May 1 marked the premiere of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and despite now being in its 12th season, the show finished the night as television’s fourth most watched program.
After such remarkable numbers, numerous publications marveled at the clan’s sustained impact on the American zeitgeist. Last Monday, Vanity Fair wrote, “It’s near impossible to argue that their continued relevance, 10 years later, is anything other than awe-inspiring and remarkable. It’s hard to think of any pop-cultural force that has maintained a hold on the public fascination as wholly and pervasively for this sustained period of time.”
Of course, this then got us thinking: Did the start of the Kardashian’s 12th—again 12th—season have any impact on the app ecosystem?
You bet.
Television’s Growing Impact on Mobile App Downloads
Keeping Up with the Kardashians is broadcast on E!, and E!, like many networks, has built an app that permits users to stream its original content. The problem is the network does not televise any highly watched programs (outside of the Kardashians), and so E!'s E! Now app usually languishes in the uncharted depths of the App Store.
But in the aftermath of the season premiere, E! Now skyrocketed in rank. According to Apptopia data, the app had a daily average download of approximately 450 in the weeks prior to the premiere, jumped to nearly 4,500 downloads on Sunday, and then catapulted to over 8,000 downloads as of last Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, the number of daily active users increased dramatically as well, growing from 15,400 on April 25th to nearly 242,000 on May 3rd, an increase of more than 1,400 percent.[1]
This wasn't the first time we've noticed this trend.
Earlier this month, Variety published a report using Apptopia data on how the premiere of Game of Thrones impacted HBO’s streaming service, HBO Now. The full article on Apptopia's Game of Thrones data can be found here, but the short of it is the HBO Now iOS app jumped from an average of 12,000 downloads per day and 195,000 daily active users in the weeks preceding the premiere to over 25,000 downloads and 429,670 daily active users on the premiere date. Similar movement was experienced on Google Play, as the app registered 31, 699 downloads on premiere Sunday.
Then there was Penny Dreadful. The critically lauded Showtime series’ third season also premiered on May 1, and, you guessed it, Showtime’s Showtime Anytime app surged in downloads. On iOS, the app had just 808 daily downloads on Sunday, but come Monday recorded 4,277 downloads. Daily usage statistics also jumped from just over 7,000 to 67,000 during the same time frame[2]. And as to why the downloads and usage began the day after the premiere, Showtime Anytime does not allow for live streaming in the same way the HBO and E! apps do, but rather waits to upload episodes the day after they debuted.
Takeaways
If this trend continues, those launching an app should factor in popular shows’ premiere dates when planning an app’s launch. The last thing any developer needs is to ready a debut only to have their campaign derailed by an otherwise avoidable factor.
Conversely, those that launch apps similar to popular shows could benefit for the surge. Look-a-like apps, such those that mirror the popular Kardashian games, could see a boost in the days before and after a premiere. Consider for next year, because we all know season 13 is inevitable.
In either case, if you're an Apptopia user, we recommend setting up App Alerts for those apps that coorelate with major television premires to monitor breakout potential and track unusual changes in download volume and revenue.
[1] E! Now is not currently available on Google Play
[2] Curiously, there was no significant movement on Google Play
