Tap Tap Revenge beats brands in Apple App Store downloads: comScore
Tapulous' Tap Tap Revenge has the largest installed base among applications downloaded from the Apple App Store, accounting for one out of three Apple App users installing the game by February.
That finding, from the newly launched comScore Apple App Store Report, is proof that any engaging application can gain a higher penetration than one for an established brand.
"In the Apple App Store, consumers are not necessarily as concerned about brand as they are about functionality and reviews," said Brian Jurutka, vice president of comScore, Reston, VA. "That said, as the app store has become more crowded, brand may play a key role in helping drive installs for new apps and differentiate from the crowd."
Twelve out of the top 25 most popular mobile applications were games, including Hangman and Pac-man, as well as Cube Runner and Crazy Penguin Catapult.
Stylem Media's Backgrounds application had the highest installed base among the non-gaming applications. Social networking applications such as Facebook and MySpace Mobile were close behind.
While other Apple application ranking list applications by popularity during a given time period, ComScore's report covers the cumulative installed base of applications downloaded through iTunes.
For instance, the market researcher noticed that some of the leading gaming applications reach even more consumers than the most popular social networking applications.
With such a large base already installing the free version of the product, converting even a small portion into paid versions using premium content such as Coldplay and Tap Tap Dance offers considerable revenue potential, according to comScore.
The report is designed to let marketers gauge the audience size, demographic profile and online behavior of Apple application users.
An analysis of the demographic and online behavioral profile of Apple application users showed that they were desirable to advertisers because of their higher-than-average income and heavy engagement with online media content.
Per comScore, the online site categories with which application users spent the most time relative to the average Internet user showed above-average engagement with retail, social networking and blogs, entertainment, sports and search sites.
In other words, not only are the Apple application users more engaged with social and multimedia content, but they are also reachable and engaged online consumers, comScore said in the report.
Here's what Mr. Jurutka also had to say about applications as branding tools, free versus paid, and search optimization within the Apple App Store:
Are applications gaining credibility as a branding tool? Or just another equivalent of ringtones and wallpapers?
Apps are definitely gaining a lot of traction as potential branding tools. The success of Virtual Zippo Lighter making it into the top 25 apps speaks volumes for the power of branding.
In addition, other applications like the Dark Knight iTunes App or the Audi A4 Driving Challenge underscore the fact that savvy marketers are already using iTunes applications as a branding tool.
Although the iTunes app users may not be a very large as a segment of the U.S. population, these users tend to be from the coveted high-income demographic groups and it is becoming increasingly clear that marketers understand this.
For instance, in releasing the Audi A4 Driving Challenge iTunes app, Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer for Audi America said, "The iPhone is an ideal platform to help introduce the Audi A4. Audi customers are smart, sophisticated and technologically savvy. We're very excited to be the first automotive manufacturer to connect with our audience through the iPhone."
How are paid applications faring versus free?
Free apps are the way to go to get reach.
The challenge is turning reach into revenue, whether it's through ad-supported models, up-sell to premium version, subscription-based or content-based revenue - i.e. paying additional dollars to open the next level within an app - via the 3.0 iPhone software release
Given the large numbers of applications, how about the search process for these applications -- what kind of optimization would that require for visibility?
The success of iTunes application can be attributed in large part to Apple's persistent focus on the end-user experience.
Easy to use Top 25 lists, the robust ratings system, ability to purchase directly through an iTunes account, and detailed information/screenshots of each program available has helped make the process of finding and downloading an application as easy to use as possible and represents the current industry gold standard.
However, I suspect that as the number of applications available in the store increases, there will be considerable pressure on Apple to provide a robust set of marketing tools to help developers increase awareness around a particular application.
As it stands right now, the major drivers of application downloads - Top 25 lists, iPhone TV commercials - tend to all be controlled very tightly by Apple.
I wouldn't be surprised, however, to see app-specific direct to consumer advertising at some point in the not-too-distant future.
