Insightrackr has released the January 2025 Global Social App Download and Revenue Rankings based on its monitoring data of the global mobile market.
The rankings are sorted according to the app downloads and overall revenue calculated by Insightrackr, presenting the Top 15 Social Apps by Downloads and Top 15 Social Apps by Revenues. It also dissects the advertising and creative strategies of the popular cases in January.
Top 15 Social Apps by Downloads
According to Insightrackr's data, among the Top 15 social apps by downloads in January 2025, 12 out of them showed a MoM increase in downloads.
7 apps, including the top 3, maintained their ranking. The competition at the top of the market remains stable.
Notably, due to the influx of TikTok refugees, Rednote saw a dramatic 53% MoM increase. This made it reach the 8th place, marking its first appearance in the Top 10 of social app downloads.
Another social app designed specifically for close relationships, Jagat, saw a MoM download increase of over 1000%.
In contrast, popular social apps like Telegram, Discord, and Talkie saw slight decreases in downloads. Telegram experienced the largest MoM decline among the Top 15, with a drop of 69.69%.
Top 15 Social Apps by Revenues
In terms of revenue, TikTok surpassed Instagram, rising to second place, just behind Facebook. Its MoM growth was over 25%.
Overall, the rankings for revenue remained relatively stable. However, most of the Top 5 apps saw a MoM decline in revenue.
Meanwhile, several apps from the middle to lower tiers saw notable revenue increases. Apps including LINE, Discord, BIGO LIVE, and Kick all experienced double-digit growth.
Social App Advertising Case Analysis
01 Rednote
In January, Rednote saw over 18 million downloads in global markets (excluding Mainland China).
The top 3 markets for downloads were the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.
According to Insightrackr's ad placement data, before the influx of 'TikTok refugees' on January 13, Rednote had not made large-scale ad placements globally.
However, following the arrival of U.S. users, the app gradually increased ad material starting from January 13, reaching a peak of approximately 1,200 ad creatives per day by January 18.
From a regional distribution perspective, Rednote primarily targeted Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia for its advertising, focusing on the Asia-Pacific market. This differs from the primary sources of downloads.
Leveraging the popularity of 'TikTok refugees', the app's advertising strategy aimed at the Asia-Pacific Chinese-speaking markets, where the overlap with its target users is higher.
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This strategy was also validated through the app's creatives. During this period, Rednote primarily used UGC(User Generated Content) videos from non-native users, which expressed these user's questions or curiosity of joining the platform.
The ads featured bilingual subtitles (in Chinese and English), aiming to attract users from the Chinese-speaking market.
In terms of revenue, the United States, Australia, and Canada are the top 3 markets. In-app purchase (IAP) revenue was the main contribution.
02 Jagat
Jagat was developed by Jagat Technology. The app was launched in early 2023 and within less than three months, it reached the top of the social app download charts in multiple countries and regions, including Japan, Russia, and Indonesia. As of now, it has over 20 million global users.
This product is aimed at Gen Z and younger generation, positioning itself as a map-based social app similar to the 'metaverse' concept.
It mainly supports real-time location sharing, footprint tracking, and the creation of online communities for young people to connect with friends and family.
According to monitoring data from Insightrackr, Jagat had previously invested in a small amount of ad material. The main markets for these ads were India, Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries.
The surge in downloads in January was primarily driven by an event to find golden coins offline, which was held in December last year. By inviting friends, users could prioritize the location of gold coins and exchange them for cash.
Through social media spread, the event attracted users from other than Vietnam. According to Insightrackr's download data, the top 3 markets of downloads for Jagat in January were Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
From the creative perspective, Jagat specifically tailored its content for the younger generation in Southeast Asia. The visuals emphasize the gamified action of 'lighting up the map' and use colorful effects, bubbles, and cute emoji stickers to satisfy the young users.
Besides, creatives were also localized with subtitles and voiceovers in Thai.
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In terms of revenue, the top 3 markets are Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, which aligns with the distribution of downloads.
03 Talkie
Talkie, an AI social app, was launched in mid-2023 by SUBSUP PTE. LTD. It is reported that the app is actually controlled by MiniMax.
Talkie has maintained a steady volume of ad creatives, with a few small peaks in January. The highest single-day creative volume reached around 1,500. The primary regions for ad placements are the United States, Chile, and France.
In terms of both downloads and revenue, the regional distribution for Talkie closely matches that of its ad placements. North America (the United States and Canada), Europe (the United Kingdom, France, and other countries), and Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, and others) were the focus.
In terms of creatives, Talkie typically uses a combination of video ads and playable ads. The video creatives first showcase a conversation between a virtual character and the user, then unfold a narrative, providing users with an emotional experience.
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The playable ads, usually embeded at the end of the creatives, showcase the care and questions from virtual characters. This often creates a sense of realism, and encourages users to click and reply. It not only boosts user engagement but also drives future conversions.
That's the overview of the download, revenue, and advertising of global social apps in January 2025.
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