With the 2-year anniversary of Facebook's platform a few weeks away, I've put together an overview o the current state of Facebook and Myspace apps. At a time when iTunes attracts most of the media coverage, the Facebook & Myspace (particularly Facebook) platforms are quietly producing apps and developers with impressive usage numbers.
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Facebook and Myspace App Platforms: A Brief Update
1. Facebook and Myspace App Platforms:
A Brief Update
May 10,2009
Ben Lorica
O’Reilly Research
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2. Overview
Facebook App platform 2nd year anniversary
- Launch in May-07
Lately, iTunes has grabbed most press
coverage
- iTunes app store launched Jul-08
Popular Facebook and Myspace apps
reportedly earning substantial revenue
Time for a brief update on the Facebook and
Myspace app platforms
3. Data Description - from O’Reilly Research
Facebook App Platform: Data from September 2007
Facebook Demographics: Data from May 2008
Myspace App Platform: Data from May 2008
U.S.
iTunes App Store: Data from July 2008
4. Facebook App Platform - Total Active Usage
There is an upward trend in the Number of Active
Users.
662M
Total Number of Active Users:
All Facebook Apps
Source: O’Reilly Research
5. Facebook App Platform - Active Usage Per App
As the number of available apps has increased, the
number of active users per app has decreased.
Facebook: Active Users Per App
[ (Total Users of All Apps) / (# of Apps ) ]
~ 10.1K
~ 7.4K
Source: O’Reilly Research
6. Facebook App Platform - Active Usage Per Member
As the number of (active) members increased from
86M (in Aug-08) to 200M (past week), app usage per
member decreased. However, usage per member has
remained stable since the start of 2009.
Facebook: Usage Per Member
[ (Total Users of All Apps) / (Total Members) ]
~ 4.4
~ 3.4
~ 3.1
Source: O’Reilly Research
7. Myspace App Platform - Total Installs
There is an upward trend in Number of Users.
~ 182M
Total Installs:
All Myspace Apps
Source: O’Reilly Research
8. Myspace App Platform - Installs Per App
The upward trend in Number of Users Per app, is
less impressive.
Myspace: Installs Per App
[ (Total Installs of All Apps) / (# of Apps ) ]
~ 33.3K
Source: O’Reilly Research
9. Outline
Comparing three app platforms
- # of “Active” Apps: Facebook, Myspace, iTunes
Distribution of users and apps
- Percentage of apps with at least 100K users
Major App Categories
Revenue and the Top App Suppliers
- Revenue: Some recent estimates
- How apps generate revenue
- Top Suppliers: Overall and in the Games category
11. Unique Apps - Apps that Appear Each Week
Number of Unique Apps Each Week
First 19 Weeks of 2009
iTunes is adding applications
Platform Launch Dates at a much faster rate
Facebook: May-07
Myspace : Feb-08
iTunes : Jul-08
Source: O’Reilly Research
(through 5/10/2009)
[Normalized to a starting
value of 100 on 1/4/2009]
12. Unique Apps - Comparing “Size” of Platforms
In comparing the size of the different platforms, we
tried to exclude inactive applications.
Unfortunately, the three platforms expose different
metrics.
After examining data for all the platforms, we
settled on the sets of apps described in the next
slide.
13. Unique Apps - “Active” Apps Defined
Facebook Apps with at least 50 active users
Myspace Apps with at least 500 installs
iPhone Apps with at least 1 rating
14. Active Apps - Facebook Has Largest # of Active Apps
Share of “Active” Apps (Active is defined in previous slide)
Facebook ~ 55% , Mypace ~ 61%, iTunes ~ 51%
49K
Number of Active Apps (through 5/10/2009)
Last Three Weeks
Source: O’Reilly Research
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16. Facebook Apps - Distribution By Active Users
Number of Active Users has decreased slightly:
On average, an app has 300 active users.
PERCENTILE This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/3/2009)
MEDIAN 300 400 400
Limited to apps
75% 1,400 1,600 1,700 with at least
one active user.
90% 5,500 7,400 7,900
95% 19,000 20,400 22,200
99% 146,554 202,150 203,953
17. Facebook Apps - Apps With Many Active Users
Close to 700 apps had at least 100K ACTIVE users:
0.8% of all apps had at least 100K active users
(limited to apps with at least one active user)
Minimum This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/10/2009)
ACTIVE Users
1 87,401 58,558 45,140
10,000 3,695 (4.2%) 2,803 (4.8%) 2,180 (4.8%)
25,000 1,987 (2.3%) 1,465 (2.5%) 1,180 (2.6%)
50,000 1,207 (1.4%) 877 (1.5%) 748 (1.7%)
100,000 696 (0.8%) 531 (0.9%) 451 (1%)
18. Myspace Apps - Distribution By Installs
Number of Installs has been increasing:
On average, an app has been installed 2,274 times.
