Super Tuesday Spurs Mixed Results in App Adoption and Usage for News Apps

Key Takeaways:

• Out of the three studied mainstream (news) media apps (CNN, NBC, and ABC), CNN saw the most impressive growth in app downloads during Super Tuesday in 2024 and 2020. Per Sensor Tower data, CNN mobile app downloads during the week of Super Tuesday 2024 (week of 3/4/2024) were up 10% WoW, compared to +5% for ABC News and -11% for NBC News

  • This was largely in line with trends observed during Super Tuesday in 2020. Per ST data, CNN mobile app downloads during the week of Super Tuesday 2020 (week of 3/2/2020) were up 20% WoW, compared to +16% for NBC News and -1% for ABC News

• Out of the studied news app cohort, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth saw the most substantial growth in both downloads (+64% WoW) and WAUs (+22% WoW) during the week of Super Tuesday 2024. This was largely in line with trends examined in 2020, with NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth downloads (+74% WoW) and WAUs (+37% WoW) also up substantially during the week of Super Tuesday

  • The Weather Channel saw the most stark decline in downloads during both Super Tuesday 2020 and 2024, down -49% and -16% WoW, respectively. This was likely driven by the larger swell of consumer interest associated with other apps that provided them with Super Tuesday results and news

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.