Zynn Launches, Challenges TikTok and Dethrones Zoom

It's been 72 days since Zoom became the #1 app in the US App Store. Well, kiss that goodbye, there's a new sheriff in town. Say hello to Zynn, a new TikTok competitor that was launched less than a month ago. Yes, Zynn also has Chinese roots.

If You Pay Them, They Will Come

Zynn, which calls itself a "short-form video App where you discover and create your content," has managed to climb to the #1 app in the US App Store in just a few weeks. Here's an hourly trend of ranks:

The secret? Zynn pays for video views. For every video you watch, you get in-app currency, which you can then trade for gift certificates. But that's not all. Zynn also pays you to invite your friends! Once word spread, this referral strategy proved very successful, for downloads at least, shooting the app into the #1 spot in just four days.

Love That Hockey Stick

What does a pyramid scheme look like in downloads? Let's take a look at our app intelligence:

Like a hockey stick! It took Zynn about a week to reach 1,000 downloads. They got that in less than a day after and continued to grow in a linear fashion for a few more weeks until hitting the coveted exponential curve earlier this week. So far, Zynn is rounding a half a million downloads.

Is Zynn a fad or a new trend? Hard to tell. According to rumors, Zynn is backed by Chinese Kuaishou, a video-sharing app with deep pockets. Kuaishou can continue to fund this user acquisition strategy for a while.

We're keeping an eye on Zynn and also on how TikTok will react.

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