How BeReal plans to recapture its 2022 viral moment

• BeReal, the buzziest app of 2022, is planning a comeback.
• Ben Moore, BeReal's managing director, told BI how the app plans to recapture its viral moment.
• This article is part of "CMO Insider," a series on marketing leadership and innovation.

BeReal is plotting a comeback.

In 2022, the app was the toast of the consumer tech world.

It won "App of the Year" at Apple's App Store awards. SNL even featured the app in a skit, making fun of its signature "Time to BeReal" notification, which prompts users to quickly snap a photo with their phone's front and back-facing cameras.

But it didn't take long for the hype to fade. Usage and downloads tapered off after its peak, and the app was sold to the French app and gaming company Voodoo Games for 500 million euros last summer.

One year later, BeReal is preparing its comeback.

Speaking to Business Insider at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France, BeReal managing director Ben Moore said the app is adding new features and ramping up marketing as it looks to get lapsed users to return and find new ones.

"We have people that are committed to building the next big thing with BeReal," Moore said. "We can make something that really answers the demands of Gen Z, who are sick and tired of the filters, of the lenses, of the social pressure of posting something that's not going to get them the level of views and likes they would want."

Time to ReLaunch

According to the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, BeReal has amassed more than 126 million downloads since its launch in 2020.

In the year-to-date, though, the app was downloaded about 4.5 million times globally, down 50% year-on-year and 7% versus the same period in 2023, "as heightened competition from legacy social media platforms and short-form video platforms has pressured adoption," said Abraham Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower.

Moore said the app currently has around 40 million active users, and that Japan, France, and the US are its biggest markets.

BeReal is hoping to reignite interest in the app by investing in advertising, largely on other apps owned by Voodoo Games, and also through tactics like using micro ambassadors at college campuses, or sponsoring parties that require guests to download the app to gain entry.

"We really want to bring back the social aspect of what social media was built for," Moore said.

BeReal is also adding new features like "nearby," which lets people discover other users local to them. Another feature analyzes the photos users take to recommend other people who post similar kinds of pictures, such as of their dogs, travels, or cooking.

Moore said BeReal, which introduced ads last year, also wants to prioritize ads on the app that look and feel more like users' own posts.

Gareth Jones, chief growth officer of the creative agency Ralph, said BeReal's success would hinge on living up to the promise of its name and playing into the idea of being an antidote to modern social media.

"We live in an age of asinine algorithms and addictive social garbage," Jones said. "If BeReal can bring an element of humanity back to the social media space, this will create more success than any amount of marketing."