“Jersey Shore” hasn’t been on the air since 2012, and yet somehow, someway, one of the show’s “stars” is still proving to be relevant.
On April 14, 2016, former “Jersey” cast-member and current star of the Web-only show “Moms with Attitude,” JWoww, released the eponymous “JWoww by Jenni Farley (her real name)” app. For $2.99 a month users are granted a whole host of riveting features including, exclusive access to photos of the reality star and her family, her assuredly thought-provoking takes on everything from motherhood to fashion, and of course, thinly veiled promotions disguised as product recommendations.
As one would hope, it bombed.
For the first few weeks post-release on iOS, the app averaged a meager daily download rate of 500, with some days clocking in at less than 200. On Google Play, the results were even worse, as the app never broke a rate of more than 22 downloads per day.
Then, on May 5, JWoww gave birth to a baby boy, and because we could only assume it was a slow news day, numerous tabloids reported on it. The publicity drove a significant uptick in app downloads.
iOS:
Google Play:
On May 6, iOS daily app downloads jumped to 9,670, up from 283 the day before, and Google Play daily downloads jumped from 0 to 710. Daily download rates remained similar over the next few days, but then plummeted back down to their original, pre-birth levels.
Never one to give up the limelight, though, JWoww posted this subtle photo on her website on May 18:
And daily download rates shot back up.
Who knew exploiting children was the next big thing in app marketing ?