Stronger · B2C · gamified workout tracker
Post the same 6-second fade-in app screenshot Reel over and over
Est. 150-300M views, a 100M-view month; low conversion and now fading
Workedorganic-short-video
What they did
The 'fade-in': a ~6-second Instagram Reel that fades in from black to one image (the app's colored strength-score muscle heatmap). Always the same sound (Future's 'Let Me Know'), used like a brand sound. App logo added so viewers know it is a workout tracker. Posted repeatedly for 5-6 months; takes Peter a couple of hours a week to schedule, using internal tooling to produce variants.
What happened
Estimated 150-200M+ (maybe 300M) total views, a 100M-view month, a couple of videos at 40M; average watch time over 2x the video length. Conversion per view is low and the format is slowing down.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Peter Gillan - My App Makes $600k/Year Using This Easy Growth Strategy (copy me)“we discovered this one format we call the fade-in. It's about six seconds long, just fades in from black and shows an image.”
“And at the end of the day, the conversion ends up being quite low for it. But when it's so easy to go viral with it, it's a a no-brainer for us. It's the kind of thing that takes me maybe like a couple of hours each week to schedule out content for.”
“We've mostly used the same sound. I think it becomes quite recognizable. It's almost like a brand sound at this point.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Stronger: Copy a winning video across many accounts, changing a few words or colors each timeAdopted after a rival did it with ~10 accounts; no separate numbers
- Copy a rival's viral video format and post it from 10 accountsDownloads visibly ramped up; out-scaled the team that invented it
- Stronger: Design every feature to look great as a screenshot for social postsScreenshots are the main money-maker; founder claim, no numbers
- Stronger: Post 2-3 slide TikTok carousels of real, unpolished app screensHistorically their best-converting channel; weaker in the past year as 20 rivals copied
- Stronger: Post a rough founder video of a fun app feature before launch~15K followers in week one; then hit #3 in Health & Fitness at launch
- Stronger: Reply to comments with videos showing their lift as random objects in the appA series of viral videos; likely most of the account's 4.9M likes
- Stronger: Make everyone start a free trial first; free version only after they cancel~25% boost, their biggest ever; few complaints, but less sharing
- Stronger: Test when and how often the paywall shows before testing its wordingFounder says they now monetize per user among the best workout trackers; no numbers
- Stronger: Turn workout numbers into a strength rank users can show off12 months with no copycat; became the main marketing asset
- Stronger: Adapt viral video formats from other app niches, then test hooks by watch timeHow they find each new format; no numbers given
- Stronger: Keep content in-house; hire agencies only to scale a proven formatTwo founders make almost all content; few affiliates
- Stronger: Fund the app with government grants instead of investorsStayed bootstrapped; no amounts given
- Copy a rival's strength score and add game-style ranks for each musclePerformed 'brilliantly' per the guest; Stronger later added ranks too
- Runna: Give each running influencer their own workout plan in the appGuest says it built a strong brand and rocketed up the charts; no numbers
- Build the new app as a tile-based game that AI tools can't copy yet