Pokémon Go’s meteoric rise in popularity may be having a toll on rival game companies such as Supercell, according to a report by ad intelligence and location firm Placed. Placed found that Supercell’s Clash of Clans and Clash Royale are at the highest risk of losing revenue and playtime to Niantic Labs’ Pokémon Go game.
Vine, Tinder, Tumblr, and Clash of Clans are the apps that are most popular for Pokémon Go players. Some of these apps could suffer. But some could also benefit.
“With a finite amount of storage on the smartphone and time in a consumer’s day, Pokémon Go’s rise comes at the expense of other gaming applications,” said David Shim, the founder and CEO of Seattle-based Placed, in a statement. “With the Pokémon trainers not only hunting for Pokémon, but also dates, one could imagine an uptick in connections with the ultimate ice breaker, what gym do you belong to?”
Placed found Clash of Clans and Clash Royale from Supercell at the highest risk in losing share of screen, time spent, and in-app revenue. Over 10 percent of players with Pokémon Go installed also had one of the “Clash” games installed on their device. Additionally, Clash players were over 2.4x more likely to have Pokémon Go installed than the average app, Placed said.
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“Nintendo and Niantic have brought the gamers outdoors and into the physical world,” said Jim Watson, the senior vice president of strategy and operations at Placed. “[Virtual reality] has generated significant buzz over the last 12 months, but limited consumer adoption. Pokémon Go has delivered almost instantaneous awareness and adoption with its novel use of augmented reality.”
Measuring data for about one in 100 adults in the U.S., Placed said it is able to directly measure device data, including location and apps installed.
Placed also noted which restaurant chains are benefiting from Pokémon Go. When Pokémon Go trainers need to recharge after a hard day of hunting, they’re visiting Red Robin, Buffalo Wild Wings, Taco Bell, Panda Express, and Jack in the Box.
“Restaurants are in unique position to monetize the connect of digital and physical in by Nintendo. The restaurants can turn more tables throughout the day. With promotions tied to lulls in activity, QSRs and casual dining restaurants could immediately drive traffic into their stores during their slowest times of the day,” Shim said.
Hot Topic, Victoria’s Secret, Gamestop, Sprint, and the Gap are a few of the most popular retailers for Pokémon Go players. But Food Lion, Marshall’s, The Home Depot, Lowes, and CVS visitors are less likely to have the app installed.
“Not all businesses should have a Pokémon Go strategy as our data shows,” said Shim. “While Pokémon Go dominates the news cycle, data should determine the attention that it deserves in marketing strategies for retailers and restaurants.”
Pokémon Go’s players are three times more likely to have Steam, Twitch, Xbox, and PlayStation apps installed on the smartphones as compared to the U.S. population.
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