TikTok competitor Triller is making ready to go public, however estimates from Apptopia name its self-reported consumer numbers into query.
Per Triller’s S-1 submitting, the brief kind video app has had 550 million lifetime signups. But market intelligence agency Apptopia estimates that Triller has been downloaded simply 73.2 million occasions since launch in 2015 — that’s 87% decrease than Triller’s personal studies. Apptopia’s knowledge is just inclusive of cellular app installs, which might means if Triller’s numbers are appropriate, the remaining deficit must come by way of net signups.
Apptopia, a preferred supply for app analytics, says that its estimates are 70 to 90% correct, on common. The firm has a whole bunch of shoppers, together with Visa, Andreessen Horowitz, Coca-Cola, Target, Zoom and others.
Reached for remark, Triller maintains its numbers are correct. But this isn’t the primary time its personal numbers have come into query.
Image Credits: Apptopia
When Triller tried to go public by way of SPAC in 2021, Billboard reported that Triller claimed greater consumer numbers to the general public than it did to music rights holders. In a December 2019 press launch, Triller mentioned it had 26.5 million month-to-month energetic customers, although sources advised Billboard that its consumer base was truly half the dimensions; then, when Triller mentioned it had 50 million month-to-month energetic customers, Billboard’s sources mentioned this quantity was truly nearer to 25 million.
Triller CEO Mike Lu mentioned on the time that “there is no legal definition of MAU/DAU.” (MAU and DAU are customary business metrics used to measure an app’s month-to-month or each day energetic customers.)
“Triller’s value is in monetizing users, not MAU or DAU. In the past, the press has had a hard time understanding this,” he advised Billboard.
On the Google Play retailer, Triller’s obtain numbers additionally look comparatively low. Google Play signifies that Triller has over 10 million downloads. This may imply that the app has been downloaded anyplace between 10 and 50 million occasions (Google Play has badges for 10+ million downloads and 50+ million, however no designations in between).
Triller has had a number of more strange authorized dalliances all through its existence, past simply debates over consumer numbers. In the previous few years, Triller confronted particular person authorized actions from Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, all of whom accused Triller of owing them hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in missed funds. In the case of the UMG dispute, Lu described it as “a bad ‘Punk’d’ episode.” The firm was additionally present in a Washington Post report back to have missed many funds to creators in a Triller incubator program.
Image Credits: Apptopia
Apptopia’s estimates additionally discovered that customers spend, on common, about 11 minutes per 30 days per machine on Triller. Triller didn’t affirm the determine, however a spokesperson advised TechCrunch that it “is not something that has any relevance to our business model.”
Per its S-1, Triller earned $47.7 million in income in 2022, nevertheless it has misplaced cash annually it’s operated. The firm misplaced $195.6 million final yr, and in 2021, it misplaced $773.6 million.