The Chinese New Year usually heralds a lull in app downloads, but some scored big. See how one game got 1.4 million downloads in 2 weeks!

1. Wandoujia
China’s Mobile Content Search Engine
The China App Index
February 2014
Top Trend:
Mobile Catches a
Ride on the Year
of the Horse

2. Top Trends
1
2
3
Mobile Catches a Ride on the Year of the Horse
Episode II: Games That Strike Back
Special Case Study:
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World

3. 1
Mobile Catches a Ride on
the Year of the Horse
Chinese celebrated the Lunar New Year in January, returning from the big cities to their home
towns. Downloads fall for most apps in this period as people spend time with friends and
family, but some apps rose to the occasion.
Cards
Text
Beautiful Wishes
(最美祝福)
Monthly Downloads: 32k
Sending well-wishes and clever
poems to family and friends for
the coming year is a new year’s
eve tradition. Beautiful Wishes
and Horse-Year Blessings are
two apps that climbed into the
Top Ten New Apps by enabling
users to share beautiful holiday
cards via social networks.
Cards
Edit

4. 1
Mobile Catches a Ride on
the Year of the Horse
Tencent scored over the New Year revealing the rising tide of mobile internet users. J.P.
Morgan estimated that “61% more mobile messages were sent through Tencent’s mobile
communication products (Mobile QQ and [WeChat]) than total SMS sent through three Chinese
telcos on the day of CNY eve."1
New Year’s
Red Envelope
Group Lottery
Envelope
Normal Envelope
WeChat’s New Year
Red Envelope
On January 25, WeChat debuted a
viral “Red Envelope” function in its
messenger, allowing its users to
send the traditional new year’s gift of
cash electronically. The hook: a
group “lottery” feature allowed group
members to win random amounts
from a single envelope. The catch:
users had to link their bank cards to
Tencent’s new Tenpay payments
service, which gained 8 million new
users over the holiday.
1 J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific Equity Research, February 2014
New Year’s
Red Envelope
Envelope Number
Cash Amount

5. 2
Episode II: Games
That Strike Back
Six of the top fifteen new games demonstrate the brand loyalty of Chinese gamers with massive
monthly downloads. Chinese consumers are notorious for their risk adverse behavior, and it seems
this rewards risk adverse developers willing to leverage brand power: if it ain’t broke, make a sequel.
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
保卫萝⼘卜2: 极地冒险
Cut the Rope 2
割绳⼦子2
Fishing Joy 2 Classic
捕⻥鱼达⼈人2经典
Downloads: 1,442,300
Downloads: 367,283
Downloads: 118,320
Tiantian Bomberman 2
天天泡泡堂2
One Shot 2
⼀一枪弄死它2
Find Your Sister 2
找你妹2
Downloads: 117,808
Downloads: 110,872
Downloads: 75,137

6. 3
Special Case Study:
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
For their sequel to the hit Carrot Fantasy tower defense game, Luobo Interactive partnered
with Wandoujia for a special launch and promotion campaign. They garnered 1.4 million
downloads in the first two weeks after launch.
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
(保卫萝⼘卜2: 极地冒险)
Monthly Downloads: 1.4 million
Carrot Fantasy 2
provides an inside look
at the promotional
techniques Chinese
games use to connect to
their player-base.

7. 3
Special Case Study:
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
A viral video of a Wandoujia girl imitating game monster noises built buzz about the launch. It
encouraged users to “reserve” the game in advance and share the message with a chance of
winning prizes such as a scarf or in-game gems.
View on Youku:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjYxNjE1NTI4.html

8. 3
Special Case Study:
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
The release of Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World coincided with the launch of Wandoujia’s new 4.0 mobile
client. The titular Carrot character of the game was featured in traditional ads on bus stops nationwide
and on video sites promoting Wandoujia’s “Only One” mobile search campaign. Ads led to a landing
page featuring the game as a top pick.

9. 3
Special Case Study:
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World
The buzz paid off with more than 200,000 downloads for each of the first 2 days of the game’s
launch and more than 1 million in the first week. After the initial swell recedes, daily downloads
decrease to plateau around 50,000, but higher-quality users drive increasing daily revenue.
Downloads
Revenues
240000
180000
120000
60000
0
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Daily Downloads
January 16-31, 2014
Day
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Daily Revenue
January 16-31, 2014
Day

10. Star Apps
February 2014
Top New
Fastest Growing

11. Top New
Top New App
QQ Theme Manager
(QQ主题管家)
Top New Game
Carrot Fantasy 2:
Ice World
(保卫萝⼘卜2: 极地冒险)

12. Top New Apps
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Name
Downloads
QQ Theme Manager (QQ主题管家)
133,158
Beautiful Apps (最美应⽤用)
38,245
Beautiful Wishes (最美祝福)
32,393
DIY Theme Master (主题DIY⼤大师)
15,292
Mini Trip (微游记)
13,218
Mini Lens (微镜头)
11,330
One Wallet (壹钱包)
10,945
Horse-Year Blessings (⻢马年祝福短信)
10,060
WiFi Password Cracker (WiFi万能钥匙密码破解) 7,695
Carp Dynamic Wallpaper (锦鲤动态壁纸)
7,027

