In the age of streaming, not everyone gets the expected numbers. Although Movistar+ suffers a huge drop in subscriber numbers, so does the CNN news network. Not everyone can be Netflix.
As a reminder, the international news channel CNN launched its CNN+ streaming channel on Tuesday March 29. A week later, the service is already showing mediocre results. At least in mobile app installs.
Sensor Tower, the mobile download tracking app, has released the first figures showing that the CNN app, which hosts the new streaming service, it added around 18,000 installs on its launch day.
Over the next seven days, it averaged 9,000 installs per day. CNN’s new service includes a mix of daily news panels and documentaries.
The subscription is one of the cheapest, at just $5.99 per month. Additionally, CNN is running a limited-time offer and offering new subscribers 50% off the standard lifetime monthly plan, bringing the service to $2.99 per month.
A CNN executive said the launch budget was around $250 million. By comparison, Disney spent about $135 million on TV advertising for Disney+ in the first half of 2020, according to eMarketer.
Sensor Tower predicts CNN app installs increased 33%, to 77,000, in the first six days of CNN+, compared to the previous six-day period. On the Apple and Google Play stores, the CNN app has 55.4 million installs.
To be fair, mobile app downloads are only a small part of CNN+’s penetration. Because the service is available on the web, Apple TV and Fire TV.
Some subscribers may have logged in only through these platforms and not from their mobile devices. Also, since the company includes CNN+ in the regular CNN app, the number of subscribers could be much higher.
As for the rankings, the CNN app jumped from 12th to 3rd place in the news category of the Apple App Storewhile he was 181st overall on launch day, according to Apptopia.
While not a direct comparison, the short-lived Quibi saw 300,000 app installs on day one, while Disney+ hit 4 million subscribers, according to Sensor Tower.