42matters
App Usage & Downloads alternative data provider · 1 listed dataset
Datasets from 42matters (1)
42matters is a Swiss app intelligence company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Zurich. It maintains a database covering mobile and connected TV (CTV) app stores, including the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Tencent, Roku, and others, tracking more than 20 million apps, 2.1 million publishers, and over 2,600 SDKs across 12 platforms.[1][2]
The company provides this data through its Explorer research tool, APIs, and file dumps, serving use cases in advertising technology, cybersecurity, sales intelligence, and market research. In July 2024, 42matters was acquired by digital intelligence firm Similarweb, which had partnered with the company for two years beforehand.[2]
What It Does
42matters aggregates metadata, performance metrics, and technology signals from major mobile and CTV app stores. Its dataset includes download and revenue estimates, ratings and reviews, integrated SDKs, app permissions, and app-ads.txt records, delivered both as interactive tools and as raw data feeds.[1]
The data is used to map app ecosystems, verify inventory quality, detect ad fraud, support malware and permission analysis, and build prospect lists of app publishers.[1]
Products
Core products are 42 Explorer, a visual interface for researching iOS, Android, and Roku apps and publishers; a suite of REST APIs providing near-real-time access to app metadata and metrics; and File Dumps, bulk data feeds optimized for large-scale ingestion. The offering now sits within Similarweb's App Intelligence product line.[1][2]
Buyers and Use Cases
Documented customer segments include ad tech firms (bid enrichment, app-ads.txt validation, brand safety), cybersecurity vendors (APK/IPA analysis, certificate hashes, risky SDK monitoring), and sales teams targeting app publishers. Named customers at the time of acquisition included Comcast, Criteo, and Ogury.[1][2]
For example, ad tech company Infillion has used 42matters' aggregated app-ads.txt file dumps to enrich and validate real-time bidding requests.[1]
History
42matters was founded in 2011 by Andrea Girardello, Ivan Delchev, and Andreas Budde and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland (legally 42matters AG).[2] Before the acquisition, it operated as a data partner within Similarweb's App Intelligence offering for approximately two years; Similarweb announced the acquisition on July 1, 2024, incorporating 42matters' coverage into its Data-as-a-Service catalog.[2]
Landscape
42matters competes in the app intelligence and app store analytics market alongside providers such as AppMagic, Sensor Tower, and data.ai-era offerings, differentiating on CTV app store coverage (Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio) and SDK-level indexing.[1][2]
More datasets from 42matters
42matters lists 1 datasets on this encyclopedia. The most representative listings:
More about App Usage & Downloads
App Usage & Downloads is one of the signal families covered by The Alternative Data Encyclopedia, with 14 providers and 51 datasets listed in the register. For how the signal is generated, its caveats and the compliance considerations, and the full provider list, see the category article.
Further reading
- Job postings as an investment signalWhy hiring data predicts fundamentals: growth intent, expansion geography, technology adoption and cost control, how postings are collected, structured and turned into tradeable indicators.
- Alt data delivery formats and pipelinesAPI, S3, Snowflake, Parquet, webhooks: how datasets are actually delivered, what each format costs operationally, and how to design ingestion that survives schema drift and vendor quirks.
- Web scraping and compliance in alternative dataHow scraped datasets are actually collected, where terms of service and computer-muse laws draw lines, what hiQ v. LinkedIn settled and did not, and the diligence checklist for legally fragile data.