Over the past several months, we’ve been tracking an interesting phenomenon in the App Store – let’s call it The Shark Tank Effect. Specifically, the effect refers to the huge bump in App Store rankings immediately after an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank. It even appears to affect eponymous apps. When venture-backed food delivery startup Plated – which doesn’t offer a mobile app – went on the show, a different Plated app saw a big jump in the App Store ranks courtesy of the Shark Tank.
We’ve chronicled three big app store jumps using CB Insights’ Performance Metrics data as detailed below:
- The Shark Tank effect – Cycloramic blows up (in a good way)
- The Bouqs Company sees big App Store jump after Shark Tank appearance
- The accidental Shark Tank effect – Mark Cuban investment helps wrong app jump in App Store
But after the initial publicity bump, how did the three apps fair? Unfortunately, none have held strong within the app store with all three of them steadily or drastically declining in the rankings after their Shark Tank appearances. One might say they’ve “Shark Tanked” (sorry – we couldn’t resist).
See the performance data below.
Cycloramic
Cycloramic offers an app using haptic feedback to take 360 degree photographs. The app appeared on Shark Tank on Friday, Jan 31st, 2014 and received an offer of $500k by two of the sharks, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. But after catapulting to a rank of 2 the day after airing on Shark Tank, the app dropped out of the top 1000 ‘overall’ apps on Feb. 19 and stands near 700 in the App Store ‘Photo & Video’ rankings as of June 27. Note: All of the visualizations in this brief were taken directly from the company’s ‘Performance’ tab, available to CB Insights subscribers in the Division or greater plans.
Cycloramic’s ‘Pro’ version, which costs $2.99, has fared even worse. The app fell near the bottom of the top 1000 ‘Photo & Video’ paid apps as of June 7 – and now appears to have been pulled from the App Store by publisher Egos Ventures.
The Bouqs Company
The Bouqs went on Shark Tank to present its online flower delivery startup on May 2, 2014. The day after, the company’s flower-ordering app jumped to 90 in the ‘Utilities’ category of the App Store. But the jump proved to be as ephemeral as a Snapchat snap – 12 days later, the app ranked at 914. The app has since risen a bit but still well out of the top 100 spot it once occupied. Interestingly, The Bouqs’ app performance seems not to have affected its financing trajectory. On June 26, the Venice, CA-backed announced a $6M Series A financing led by Azure Capital Partners.
Plated by Pupsidedown
As for the accidental Shark Tank effect? Plated, the app published by Pupsidedown for photo sharing for chefs, cooks, amateurs and food lovers, has also fallen in the ‘Food & Drink’ category ranks since hitting a rank of 131 the day after ff Venture Capital-backed Plated (which has not launched an app) appeared on Shark Tank. The app stands near 650 as of June 27.
The bump Shark Tank provides is one that most apps would love to have. But, of course, after the bump, maintaining the momentum falls to the app store publishers themselves.
This report was created with data from CB Insights’ emerging technology insights platform, which offers clarity into emerging tech and new business strategies through tools like:
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