comScore, reported that Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge has the largest
installed base among applications downloaded from the Apple App Store,
with 34 percent of Apple App users having installed the game by
February 2009, according to the comScore Apple App Store Report. The
new report, which observes the cumulative installed base of
applications downloaded via iTunes, is the first tool enabling digital
marketers to understand the audience size, demographic profile and
online behaviors of Apple app users.
"It's impressive that a game like Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge can
attract a higher penetration among Apple app users than apps for larger
and more established brands," said Brian Jurutka, vice president,
comScore. "Tap Tap's success demonstrates that there is ample
opportunity in the app space for any publisher to obtain significant
distribution with a product that engages users. Since the number of app
users is growing nearly ten percent each month, that opportunity will
only continue to grow for both existing and emerging app developers."
Top 25 Apple Apps
A review of the top 25 most heavily penetrated apps illustrates
the importance of gaming to devices like the iPod Touch and the iPhone.
Twelve out of the 25 most popular mobile apps were games, including
classics like Hangman and Pac-man, and more non-conventional titles
like Cube Runner and Crazy Penguin Catapult. Among non-gaming
applications, Stylem Media's "Backgrounds" applications had the highest
installed base, followed closely by the top social networking
applications: Facebook and MySpace Mobile.
Other findings about Apple app users include:
- They are 32 percent more likely than average to belong to households
earning at least $100,000 per year. This income segment represented 35
percent of all app users. - More than half (54 percent) of app users are in households making at
least $75,000 per year. - They were at least three times more likely than the average Internet
user to visit several popular gaming sites, including
Ultimate-guitar.com, IGN Entertainment, GameStop, AddictingGames,
Xbox.com, Blizzard Entertainment, SourceForge and EA.com. - They were also at least three times more likely than average to visit
several popular social/communication/entertainment sites, including: AOL
Instant Messenger, Hulu, Twitter.com, Digg.com, iMeem and MTV.com.
Top 25 Apps by Penetration of Apple App Users
February 2009
Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Apple App Store Report
Penetration
Of
Application Installs Category Developer
Tap Tap Revenge 32% Games Tapulous, Inc.
Backgrounds 27% Entertainment Stylem Media
Touch Hockey: FS5 26% Games FlipSide5, Inc.
Facebook 26% Social Networking Facebook, Inc.
Pac-Man 24% Games Namco
iBowl 24% Games SGN
MySpace Mobile 23% Social Networking MySpace.com
Google Earth 22% Travel Google Inc.
Labyrinth 22% Games Codify AB
Pandora 21% Music Pandora Media, Inc.
AIM 19% Social Networking AOL
Flashlight 19% Utilities John Haney
Virtual Zippo Lighter 18% Lifestyle Moderati Inc. and Zippo
Manufacturing Co.
Movies 18% News Flixster
Hangman 18% Games Jamsoft
Bubblewrap 18% Entertainment Orsome Software Ltd.
Lightsaber Unleashed 17% Entertainment Lucasfilm Ltd
Shazam 17% Music Shazam Entertainment Ltd.
Mazefinger 16% Games ngmoco
Cube Runner 16% Games Andy Qua
Sol Solitaire 15% Games Smallware LLC
Crazy Penguin Catapult 15% Games Digital Chocolate Inc.
Topple 15% Games ngmoco
Sudoku 14% Games Mighty Mighty Good Games
Remote 13% Entertainment Apple
"comScore's Apple App Store data confirms the popularity of Tap Tap Revenge," said Bart Decrem, CEO, Tapulous. "Unlike other Apple app rankings, which list apps by popularity during a given time period, the comScore view shows the cumulative installed base of the applications, thereby revealing the true size of the audience that can be reached. For example, we are able to see that some of the top gaming apps reach even more people than the most popular social networking apps. With such a large base having already installed the free version of the product, converting even a small portion into paid versions using premium content like Coldplay and Tap Tap Dance represents significant revenue upside."
Apple App Users Are Highly Engaged, Upper-Income Media Consumers
comScore also analyzed the demographic and online behavioral profile of Apple app users, to determine their overall attractiveness to advertisers as an audience. The results indicated that app users were a particularly desirable audience because they were higher-than-average income consumers heavily engaged with online media content.
The online site categories with which app users spent the greatest amount of time relative to the average Internet users (as measured by their engagement index*) revealed above average engagement with retail, conversational media (social networking and blogs), entertainment, sports and search sites. So, not only do they engage with a variety of social and multimedia content, but they are also reachable and engaged online consumers.
Top Site Categories Visited by Apple App Users
February 2009 vs. January 2009
Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Apple App Store Report
iTunes App Users
Site Category Engagement Index*
Retail 149
Conversational Media 138
Entertainment 136
Sports 134
Search/Navigation 128
*Engagement Index = Average minutes among iTunes app users/average minutes among total Internet users x 100; Index of 100 represents average engagement