Vine Successor Byte Generated 1.3 Million Downloads in Its First Week

Byte, the new looping-video platform from the co-founder of Vine, gained more than 1.3 million users in its first week according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.

In the seven days since its launch on January 24, Byte has proven most popular in the United States, with the 912,000 times it was downloaded there making it the app’s largest market with 70 percent of total installs. Its next two countries in terms of popularity were Great Britain with 7 percent installs and Canada with 6 percent.

For comparison, Vine—which was released seven years previously to the day on January 24, 2013—was downloaded 775,000 times in the same seven-day window following its launch. Vine was initially only available on iOS; However, its first week users were still eclipsed by the 950,000 users who downloaded the Phone version of Byte in the same amount of time. Byte’s initial success is cast in even starker relief when taking into consideration that Musical.ly, the first incarnation of what is now the global phenomenon of TikTok, saw just 8,800 downloads on iOS, the platform it debuted on, during its entire launch month of August 2014.

All Bark, No Byte?

Vine’s 2013 heyday was a different social media landscape to today’s. With influencers (and those hoping to become them) driving so much of the popularity of top apps such as TikTok and Instagram, will the six-second video concept be enough for Byte to muscle its way in among its competitors today?

Byte had a running start due to its connection to Vine, but that’s not the only trait the app will need to succeed in the already saturated market of short-form video platforms. Although Byte doesn’t yet monetize, sticking the landing on that strategy—something Vine never quite got right—will be key in determining its long-term success.

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