Global Apps in January丨Canva rides the wave of ChatGPT; Gen-Z matchmaker Hinge profits heavily

With the aid of its App Intelligence and other modules, SocialPeta sorted out the top 20 global mobile apps (non-game) by advertising, revenue, and download in January 2023, hoping to be of assistance to more people in the mobile app industry who try to understand the changing trends of global mobile market.

The overall performance of global mobile apps in January:

• The dating app [Hinge] launched advanced features, which attracted the Gen-Z and led to surging revenue;
• [Meesho], the Indian social commerce app, launched a series of TVC about "dreams coming true", which was a good play of sentimentalism;
• [Alipay] saw a continuous increase in downloads, thanks to a tourism boom during the Spring Festival holiday;
• [HERE WeGo], the versatile offline navigation app, appeared on the advertising chart.

Top 20 by Advertising

Let's check out those who were new on the advertising chart in January.

The navigation app [HERE WeGo] had an increase of about 29% MoM in ad creatives on iOS in January. The app is considered one of the most popular offline map apps, with its key features including displaying bus fare, parking availability, and slopes on walking & cycling routes. According to SocialPeta - Advertiser Analysis, [HERE WeGo]'s release of ad creatives in January was as the following:

• Its advertising covers over 20 countries across the globe, with the United States accounting for 12%, the highest share, followed by Vietnam accounting for 6%; 
• It only released creatives on entertainment media for the last 30 days, which was also the case for the last 1 year. Obviously, navigation apps achieve a higher advertising conversion rate on entertainment media;
• Most of its creatives emphasized that it's "offline free" and different languages were provided for creatives released in different countries;

Image creatives accounted for 95% of all its creatives. One of the efficient creatives was a comparison of an actual driving image and a map route image, implying that the app provides correct and precise navigation.

The cryptocurrency exchange app [Crypto] recorded an increase of 933% MoM in ad creatives on Android in January. It's temptingly introduced on Google Play that you can earn up to 4.5% p.a. on Crypto. According to SocialPeta - Advertiser Analysis, [Crypto]'s release of ad creatives in January was as the following:

• Over 86% of its creatives were released in the United States, and some of its creatives were released in Canada, United Arab Emirates, and France;
• The advertising media it chose were mainly sports, desktop, and photography media, accounting for 23%, 19%, and 16%, respectively;
• Its creatives were mainly Html, accounting for 99%.
• Most of its newly released creatives were phone screenshots with some words, highlighting how convenient it is to make transactions with a low amount of money on the app.

The sports betting app [Betway Sports] recorded an increase of 445% MoM in ad creatives on Android in January. According to SocialPeta - Advertiser Analysis, [Betway Sports]'s release of ad creatives in January was as the following:

• It targeted the United States market, releasing 98% of its creatives in the United States. It also released creatives in Canada;
• Its advertising media were mainly simulation and desktop media, accounting for 22% and 19%, respectively. But there wasn't a big difference among all types of media. Probably because it hadn't decided on its choice of advertising media;
• The 3 most frequent words in its advertising copies were "betway", "download", and "today". And its advertising focused on enhancing its brand recognition;
• Almost all of its creatives were Html. Following an obvious pattern, its creatives were designed to attract users through a combination of contestants for different sporting events and inspirational words.

Top 20 by Revenue

• Apps with outstanding revenue growth on the App Store in January:

Match Group's dating app [Hinge] was new on the Top 20 chart by revenue. It achieved a revenue growth of 44.7% MoM in January, thanks to its new subscription service that offers a higher chance for active users at a monthly subscription fee of 50-60 USD. Match's spokesman said, "It's a profitable investment to bet on the fast-growing Gen-Z users."

[Canva], the online collaborative design app, introduced a special offer for users to save as high as 120 USD in the middle of January. The promotion brought a rise of 25.3% MoM in revenue. And, when ChatGPT was gaining massive popularity across the world, Canva and OpenAI (it owns ChatGPT) launched Magic Write, a GPT-3 powered AI text generation tool.

• Apps with outstanding revenue growth on Google Play in January:

The language-learning app [Duolingo] offered promo codes for many courses in January, such as a 20% discount on purchases of Spanish courses, a 10% discount on purchases of Korean courses, and promo codes for a discount as high as 40% on some other courses. Its strategy of "small profits but quick returns" resulted in a revenue growth of 62.9% MoM in January.

[Audible], Amazon's online audiobook app, achieved a revenue growth of 21% MoM in January. The app signed a deal with Plan B Entertainment, for high-profile Hollywood talents, including Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, to create exclusive audio productions.

Top 20 by Download

• Apps with outstanding growth of downloads on the App Store:

[Messenger] included many new features in January, which was announced by its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in a blog post. The new features, such as chat themes, custom chat emojis and reactions, group profile photos, link previews, and active status, resulted in an increase of 50.8% in downloads.

Spurred by an outbound tourism boom during the Spring Festival holiday, [Alipay] achieved a 37.2% MoM increase in downloads in January. According to data, there was a 150% YoY growth in the outbound transactions from January 21 to 26, with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines contributing the most cross-border transaction amount.

• Apps with outstanding growth of downloads on Google Play:

[Meesho], the Indian social commerce app, held a large-scale sentimentalism marketing campaign in January, during which a series of movies were released. The campaign theme was "You can buy everything and do many things on Meesho", indicating that common people can realize their dreams through selling or buying goods on [Meesho]. The campaign was highly effective and brought a 77.4% growth in downloads.

The online video downloader [All Video Downloader] was released in January 2021 and was one of the 14 best free YouTube video downloaders in 2022. With its 152% MoM growth in downloads in January, the app appeared for the first time on the top 20 chart by download.

That's all for the advertising and revenue of global apps (non-game) from the App Store and Google Play and the insights into the downloads of global apps (non-game) in January 2023.