Chinese fitness class app Keep said it closed a Series F financing round worth $360 million which was led by SoftBank Vision Fund with participation from Hillhouse Capital and Coatue Management. This brings its valuation to $2 billion. Keep was launched in 2014 to offer home workouts through live classes and videos. It currently boasts some 300 million users and a dedicated team of coaches and fitness trainers who create... Read more ›
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Snapchat recently relaunched its marketing partner program to clarify its partner categories and offer better modes of assistance. The Global Partner Solutions program has been launched in connection with industry companies and advertisers. “From strategic collaboration to creative execution and campaign optimization, our select group of partners make advertising on Snapchat simple for advertisers looking for managed and ad technology solutions,” the company wrote. The program was originally launched back... Read more ›
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Mobile adoption accelerated significantly in 2020 as more consumers used their smartphones to connect, learn and shop during the viral pandemic. Consumers spent a whopping $143 billion on mobile apps last year, a rise of 20% over 2019, according to the latest The State of Mobile 2021 report by App Annie. Among the top markets driving this spend were China, United States, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The... Read more ›
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App developer platform ironSource announced that it acquired ad quality measurement platform SOOMLA on Monday. SOOMLA provides a technology that helps developers make sense of the ads they schedule in apps. It can also help them decide whether ads are inappropriate or misleading or violate terms and potentially could affect user churn. Developers are then able to take action based on these insights. “SOOMLA is the ideal fit to continue... Read more ›
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Playbook, the fitness app that wants to become a platform for creators to share their own content, just raised $3 million in seed funding. Angel investors included Alex Chung who founded Giphy, Melody McCloskey who developed StyleSeat and a few others. The digital fitness space has seen a phenomenal surge in the wake of the virus pandemic as more people have begun to workout from home. The app lets users... Read more ›
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Snapchat is getting ready to roll out new eCommerce features by adding Bitmoji characters that let users dress them up in items provided by retailers on the app. That’s according to a patent filed by parent Snap which was spotted online. Snap would partner with fashion retailers and provide Bitmoji versions of their items. Users could the play around with the individual items and options to dress their avatars. It’s... Read more ›
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Tapjoy, the mobile advertising company, has finally settled with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over claims that it had misled customers on in-app rewards in mobile games. Tapjoy was said to having decided consumers in exchange for in-game rewards like virtual currency but never delivered. The company provides developers and advertisers with an opportunity to reach consumers in mobile game apps via rewarded ads. The ruling states that the... Read more ›
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Conversion rates from email ads rose 32% year-on-year according to new research from marketing platform LiveIntent and MediaRadar. Overall digital ad spending for retailers increased around 22% while conversion rates jumped by 10 points. The boost marks advertiser and retailer adoption to noticeable changes in consumer behaviour as more people chose to shop from home due to COVID-19 restrictions. “Despite the pandemic decreasing ad spend overall [in 2020], this holiday... Read more ›
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Facebook Gaming, the dedicated mobile and digital gaming platform by the social media network, found that there were 8.6 million new gamers since the start of the pandemic in the UK alone. According to a report from Facebook, the addressable mobile gaming audience rose 50% during the last year while US audiences grew 28% by 28 million and its South Korean user BASE jumped 34%. Meanwhile, 25% more German mobile... Read more ›
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Deezer Brand Solutions, which is the advertising sales arm of the music streaming app, has just launched sponsored editorial playlists. These will enable brands to curate Deezer editorial playlists reaching millions of Free subscribers. Brands can sponsor a popular curated playlist to fit their target group. The playlist will then carry a featured image of the company in the header and link to the website or product. Dedicated audio ads... Read more ›
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Driven by pandemic lockdowns, Apple noted a record year for its services in 2020. As the App Store Small Business Program officially goes live this week with many independent developers already signing up to receive reduced commissions on their apps, Apple shared a few stats of how its services performed last year. The most downloaded app on the App Store were Zoom and Disney+, while game titles such as Among... Read more ›
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Cameo, the app that lets people share personalised videos featuring stars, announced that 2020 was a record year for the company. It generated $100 million in GMV and grew at a rate of more than 4.5x year-on-year. The idea surrounding Cameo is simple: people can pay for celebrities to record personalised messages to their fans. The average order value rose by around 25% to $70. In May 2020, the app... Read more ›
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Consumers spent a record-setting $111 billion worldwide on in-app purchases and subscriptions in 2020, marking a 30% growth over the previous year. New data from Sensor Tower highlights that COVID-19 had a decisive influence on consumer app spending. The App Store generated $72.3 billion, up 30.3% from 2019. Google Play came in at $38.6 billion, up 30%. That means the App Store saw spending that was 87.3% higher than the... Read more ›
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Grab, the ride-hailing and food delivery firm based in Southeast Asia, has raised more than $300 million in a funding led by South Korea’s Hannah Asset Management. The firm, back by SoftBank and Uber, is estimated to be worth $15 billion. It plans to drive the expansion of its financial services using the latest cash injection. The fundraiser has not be publicly announced, according to The Information. Grab Financial Group... Read more ›
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Consumers spent an average $408 million on apps and app subscriptions on the App Store and Google Play during the festive break. According to data from Sensor Tower this represents a whopping 35% percent growth from the $303 million in 2019. Due to pandemic lockdowns, 2020 turned into a record-breaking year for mobile apps and app developers. Mobile spending during Christmas alone comprised 4.5% of the month’s total spending. Mobile... Read more ›
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With lockdowns keeping more people confined to their homes, HBO saw downloads of its HBO Max skyrocket to 680,000 during the festive period. That’s 5x more downloads than any other three-day period. Downloads were highest on the Saturday during the holiday season on both App Store and Google Play. But downloads don’t automatically turn into revenue for the app because HBO Max does offer a free trial period. According to... Read more ›
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User spending on apps over the Christmas period rose to $54.6 million in Europe, according to new data from Sensor Tower. This marked a near 30% growth over the previous $42.4 million in 2019. The increase was driven by pandemic lockdowns which resulted in a signficiant surge in app downloads. The average rate of growth in Europe was slightly lower than the rest of the world combined 34.5% which reached... Read more ›
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With more people confined to their homes and separated from their families during the holiday season 2020, WhatsApp saw call numbers reach record highs of 1.4 billion. Users were making voice and video calls during the holiday period using the popular messaging app. Calls on 31st December were the highest made on a single day on the platform ever and up 50% over the previous year. The most used effects... Read more ›
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Instagram has expanded its tools for Reels and Stories to enable users to add audio tracks and other features. Reels now include Audio Mix and Voiceover tools that let users add audio tracks such as voice or music clips. This is similar to what TikTok already incorporates. The options can be accessed by clicking on the microphone at the top of the Reels composition screen. At the same time, Instagrammers... Read more ›
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Over half of consumers (54%) expect that they’ll be more engaged with brands online over the next two years. That’s according to research by Forrester. Consumers who are already digitally engaged are likely to continue to speak to brands online. Among them, around 63% will be choosing brands that engage with local communities and 57% intend to shop with companies that are sustainable. The report also noted that 20% of... Read more ›
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Most popular sources
Wired
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29% 8 |
Vox
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12% 9 |
Business Insider
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12% 2 |
Gizmodo
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8% 1 |
The Verge
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5% 0 |
| View sources » | |
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23.01.2026 23:22
Last update: 23:05 EDT.
News rating updated: 06:10.
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