- Glance, which provides media content, news, and casual games on Android-powered smartphone lock screen, has accumulated 100 million active users a day, it said today.
Glance, which provides media content, news, and casual games on Android-powered smartphone lock screen, has accumulated 100 million active users a day, it said today.
According to Naveen Tewari, founder, and chief executive of InMobi Group, in an interview with TechCrunch, the subsidiary of ad-firm InMobi Group has crossed the milestone in 21 months in what appears to be the shortest period for any successful internet service to achieve their first 100 million, active daily users.
Glance uses AI to provide its users with a customized experience. The service fills the otherwise empty lock screen with the news, articles, and casual games relevant locally. Late last year, InMobi acquired Roposo, a startup headquartered in Gurgaon, which has allowed the platform to launch short-form videos.
“The introduction of short-form videos and games on Glance has helped us increase the degree of interaction. Around 25 percent of our users on Glance are actively playing games, “Tewari said. The firm is now working to make available these short-form videos in several local languages. (The service can also be accessed on your mobile web browser or via its Google Play Store preview app.)
Glance ships are pre-installed on different models of smartphones. The subsidiary maintains relations with almost every top Android smartphone vendor including Samsung and Xiaomi, India’s top player.
But users can easily disable the app, Tewari said, adding that those who actively interact with Glance content are the 100 million users the firm is disclosing today. Users spend about 25 minutes per day consuming content on Glance, he said.
Sitting on the lock screen, possibly the most desirable real estate on a smartphone to reach a user, has allowed Glance to offer some details within a very short time to a very large number of users. Tewari said more than 50 million users have responded to Glance informing them, for example, of last month’s speech by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi surrounding the country’s lockdown.
“We are not just a forum for short-form videos. We’re not just a forum for gaming, but one that only covers the news. From where we’re sitting, we’re preparing for almost all that’s out there all over the world. And everyone got to eat it, “he said.
Currently, the service is available in India, its biggest market with over 80 million subscribers, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Tewari said the firm plans to carry out Glance in the next two years across the globe.
Glance, which last year earned $45 million, actually does not monetize its users. Tewari said he’s been playing with a few ideas but he’s not going to press for another one to two quarters on this issue.
