Mobile growth platform Digital Turbine, Inc, alongside Apptopia Inc., an insights platform for mobile apps and connected devices, have put together BRAG (Brand Relative App Growth) Index. The aim of this is to assess consumer awareness of brand strength in order to highlight which mobile apps have delivered most on user growth.
Data is drawn from consuming profiling, considering brand factors such as awareness, intent and opinions. Other measures include awareness and install intent; the ratio of those liking/disliking the app; and so-called ‘app gap’, which is a measure of brand equity. Overall, brand awareness connects the degree of consumer recognition of a product by its name.
The index also uncovers the methods that key firms implement as so to drive success with an increasingly restricted environment. By ‘restricted’ this refers to a legislative arena that is an increasingly privacy-centric mobile environment.
Within the report, brand leaders such as SHEIN, PayPal, McDonalds, and YouTube have bene studied to determine user acquisition tactics and marketing strategies. Pulling these various strands together reveals that in the finance sector, apps that have created strong relationships and engagement with consumers are leading in this category. Notably, the front runners are primarily peer-to-peer payment apps.
The world of entertainment is best represented by streaming. Here the important learning point is that keeping consumer attention is a priority. As an example, even with its price increases and resultant negative press, Netflix has maintained a strong engagement and by providing popular content the company has achieved the highest target-market awareness (at 93 percent, ahead of other entertainment streaming services).
In terms of the restaurant sector, ’quality service restaurants’ (or QSRs) tend to succeed by using creative and fun, in-app only promotions. This enables firms to create relationships and engage their customers better than the delivery apps that once led the way.
For retail, The report signals that apps falling within this category can gain favor with cost-conscious consumers by focusing on brand funnel growth strategies. These arise via creative promotion tactics, including ideas like flash sales as well as gifts that prioritize brand incrementality.
The final category assessed is news media. Here, brand recognition for leading news apps is still relatively high, however the reliance of many news outlets upon aggregators for distribution means apps like NewsBreak and Apple News will continue to see higher user growth compared with traditional news media.
