One of the biggest concerns analysts have had about GoPro lately is competition. Xiaomi recently entered the arena with its much less expensive action camera, which has begun to take hold in China. Earlier this month, it looked like Chinese Android users at least were starting to shift from favoring GoPro’s cameras to the cheaper cameras made by the company’s domestic rival.
However, last week there was another shift, and GoPro again became China’s favorite action camera manufacturer overall.
GoPro searches still declining
Analysts Charles Anderson and Jessica McHugh of Dougherty & Company have been keeping close tabs on a number of key data points suggesting where GoPro’s sales may be heading next. They report that Google searches for the keyword “GoPro” declined 6% year over year last week, compared to the previous week’s decline of 3%.
In the U.S., searches fell 5%, compared to the previous week’s 2% decline.
Searches on YouTube declined 8% year over year, which was flat with the previous week’s decline.
GoPro’s app still tumbling down the charts
Anderson and McHugh also said the iPhone GoPro app fell down the App Store charts another 29% last week, compared to the previous week’s 26% decline. The camera maker’s app also declined 29% on the Google Play store, once again compared to the previous week’s decline of 26%.
GoPro battles Xiaomi
The analysts said when looking at China overall, users preferred GoPro over domestic device maker Xiaomi. On Sept. 12, Xiaomi’s app was the 54th most-downloaded app in the Google Play store’s Photography section in China, while GoPro was in 26th place.
In Apple’s App Store, GoPro’s app was in 153rd place compared to Xiaomi’s 184th place.
The analysts point out again that unit growth has outperformed searches in the last three quarters because as more people become aware of the brand, they don’t need to do as many internet searches on it. Also downloads of the company’s app doesn’t include buyers of the least expensive $130 HERO camera because it doesn’t work with the app due to the lack of Wi-Fi.
Downloads also don’t include repeat buyers of GoPro products because they would have already had the app downloaded, although downloads does count those who already had a GoPro camera but got a new phone and had to download the app again.
GoPro continues building media brand
The Dougherty team also learned that GoPro’s media brand continued to grow its viewership last week with more than 13,000 new subscribers for the company’s YouTube channel, which implies a 21% annual growth rate. Here’s how GoPro’s media brand is stacking up to those of competitors on YouTube:
The company also added more than 49,000 new followers on Instagram, implying an annual growth rate of 40%. Here’s how GoPro’s media brand is stacking up to those of competitors on Instagram:
As of this writing, shares of GoPro were down 1.8% at $32.71 per share.
All graphs in this article are courtesy Dougherty & Company.
