With streaming wars hotter than ever, getting noticed in the App Store isn't just a nice-to-have but rather a necessity - even for popular streamers who are spending hundreds of millions on paid ads.
Why? Because more than half a billion people use the App Store every week making organic discovery (aka being found through search in the store) a viable channel for getting new downloads for free.
As part of our 2024 Streaming App Industry Report, we ranked all video streaming apps by their Discovery Score, a new score we're working on, and the winner will surprise you.
When it comes to search, different people describe what they're looking for differently. That's why apps and games that succeed with ASO put a lot of effort into finding and targeting the best keywords.
Do video streaming apps spend time on that too? You bet! Well, almost...
To see which app is the most discoverable we can look at how many keywords they rank in, where they rank, and how popular those keywords are. We simplified that by creating a single number that brings all of those components together which we call Discovery Score.
Peacock was the most discoverable streamer in the US in Q1, towering over all other competitors. And it's for a reason, which I'll get to in a minute.
Hulu and Max, the only other apps that try, in our top five, came in second and third. Neither got particularly close to Peacock, but they're at least trying.
App Store Optimization is a long game. While it's possible to see instant gains with the right techniques, growing coverage could take months or even longer. That's why I saw Peacock's domination will continue as long as they don't stop optimizing.
Disney+ and Paramount+, fourth and fifth places, are both in trouble...
Remember how I just said it takes time to build coverage? Disney isn't even trying, and Paramount is barely trying. How do I know? It's pretty obvious by looking at the information right in the App Store. See, App Store Optimization(ASO) revolves around explaining to the search algorithm what the apps are good for because it doesn't know on its own.
For that, apps insert keywords people could be looking for into the app's name and subtitle. Let's compare the winner and loser and you'll see what I mean:
Good: Peacock TV: Stream TV & Movies tells the algorithm the app is about TV, streaming, and movies. So when someone searches for any of those the algorithm can now suggest Peacock. That's good.
Compare that to Disney's, the highest-earning streamer in the world:
Bad: Disney+ tells the algorithm absolutely nothing about the app, only who owns it. People who search for Paramount will find it, but that's pretty much it. That's not good.
Disney+ doubles down on keeping the algorithm confused by not using any keywords in its subtitle either. You could argue that Disney is spending enough on paid ads that organic downloads aren't worth the effort, and won't be right - doing this right will take no more than 30 minutes and Disney+ could dominate organic search.
Seeing Peacock's, Hulu's, Max's and most other streaming investing in organic discovery tells me this area will get very competitive this year much like what happened to the dating category a few years ago.
FYI - I oversimplified the ASO analysis because the nuances don't really matter here.
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