13. Top New Games
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Name
Downloads
Carrot Fantasy 2: Ice World (保卫萝⼘卜2：极地冒险)
1,442,300
Despicable Me: Minion Rush (神偷奶爸: ⼩小⻩黄⼈人快跑)
521,351
Cut the Rope 2 (割绳⼦子2)
367,283
Where’s My XiYangYang (喜⽺羊⽺羊⼩小顽⽪皮)
251,096
Draw a Stickman: EPIC (画个⽕火柴⼈人)
217,957
Run Bears! (熊出没之熊⼤大快跑)
213,433
Dragon Ball Q (⻰龙珠Q传)
153,272
Angry Birds (Chinese Version)(愤怒的⼩小⻦鸟 [中⽂文版])
118,725
Fishing Joy 2 Classic (捕⻥鱼达⼈人2经典)
118,320
Tiantian Bomberman 2(天天泡泡堂2)
117,808

14. Fastest Growing
Fastest Growing App
Fastest Growing Game
Android Flashlight
(安卓⼿手电筒)
Bubble Cat
(开⼼心泡泡猫)

15. Fastest Growing Apps
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Name
Downloads
Growth rate
Android Flashlight (安卓⼿手电筒)
261,386
620%
Tencent Weishi (腾讯微视)
198,909
486%
Traffic Rule Violation Check (⻋车轮查违章)
155,802
429%
KuaiDi Taxi (快的打⻋车)
187,808
403%
YunTu Livestream (云图电视直播)
178,940
229%
Mobile QQ 2013 (⼿手机QQ2013 国际版) 335,972
58%
LaiWang (来往)
225,730
53%
Baidu (百度)
335,398
44%
Screen Lock Sprite (锁屏精灵)
210,576
39%
LeTV (乐视视频)
223,486
28%

16. Fastest Growing Games
Rank
Name
Downloads
Growth rate
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Bubble Cat (开⼼心泡泡猫)
173,493
74,681%
Jet Battle (全民⻜飞机⼤大战)
562,363
28,359%
Escape the Room (密室逃亡)
185,309
8,214%
Hulai Mahjong (胡来⿇麻将)
327,759
2,032%
Three Kingdoms Kill (三国KILL)
188,583
658%
Asphalt 8: Airborne (狂野飙⻋车8: 极速凌云)
221,932
350%
Party Play (聚会玩)
162,876
305%
8
Jetpack Joyride (疯狂喷⽓气机)
198,244
268%
WoLongYing (乐趣卧⻰龙吟)
160,397
114%
Tiantian Racing (天天⻜飞⻋车)
835,449
107%
9
10

17. About the China App Index
http://appindex.wandoujia.com
China is the world’s largest smartphone market. But it’s a black hole
for app data. Mobile research firms use Google Play data, which
works for most of the world, but not for China. Nine out of ten new
smartphones sold in China run Android, but developers are left in the
dark.
!
Here at Wandoujia, we decided to change that. As an Android
mobile content search engine with 300 million users, we decided to
shine a light on the market. We hope it will encourage more foreign
developers to come to China.
Methodology:
!
•
•
•
•
Top new: Launched within the last 60 days.
Fastest-growing: Highest growth-rate this month, relative to an average of the previous 3 months.
App data is carefully screened to eliminate ‘zombie downloads’
All data is from the Wandoujia platform, with 300 million+ Android users in China.

18. About Wandoujia
The China partner for app developers
Wandoujia’s editorial team is always on the lookout for the best
new apps. That definitely includes apps from foreign developers!
We’ve partnered with Flipboard, EverNote, Pocket, and LINE to do
exclusive launches and promotions in China.
The place for mobile gamers
Wandoujia is the easiest way to reach a massive audience
of gamers in China. For developers, our app promotion
system makes it easy to be discovered and our payment
SDK makes it easy to get paid.
Complete media management
Wandoujia is for more than just apps. Our PC suite makes it
super-easy for users to manage all of their content. That
includes movies, TV shows, music, and e-books too.
Learn more here:
http://www.slideshare.net/WandouLabs/
brandbook-en?from_search=5

19. Wandoujia Developer Center
Register today:
http://developer.wandoujia.com/intl/
!
For support contact: zhangyan@wandoujia.com
Benefits for Registered Developers:
!
• Verified developer badge gives developers peace of mind
• Push updates to your Chinese users, quickly and efficiently
• Eligible for campaigns and featured promotions
• Optimized search result ranking

20. Case Study: Flipboard in China
When Flipboard came to China in June 2012,
it partnered with Wandoujia on the launch.
150,000 downloads
“
in the first week.
Our China launch with Wandoujia was a big success.
A few short days after we got in contact, we were ready to launch with a nicely
designed campaign that fit with our brand image. Wandoujia has delivered hundredsof-thousands of downloads, including some of our highest-quality users in China.
!
-Alvin Tse, Product Director at Flipboard China

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22. Let’s connect!
http://appindex.wandoujia.com
tyler@wandoujia.com
International PR
zhangyan@wandoujia.com
International Developer
Relations