category during the said time period, according to the latest data from data.ai.

According to the data, Indonesia’s e-commerce app downloads took a 27% increase from the overall app downloads in Indonesia from April to May this year. This is followed by buy-now, pay later (BNPL) apps (9%), coupons and rewards (8%), and overall shopping (4%).

Shopee ranked first for breakout time spent in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In Indonesia, home-grown Tokopedia ranked second by breakout time spent. Tokopedia also saw strong growth in Malaysia during Ramadan, ranking fourth by breakout time spent.

In terms of overall shopping, Shopee still ranks first in breakout downloads, followed by Bilibili and Alibaba. Other apps that ranked include Lazada in fourth, UNIQLO Indonesia in fifth, and Zalora in sixth.

“Shopee’s increased share of advertiser impressions and share of creative impressions indicates this video ad was likely resonating with viewers and driving downloads. The ad was seen in 49 apps, with a high volume of games. The video ad also emphasised vouchers — appealing to the sale period,” data.ai explained regarding the top ranking of Shopee.

Globally, consumers turned to mobile to engage during Ramadan, particularly for prayer. Downloads of the top 10 Quran apps grew 120% during Ramadan versus the 30 days prior. Time spent grew even faster at 135% — fueled by both a larger audience of mobile users and deeper per-user engagement. Average daily time spent per user in top Quran apps grew 55% to approach 20 minutes during the 30 day period.