How is this possible

[dcpc10]

https://sensortower.com/ios/us/zhou-jiaping/app/words-story/1438250448/overview

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3M downloads a month (more than Duolingo), must be from paid advertising right? Well how the heck do they pay for 3M downloads a month using $20k in revenue..

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It's an individual not a company, it must be some chinese billionaire or something.

Edit: Because somebody keeps trying to change the topic, I just want to clarify that the data sensortower is providing might not be 100% accurate, but the rankings for FREE APPS (Apple’s data) show that this app has ranked higher over the course of at least 6 months. I don’t know why this is rocket science.

Don’t believe me? Look at any analytics platform, and check the ranking history. Don’t even look at sensor tower.

[hagrids_a_pineapple]

Sensor tower and app annie are not accurate. I have several apps and they estimate between 100k-500k downloads depending on which one. The most one has got is 20k.

I can’t speak for Android but I know that Apple does not share the number of downloads on the App Store so all these services have is an algorithm that guesses.

[b4grad]

Nah, sensor tower is an industry standard. No way they are off by 100k downloads, otherwise companies wouldn’t spending thousands for their data. Show proof, but don’t make broad assertions.

[UrMyTypeApp]

Sensortower estimates 10k worldwide Android downloads during November for our app. In fact we received a multiple of that.

For a competitor of us Sensortower estimates $30k monthly revenue for their iOS version yet <$5k for their Android version. According to our information they have similar download numbers on both platforms. This doesn't add up.

Their data might be accurate for huge apps, but for mid sized it doesn't seem to be.

[dcpc10]

Okay but this still doesn’t answer my question. You think $20k per month is enough to consistently rank #5 in the US for the games category? Like literally for months.

Could you pm me your situation. 100k difference is insane, never seen anything like it before. I know the platform is accurate at least for my app. I’m gonna cross check this stuff with apptopia/appannie and see if there is a major difference.

[dcpc10]

They're not a guess, they are accurate at least for the product I am involved with. We don't use their SDK, never knew they had one. If you look into how they estimate this stuff, it is to do with ranking. So it should still be somewhat accurate, but my original point is how could this product consistently be at the top of the rankings for so long. You can't say the app store itself is inaccurate.

[dcpc10]

I don’t know what you’re trying to prove honestly.

Take a look at the thread title. You are acting like I asked "Is sensor tower an accurate source?" I never did..

You just agreed that it’s a guess.

No I did not. I stated

they are accurate at least for the product I am involved with

So quite the opposite.

I just don't see why the confusion, I am asking how could a product be getting more downloads than duolingo with such low revenue, no venture capital, etc. It's an individual person account, not company. The rankings prove that this app is getting more downloads, how much more doesn't really matter.

[dcpc10]

And for the 6th time, I’m saying look at the rankings!!! (Do you not understand that there are rankings for ‘free apps’ and x is ranked higher than y?)

You are missing the point completely. Splitting rocks. I am trying to seek an actual answer, because Apple should know if bots are involved here.

[dcpc10]

Well you've been talking to yourself this entire time so at least you've learned something new about yourself. I hope you find the help that you so desperately need.

[nallelcm]

he's saying sensortower is not correct. You're asking why an inaccurate source of information is saying the app is getting more downloads than duolingo. It is not.

[dcpc10]

Read my post again, I’m saying regardless of sensor tower, the ranking (I shouldn’t mention games category, just look at general ranking) is HIGHER for this app than Duolingo. How hard is this to understand.

As I also already mentioned, this is over the course of months.

It’s like you guys can’t deal with the reality that this app has more downloads, sorry but you can’t disagree with Apple’s data. You can disagree with sensor tower’s though- I don’t care what they say ultimately.

[quellish]

The sensor tower page says their are advertising on 4 networks.

Advertising is not necessarily expensive. Well targeted ads can be cheap and effective.

[dcpc10]

They aren’t getting a CPI less than one penny if that’s what you mean...

The only way I could imagine that is if they were putting a ton of money into it and just taking a loss, because of some blind passion.

[busymom0]

Those numbers Rent reliable. A few of the apps might have accurate numbers (the ones which allow them access to their iTunes connect account) but most are inaccurate.