HBO Max is at the head of the pack for U.S. downloads of mobile streaming apps so far in 2021, according to new research published by Apptopia.
The data platform tracked downloads on Android and iOS devices and from the first quarter through the third, it found that HBO Max amassed 38 million total downloads in the U.S., putting it ahead of Disney+ with 29 million and Netflix with 28 million.
Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox, and Hulu rounded out the top five with 22.7 million and 22.6 million downloads, respectively. The rest of the top ten included Peacock with 21 million, Amazon Prime Video with 20 million, Discovery+ with 15 million, Pluto TV with 12 million and Paramount+ with 9 million.
In Apptopia’s worldwide mobile download rankings for streaming video apps, Netflix ruled with 130 million followed by Disney+ with 100 million and Amazon Prime Video with 94 million. HBO Max came in fourth with 57 million, followed by Pluto TV (41 million), Hotstar (38 million), ZEE5 (33 million), WeTV (32 million), iQIYI (30.4 million) and Tubi (30 million).
RELATED: HBO Max nears 70M subscribers, on track to hit 2021 guidance
Apptopia said year to date, 2021 has been the strongest year for U.S. subscription streaming app downloads with 216 million, a 29% increase year over year.
In terms of highest grossing subscription streaming mobile apps, Disney+ topped with $316 million worldwide and $159 million in the U.S. Tencent Video came in second worldwide with $240 million while HBO Max took second in the U.S. with $154 million.
Even as relatively newer competitors like Disney+ and HBO Max top download charts, it appears that Netflix still rules mindshare among streaming video consumers.
“Even with all these new players and heavy investment from large media corporations, Netflix is still the market leader in viewers' eyes. So much so that ‘Netflix’ is a top 10 keyword used in the user reviews of all of Netflix's top competitors. The reviews mentioning ‘Netflix’ range widely in their sentiment for the respective apps, but the point is that every streaming service is constantly being compared to Netflix by its customers,” wrote Adam Black, director of content and communications at Apptopia, in a blog post.