SensorTowerHong Kong Unrest Drives 4x Surge in Telegram Downloads, Boosts Other Apps Used by Protesters
Summary
The ongoing civil unrest in Hong Kong has driven significant growth in mobile app downloads among protesters, according to Sensor Tower data. Telegram saw 110,000 new installs in July 2019, a 323% year-over-year increase, compared to 26,000 in July 2018, ranking 7th in downloads. LIHKG, a local message board, experienced a 900% surge, adding 120,000 users.
The news category overall grew 197% YoY, with Stand News adding 92,000 users, 65 times more than the previous year. Telegram now has 1.7 million lifetime installs in Hong Kong and 365 million globally.
You Might Also Like
SensorTowerGlobal App Revenue Reached $39 Billion in the First Half of 2019, Up 15% Year-Over-Year
Global app consumer spending hit $39.7B in H1 2019, up 15.4% YoY. Apple's App Store generated $25.5B, Google Play $14.2B. Top non-game apps: Tinder ($497M), Netflix ($399M). Game revenue reached $29.6B.
SensorTowerThe Top 1% of App Publishers Generate 80% of All New Installs
Top 1% of publishers got 80% of global app downloads in Q3 2019. In games, they earned 95% of revenue. Discoverability and ASO are crucial for the remaining 99% to compete.
AppsFlyerMarketing attribution: what it is and how to measure it
Marketing attribution is critical for connecting spend to revenue, but platform self-reporting and last-click bias distort budget decisions. Single-touch models (first/last-click) are simple but miss the full journey; multi-touch models (position-based, data-driven) are more accurate but require robust data. Mobile attribution is particularly challenging due to ATT, SKAdNetwork, and cross-platform gaps, necessitating a mobile measurement partner (MMP) for independent, deduplicated measurement. Clean attribution data is essential for AI-driven optimization—bad signals lead to bad decisions. Starting with position-based attribution and incrementality testing provides a practical foundation.
SensorTowerTikTok Clocks 1.5 Billion Downloads on The App Store and Google Play
TikTok surpasses 1.5 billion downloads, ranking 3rd most downloaded non-gaming app in 2019. India leads with 31% of installs, China 11.5%, US 8.2%. Revenue hits $175M, mainly from China (48.3%) and US (35.7%).
SensorTowerIndia Mobile App Market in Q2 2026: IAP Hit a New High of $345 Million (Up 35%); Story TV Emerged as India’s No.1 Short Drama App, While Meesho Led Shopping App Downloads
India's mobile app market hit record revenue of $345M in Q2 2026, with non-gaming up 50% YoY. For ad ops, key opportunities lie in short drama apps (Story TV tripled ad spend), AI subscriptions, and ad-supported games like arrow puzzles, which generate over 11% of global ad revenue from India. Gaming revenue grew 10% YoY, outperforming global decline. Hypercasual game ad revenue rose 180% QoQ. India is transitioning from an acquisition market to a monetization powerhouse, offering scalable ad inventory across entertainment, local commerce, and casual gaming.
SensorTowerTop 10 Worldwide Mobile Games By Revenue and Downloads in July 2026
July 2026 mobile gaming revenue hit $6.6B (+7.7% MoM), with Pokémon GO and Honor of Kings leading growth via anniversary events and localized IP collabs. Live-ops calendars remain critical: major updates, esports, and cultural moments drive engagement and spending. Downloads reached 3.72B (+2.2%), led by ROBLOX and Free Fire, while hypercasual and World Cup-themed games surged. For ad ops, prioritize high-engagement windows around live events, leverage IP crossover audiences, and consider market-specific peaks (e.g., US 29.5% revenue share). Brands should align campaigns with seasonal content drops and user acquisition spikes.
AdjustMobile app trends: H1 2026 benchmarks | Adjust
Global app installs rose 13% YoY and sessions 5% in H1 2026, signaling sustained growth despite market saturation concerns. Casual gaming saw a 55% surge in sessions, while e-commerce install day engagement improved across all regions, with North America reaching 1.34 and LATAM 1.4. Finance apps saw installs up 5% but sessions up 29%, underscoring the importance of retention. Ad ops teams should prioritize casual gaming, optimize install day experiences, and prepare for a strong H2 holiday peak, leveraging accurate measurement to allocate budgets effectively.
MolocoInside Moloco's CARA: the AI that compounds
The open internet presents unique challenges for performance advertising: fragmented identity, closed first-price auctions, and non-stationary supply. Moloco's CARA compound architecture tackles this with six integrated technical domains—Campaign Automation, Supply, Ad Recommendations, Bidding, Creative, and Signals—running on a unified ML infrastructure. Key insights for ad ops: the system continuously learns from every interaction, uses knowledge distillation to serve real-time predictions under 10ms latency, and validates improvements through rigorous live experiments. In 2025, 65 validated model updates reduced CPA by 17% and improved ROAS by 27%. The key takeaway: compound AI architectures that connect prediction, bidding, creative, and data can unlock measurable performance gains beyond walled gardens.
More from SensorTower
Data Drop: 4 New Web Insights Reports & How To Use Them
Sensor Tower's new Web Insights reports—Web Overlap, Path Journey, Conversion Rate, and Search Keywords—give ad ops deci...
Snack Brands Are Hungry for Retail Media
Snack Foods dominated retail media's food category in 1H 2026, accounting for a third of impressions. Leading advertiser...
Income Brackets, Heatmaps, & More: What's New In Audience Insights
Audience Insights now offers income percentiles, heatmap comparisons, and the ability to compare up to five audience seg...
Q2 2026 Digital Market Index: Monetization Depth Outpaces Download Growth
Q2 2026 saw US digital ad spend hit $49B (+15% YoY), fueled by a Shopping category rebound (+13% YoY) after tariff uncer...
ChatGPT Ads Are Here! Now WE Are Tracking The Machine
ChatGPT is emerging as a viable ad channel, with Sensor Tower now tracking US campaigns. Shopping ads dominate but decre...
The Art of The Steal: GTA VI is Coming, And This is The Game Tracker You Need to Prepare
GTA VI pre-sales reached $395M with PlayStation leading at 3.15M units vs. Xbox's 0.93M by July 20, already outpacing th...