So, it looks like taking a swipe at OpenAI actually worked. Anthropic’s Super Bowl campaign mocking ads in ChatGPT has helped its Claude chatbot climb into the top 10 on the US App Store.
As of Saturday, Claude ranked at No. 10, indicating its “no ads” pitch struck a chord with users, according to figures from market intelligence firm Appfigures.
Claude’s US downloads across iOS and Android reached an estimated 148,000 between Sunday and Tuesday, TechCrunch reported, citing Appfigures. That marks a 32% rise compared with the previous Thursday to Saturday period, when downloads stood at around 112,000.
On a daily basis, Claude averaged 49,200 downloads from Sunday through Tuesday, also 32% higher than its usual Sunday to Tuesday average of 37,400 per day.
The spike suggests that Anthropic’s Super Bowl adverts, alongside the recent launch of its Opus 4.6 model, helped drive fresh interest in Claude and underline its key difference from ChatGPT. The timing was notable: ChatGPT began rolling out ads to free users this week, echoing Anthropic’s prophesy-like ad campaign.
According to Appfigures’ latest data, the US was Claude’s biggest market in January, followed by the UK and South Korea.
Claude’s consumer app, which was launched on iOS in May 2024, initially received a muted response. By then, ChatGPT had already established itself on mobile and recorded nearly half a million installs within its first five days. In contrast, Claude managed 157,000 global downloads in its first week and failed to climb higher than No. 55 on the US App Store charts.
There were gains beyond the US as well. Worldwide downloads across the App Store and Google Play rose 15% from Sunday to Tuesday compared with the preceding Thursday to Saturday period. However, that increase was less than half the growth rate seen in the US, TechCrunch noted.
Anthropic vs OpenAI
So, what really happened? During the Super Bowl, Anthropic aired two television commercials that poked fun at OpenAI over its move to introduce digital advertising to free and lower-cost versions of ChatGPT. While Anthropic has largely focused on generating revenue by selling Claude to businesses, OpenAI has opted to test advertisements as a way to monetise the hundreds of millions of consumers who use ChatGPT at no cost.
Although neither OpenAI nor ChatGPT was mentioned by name, the campaign was widely interpreted as a direct jab at OpenAI.
The ads used humour to highlight what they portray as the risks of manipulative chatbots. They depicted chatbots like people speaking in an overly enthusiastic and awkward manner, building rapport with users before attempting to sell them something. The commercials conclude with the line: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude."
Sam Altman hit back at his rival, calling it “clearly dishonest” even as he admitted the ads were “funny.”
"Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people," Altman wrote on X. He also boasted that more Texans "use ChatGPT for free" than all the people in the United States who use Claude.