App Annie Adds User Demographics and Sentiment Tool

App store analytics and market intelligence specialist App Annie has launched a new service called Audience Intelligence, which offers publishers in-depth analysis of app users' demographics, related apps and sentiment data.

App Annie is privately held with more than 270 employees, headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The firm's Store Intelligence product helps clients understand the app ecosystem - the new addition promises a better insight into who is buying an app and why.

The new tool can be bundled with Store Intelligence of bought as a standalone product, and can be used for a range of activities from comparative analysis of a competitor's user base to demographics-based ad targeting and identifying partnership opportunities with apps attracting similar audiences. Downloads, reviews and comments are aggregated, anonymized and analyzed to give a clear demographic profile of an app's user base. There are three new datasets: user demographics broken down by app, country, month and store, and across platforms; related apps, identifying other products sharing a large proportion of users; and (later in 2015) sentiment analysis with metrics on perceived stability, usability and stickiness.

CEO Bertrand Schmitt (pictured) explains the additional functionality: 'We've talked to many app publishers and while they use our estimates of downloads and revenues to compare themselves to other apps and categories, getting accurate demographics - even of their own user base, let alone competitors - is extremely difficult. It's logical that we want to provide our customers with information on the users behind the downloads, and Audience Intelligence does just that... This is a big growth opportunity for App Annie and publishers alike and I know that the benefits will ripple across the entire app ecosystem.'

Six months ago, App Annie made its first acquisition, buying Amsterdam-based rival Distimo for an undisclosed amount of cash and equity. At the same time, it raised $17m in a new round of funding.

Web site: www.appannie.com .