Ever heard of Starla? I didn't either until a few days ago, when the app jumped to the top of the App Store. Downloads surged, revenue followed, and for a brief moment, Starla was everywhere!
How? Starla went viral on TikTok!
Can Starla's virality lead to ongoing stickiness?
If you're not familiar, Starla is an astrology app that uses AI to map the sky and answer questions. It can also draw your soulmate. Weird, I know, and it didn't work for me, but it's a great sharable gimmick that TikTok loved.
Viral, yes, but will it get sticky with a $14.99/mo. price tag?
It did for a bit. Appfigures Intelligence shows Starla gained 2.2M users who spent $2.5M of revenue (before store fees) in the app since the beginning of June, when Starla's rise began.
The US App Store drove the majority of downloads and almost all of the revenue, which isn't surprising for an AI app that took off through TikTok.
But Starla's viral success is not looking very sticky. Downloads and revenue peaked mid-June with more than 100K downloads and about 112K in net revenue in a single day, but dropped considerably since to a little over 20K downloads and the same in revenue at the end of last week.
Grossing more than $2M in a single month is nothing short of amazing, and a great reminder that the App Store is a great opportunity. But, virality doesn't mean stickiness, so if you're taking the time to push for virality it's also important to plan your retention.
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