Pokémon Sleep Turns Two - Are There Any Competitors Left?

When Pokémon Sleep rolled out, all the way back in 2023, I wondered how it would impact the sleep tracking segment.

Pokémon is such a popular name that it could easily steal all growth away from incumbents like Sleep Cycle and ShutEye. But at the same time, the Pokémon brand isn't universally recognized in its offerings and is primarily associated with games, rather than sleep trackers.

So it could go both ways.

Fast forward two years, and we have our answer. And while it's a bit complicated, what isn't is the revenue.

On its second birthday, this July, Pokémon Go crossed $100M total revenue for the first time. And in the two months since it added another $9M of net revenue (after fees) for a total of $112M since launch.

For context, Sleep Cycle earned $37M of net revenue at the same time, according to our estimates. If you're not familiar with the segment, Sleep Cycle was one of the first sleep trackers and the most popular at the time.

Before Pokémon Sleep's release, Sleep Cycle earned $1.3M of net revenue per month, according to our estimates. Now, it's earning about $1.1M after store fees. That's not the drop you'd expect after a big name like Pokémon steps in, but it makes sense.

Pokémon Sleep isn't competing over Sleep Cycle's audience for the most part. Instead, the app targets fans of the Pokémon franchise. So it didn't sherlock the segment but rather brought a new audience into it.

Although revenue growth has slowed ever since the app's release, Pokémon Sleep's revenue is far ahead of all competitors and has recently been rising, showing just how strong the brand is.

I'm sure there's a way competitors like Sleep Cycle can take advantage of this new audience, and I hope they are.