PERCENTILE This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/3/2009)
MEDIAN 2,274 1,932 1,416
Limited to apps
75% 5,377 5,124 4,393 with at least
one install.
90% 13,978 12,495 11,733
95% 34,081 33,932 30,313
99% 824,145 719,047 611,115
19. Myspace Apps - Apps With Many Installs
114 apps had at least 100K installs:
2.6% of all apps had at least 100K installs
(limited to apps with at least one install)
Minimum This Week 12 Weeks 24 Weeks
Ago Ago
(5/10/2009)
Installs
1 4,437 3,982 3,520
10,000 620 (14%) 522 (13.1%) 408 (11.6%)
25,000 274 (6.2%) 231 (5.8%) 196 (5.6%)
50,000 183 (4.1%) 162 (4.1%) 134 (3.8%)
100,000 114 (2.6%) 98 (2.5%) 86 (2.4%)
21. Facebook App Categories - Share of Active Usage
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Share of Active Usage
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)
22. Facebook App Categories - Users Per Application
Games, Dating, Video, and Alerts attract most ACTIVE users per app.
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
ACTIVE Users (in 000’s)
per Unique App
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)
23. Myspace App Categories - Share of Installs
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/3/2009)
24. Myspace App Categories - Installs Per Application
Pets, Fun Stuff, Communicating, and Games attract most installs per app.
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
INSTALLS (in 000’s)
per Unique App
(5/3/2009)
26. Revenue from Facebook & Myspace Apps
Inside Facebook: Significant revenue from
Game (& other Top) Apps
- Survey of Facebook payment providers indicate 35% YOY
growth in Q1-09 (both in transaction volume and revenue)
VentureBeat
- Top Developers will generate (a combined) $150M in 2009
- Estimated Total 2009 revenue for Games range from $300M to
$500M
TechCrunch (via SocialMedia ad platform)
- One SocialMedia client generating $700K monthly
- Other top app developers rumored to be generating $1M
monthly
27. Revenue from Facebook & Myspace Apps
Game Apps
- In-game points system that can be used to purchase virtual
goods that enhance users “powers”
- Virtual Goods are important enough that Facebook &
Myspace are considering introducing virtual currencies
- Points system becomes a major source of revenue: Points
can be bought
All Apps
- Top Facebook Apps sell ads to other Facebook apps
- Offer-based ads: coupons, contests, surveys, software
downloads
- Game apps can be popular for a few months: placing ads on
other top apps allow developers to attract new users
28. Facebook App Developers - Number of Active Users
There were more than 29,000 developers during the
past week:
2.1% of all developers had apps with at least 100,000 combined active
users
Minimum Total 12 Weeks Ago 24 Weeks Ago
This Week
(5/10/2009)
ACTIVE Users
1,000 22.5% 23.1% 23%
10,000 8.1% 8.3% 7.9%
25,000 5% 5% 4.8%
50,000 3.4% 3% 3.1%
100,000 2.1% 1.9% 2%
Unique 29,023 22,158 18,430
Developers
29. Top 25 Facebook Developers - ALL Apps
THIS WEEK Active Users in Millions
Total (All Apps) Per App
(5/10/2009)
Source:
4 of the Top 10 were
O’Reilly Research
Game Developers,
including 3 of the
Top 5
30. Top 25 Facebook Developers - ALL Apps
12 Weeks Ago Active Users in Millions
(2/15/2009) Total (All Apps) Per App
Source:
O’Reilly Research
4 of the Top 10 were
Game Developers,
including 2 of the
Top 5
31. Top 25 Facebook Developers - Games
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO
Source: O’Reilly Research
(5/10/2009) (2/15/2009)
Active Users in Millions Active Users in Millions
Total (All Game Apps) Per Game App Total (All Game Apps) Per Game App
32. Top 25 Myspace Developers - All Apps
THIS WEEK 12 WEEKS AGO Installs in Millions
Installs in Millions
(5/3/2009) (2/8/2009)
Total (All Apps) Per App Total (All Apps) Per App
Source:
O’Reilly Research
Zynga and Flixster are also top app sellers on Facebook
33. Interested in creating Facebook & Myspace Apps?
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