OUTFIT7’S TALKING FRIENDS APPS HIT ONE BILLION DOWNLOADS
Digital Milestone Reached In Less Than Three Years
Plans Ahead with Much More to Come in Talking Friends Entertainment
PALO ALTO, CA – The wise-cracking Talking Tom and Talking Friends made history today as the widely popular franchise reached the one billion apps downloaded mark, announced Samo Login, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Outfit7.
Delivering pure enjoyment, positive feelings and endless interactivity, Talking Tom and the Talking Friends characters are known for their humorous talk back ability and reaction to touch. With the #TF1billion achievement the pop-culture phenomenon Talking Friends has reached yet another fundamental milestone.
“When Talking Tom first entered the entertainment arena our goal was to provide laughs, fun and upbeat interactivity,” said Login, who along with a group of like-minded individuals founded Outfit7 three years ago. “It’s humbling, yet thrilling to see how loved Talking Tom and his growing family have become around the world.”
Since the original Talking Tom debuted in July 2010, the Talking Friends family of characters has grown to 14 four and two legged animal friends. Touting over two dozen Talking Friends apps in the franchise as of today, Talking Friends are played in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, by more than 170 million users each month. Played both on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android systems equally, the download rate of Talking Friends apps is approximately 50 million per month. Talking Tom and Talking Tom 2 both rank among the top downloaded free apps in both the Apple and Google stores.
The Talking Friends characters engage with fans in more ways than just talk back fun. The June 2012 launch of the Tom Loves Angela app allowed users to chat with Angela about everything from love, to movies, to travel and listen to her responses. Later in the year, the debut of the Talking Angela app introduced gesture recognition capabilities, allowing her to understand and react to different facial gestures, including the nodding and shaking of one’s head, smiling, yawning and the sticking out of one’s tongue.
Complementing the rise to billion-dom is the significant volume of logged digital views across other content streams. Talking Tom and his feline girlfriend Talking Angela racked up millions of YouTube views with top-charting duets including “You Get Me” and “That Falling in Love.” The music videos, in partnership with Walt Disney Records, continue to draw viewers – currently touting over 100 million views and counting. A ten episode web series with Disney Interactive also drew 100 million views across the globe in just a few months.
The interactive and customization element to the franchise is illustrated by the hundreds of hours of video content created by the fans of the Talking Friends apps every day – there are over 25 million views of user-generated Talking Friends videos on YouTube each month. The wide variety of personalized content clearly demonstrates many of the central values of the Talking Friends brand: fun, self-expression and sharing.
Outfit7 continues to expand, evolve and innovate its Talking Friends portfolio. A new exciting Talking Tom app is scheduled to launch this summer, this promises the most interactive Talking Tom experience ever. Through a multi-level game concept the new app will help to teach users about responsibility, relationships and long-term commitment, adding engagement to the Talking Friends apps like never before. This follows the April release of Ginger’s Birthday, an app which introduced educational-oriented game elements focused on hygiene and a proper diet.
In addition, Outfit7 is taking Talking Tom and his friends on the road; expanding the characters interactive and innovative approach into new areas, allowing users to engage with them in all new ways. At June’s Licensing Show International the company will discuss with current and future partners its plans, including developments in television, home entertainment and live events and attractions, in addition to on-going evolutions in their established home on mobile and online.
