Taco Bell’s New Mobile App Breaks Into Top 25 Chart, After Social Media “Blackout” Stunt

Taco Bell’s unusual move to go “dark” on its various social media accounts yesterday in order to push people to its new mobile app for ordering food appears to have been a big success. The app has skyrocketed to be the 22nd most downloaded app for iOS users in the United States, according to the App Annie app intelligence site.

Yesterday, Taco Bell seemingly closed its social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Google+ and Twitter, posting messages like the one below that Taco Bell is no longer on social media but instead #OnlyInTheApp:

How did that work out? Spectacularly well, it seems, from early download data that the App Annie service tracks.

Breaking The Top 25

Here’s a look at the Taco Bell “Live Mas” app’s rank history over the past month, for Apple iOS. It existed in some form before getting its major update yesterday, along with the unique promotion:

The chart shows that for the Food & Drink category, the app moved from its usual spot from around 60 to become number one for that category, in the United States. More dramatic, it shot to be the 24th most popular app in the US, as of yesterday. As of today, it’s climbed a further two spots to rank at 22.

The hour-by-hour report is similarly amazing:

That shows the app ranked 1,379 overall in the US as of 2am Pacific Time yesterday, October 28. By 1pm Pacific Time — in only 11 hours — it had shot to become the 24th most popular app.

Bigger Than Google Maps, Twitter, Gmail

You won’t find the app yet listed on the iTunes most popular free apps chart. That chart seems to be updated on a weekly basis, so Taco Bell’s climb has likely yet to be reflected. To get listed in that chart, Taco Bell also likely has to maintain the download popularity of its app for a few days.

However, you will find it on App Annie’s own top iOS free apps chart, where it currently is more popular at 22 than Google Maps (23), Spotify (24), Twitter (25) and Gmail (26):

The app is also available for Android, but App Annie hasn’t shown any ranking data for it there yet, nor has the Google Play chart reflected any change.

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.