---
title: Tearing down a competitor app's growth strategy with store-intelligence data
slug: competitor-app-strategy-teardown
summary: Ariel Michaeli's step-by-step competitor teardown in Appfigures (Jan 2026, PicsArt example) — size and trend (downloads vs revenue), audience by age×gender and country, co-used apps, rating drops, organic and Apple Ads keywords (avoid the keywords they dominate), custom product pages, metadata change history and SDKs (MMPs, engagement tools) — and how to turn it into a plan.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [user-acquisition, competitor-research, aso, apple-ads, custom-product-pages, tools]
related: [competitor-ad-research-for-apps, aso-competitor-keyword-mining, apple-ads-auction-and-bid-tactics, custom-product-pages-for-ads, app-idea-tentacle-strategy]
sources: [yt:LobdpFGDD8w, yt:W6_bN3AZo_s]
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Tearing down a competitor's growth strategy

## TL;DR
Ariel's sequence, using Appfigures on PicsArt (photo editing), Jan 2026:[^1]
1. **Is it worth studying?** PicsArt had ~6.9M downloads and ~$8.2M after-fee revenue in 30 days, and was #1 in the US at ~$3M, above Adobe.[^2]
2. **Trend:** downloads were slightly down over 90/180/365 days, while revenue kept growing. Fewer but better-targeted users.[^3][^4]
3. **Audience:** look at **age × gender together**. The blended split (~45% male) hid that 18–24, the largest group, was about half female.[^5]
4. **Countries:** India, then Indonesia, then the US. A newcomer must target India somehow, or fight only in the saturated US.[^6]
5. **Co-used apps:** users also had Prequel, VSCO, Facetune and more. Low loyalty means high churn, so plan engagement.[^7]
6. **Ratings:** written reviews dropped after late August, and the reviews complained about price and AI features. That's an opening for a cheaper rival.[^8][^9]
7. **Keywords and Apple Ads:** ~10,000 ranking keywords and ~2,500–3,000 paid keywords. **Stay away from keywords where they hold the top impression share** and target uncontested long-tail terms (the "eraser" cluster).[^10][^11]
8. **Custom product pages** show which intents they target, e.g. background removal with its own screenshot set and video.[^12]
9. **Update timeline:** name/subtitle changes (PicsArt added "AI" in many localisations last year) and release cadence (675 updates over 11 years).[^13][^14]
10. **SDKs:** Adjust **and** AppsFlyer (heavy paid UA), Braze and CleverTap (re-engagement), in-app support chat. They confirm the "acquire hard, re-engage hard" read.[^15][^16]

## Details
**From data to decisions.** The PicsArt read: a tough, disloyal category, but revenue is growing. So you must spend on ads, target hyper-specifically with CPPs, and invest in re-engagement. Feature gaps (eraser) and price complaints are your entry points.[^17]

**Why CPPs matter here.** A user who searched "magic eraser" needs to see the eraser immediately, not an app that seems to be about AI avatars and costumes.[^12] (See [[custom-product-pages-for-ads]].)

**Organic vs paid keywords.** For intent, Ariel weights the keywords in a competitor's **name and subtitle** (what Apple's algorithm sees them as) above what they bid on (from his Apple Ads setup video, same workflow).[^18]

## Disagreements / caveats
- Download and revenue figures are Appfigures **estimates**. Ariel founded Appfigures, and every step is a product demo.
- For ad-creative research (Meta Ads Library, SocialPeta) see [[competitor-ad-research-for-apps]]; for ASO-tool workflows see [[aso-competitor-keyword-mining]].
- Big apps teach different lessons than small ones. Ariel suggests learning some things from the leaders and some from smaller apps.[^19]

## See also
- [[apple-ads-auction-and-bid-tactics]] — avoiding competitors' "crowns"
- [[people/ariel-michaeli]]

[^1]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 00:00 — Ariel Michaeli
[^2]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 00:47 — Ariel Michaeli
[^3]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 01:33 — Ariel Michaeli
[^4]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 03:06 — Ariel Michaeli
[^5]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 04:43 — Ariel Michaeli
[^6]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 05:32 — Ariel Michaeli
[^7]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 07:07 — Ariel Michaeli
[^8]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 07:56 — Ariel Michaeli
[^9]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 08:43 — Ariel Michaeli
[^10]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 09:29 — Ariel Michaeli
[^11]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 11:05 — Ariel Michaeli
[^12]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 13:25 — Ariel Michaeli
[^13]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 15:47 — Ariel Michaeli
[^14]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 16:34 — Ariel Michaeli
[^15]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 18:09 — Ariel Michaeli
[^16]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 19:45 — Ariel Michaeli
[^17]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 20:33 — Ariel Michaeli
[^18]: yt:W6_bN3AZo_s @ 06:27 — Ariel Michaeli
[^19]: yt:LobdpFGDD8w @ 01:33 — Ariel Michaeli