OpenAI’s new video-generation app Sora launched with a rare bit of momentum, reaching nearly the same number of users as ChatGPT did in its famous opening week on iOS. According to Appfigures, Sora racked up some 627,000 installs across its launch markets in its first seven days versus approximately 606,000 for ChatGPT over a similar duration. Since ChatGPT was first released in the U.S. (whereas Sora debuted in both the U.S. and Canada), when you subtract Canada’s 45,000 or so installs of Sora, we’re left with about 96% of ChatGPT’s week-one total number up against a U.S.-only comparison.
That near-parity is all the more striking when you consider Sora’s invite-only model. ChatGPT was usable for nearly everyone on Day 1; Sora has access constraints, compute is heavier, and the core product—generative video—demands more user patience than a short text prompt in order to fine-tune. But Sora still reached the top of the App Store, indicating huge curiosity about AI-native video tools.
Invite-Only Momentum on the App Store for Sora
Sora shot into the top charts of the U.S. App Store almost overnight and snatched up the No. 1 overall position. Appfigures’ time-series estimates indicate the spike was not a flash in the pan: daily downloads climbed to their highest point of about 108,000 in week one, and have hovered between 84,000 and 99,000 installs each day since. For an app that’s not broadly open to new users, that’s uncommonly solid traction.
The launch also fared better compared to other major AI debuts. Sora’s opening week beat out the first-week performance for Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot on iOS, and was in conversation with xAI’s Grok. The throughline: consumers reward AI apps for creating instantly shareable outputs, and video is the most viral format of all.
How the Comparison Works Between Sora and ChatGPT
Comparing Sora’s first week to ChatGPT’s isn’t quite apples-to-apples informative. Geography played a bit into Sora’s favor at launch, as it included Canada alongside the U.S. footprint. “The product posture favored ChatGPT because it could become ubiquitous from day one, whereas Sora’s invite gate throttles adoption by necessity,” he wrote. Platform makes a difference too: that’s on iOS alone, so no web or Android data applies here and could significantly change the picture for AI utilities.
But with those caveats in mind, two signals are conspicuous. First, there’s a tremendous amount of top-of-funnel demand for high-quality AI video; concurrent near-ChatGPT scale without full API access is not common. Second, App Store chart velocity is still relevant in the era of AI. Ranking high drives organic discovery, which strengthens installs and forms a self-reinforcing cycle of visibility (particularly when users flood social feeds with what the model can do).
Why Video Is Fueling Their Mania and Driving Virality
Sora’s ascent is a reflection of the broader evolution from text-first AI to creation tools that produce visually arresting creations. And the newest Sora model can create cinematic movement, consistent subjects, and believable physics at a quality that you can get away with instantly sharing. That “show, don’t tell” dynamic supercharges virality in a way text chats can only rarely do.
There is a downside: realism makes safety stakes higher. Public figures have been sounding the alarm about unwanted deepfakes, like calls from Robin Williams’s family to cease circulating AI-made doppelgängers. The issue highlights how quickly consumer demand, creator tooling, and ethical guardrails are coming into contact. Anticipate more scrutiny from rightsholders, industry guilds, and lawmakers … while ongoing investment in provenance tools, watermarking, and detection.
What the Early Traction Signals About Sora’s Adoption
The first week is to tell us that the demand is there; the next phase will show us how deeply people actually engage. For Sora, sustainability will depend on how quickly its reach grows, how judiciously it manages its compute costs, and if the app can turn curiosity into repeat creation and paid usage.
Metrics to watch include:
- Average sessions per user
- Completion rate of projects
- Ratio of shared videos (a version of social lift based on the denominator of total generations)
For the broader AI app market, Sora’s near-ChatGPT launch shows how breakthrough UX and spectacle can catch a category-defining chatbot.
It also suggests a playbook: sow with invite-only exclusivity, hype on social proof from beautiful cases, climb the charts, and spread access and monetization after infrastructure solidifies.
Here’s the headline takeaway: Sora’s first-week momentum was not good for a video model; it was almost ChatGPT-good. In a crowded world of AI apps, that’s the kind of start you don’t see very often — and one that sets an ambitious bar for everything else in generative media.
