


The client is a small team behind an AI video app that turns photos and short text prompts into ready-to-share clips, using templates for holidays, greetings and social posts. The app launched on iOS first, held a 4.6-star rating, and averaged roughly 180 organic downloads a day.
The team had tried keyword installs once before on a small scale. Rankings rose while the orders ran and slipped soon after they stopped, so it was unsure whether another attempt was worth the budget. With Black Friday and the holiday gifting season four weeks away, it wanted its positions in place before the sale days, and it wanted a plan that would hold through them.
United States
iOS (App Store)
ASO Service, iOS Premium Keyword Installs
The AI video category is busy. New apps launch every week, a few well-known names own the broadest terms, and template trends change fast. At the same time, the wider AI app story had cooled from its peak, which left the client asking whether this was a good moment to invest at all.
The team faced three specific challenges:
The objective was clear: reach the Top 10 on its core terms in the US before Black Friday, and keep those positions through the sale days.
The client made the calls on market, keywords and budget. Because it had little experience running orders over several weeks, ASOWorld’s consultants supplied market data, keyword suggestions and a pacing plan, and checked in each week. The client placed its own iOS Premium orders on the self-service platform, and FoxData data sat behind each decision.
The client first considered the US, the UK and Canada. ASOWorld pulled keyword difficulty data from FoxData, along with a competitor keyword analysis, for the same set of scenario terms in each market.
In the US, mid-volume scenario terms such as photo-to-video and holiday video creation were less crowded at the top than the team had expected, while the strongest apps were concentrated on a few broad terms. The consultants’ read was that the US offered a window where a modest, well-paced push could reach the Top 10, and they noted that such windows narrow once sale-season competition arrives. The client chose the US as its single main market.
ASOWorld suggested about 80 candidate keywords from its standard keyword research process, grouped by what the user wants to create: photo to video, text to video, holiday and gift greetings, and short social clips. The client trimmed the list to 50, removing terms for features the app did not offer, such as lip-sync and product ads. The consultants’ advice was to leave the very broadest terms for later and focus where the app’s templates matched the search.
In week 1 the client rewrote its title, subtitle, keyword field and screenshot captions around those groups. ASOWorld reviewed the draft and suggested holiday and gifting wording that US users search. The consultants also advised waiting until the new metadata had indexed and early rank movement was visible before starting orders, so installs from priority terms would land on a page that matched their search. Orders began in week 2.
The client chose iOS Premium Keyword Installs for its priority terms. In ASOWorld’s experience, iOS keyword rankings tend to hold steadier than Google Play, which suited a client worried about gains fading. The two stores also call for different keyword strategies, so the plan was built for iOS alone.
ASOWorld proposed a starting plan, and the client placed every order itself:
As rankings moved, the client adjusted the Premium share of its orders, raising it on terms that sat just outside the Top 10 and lowering it once a term was stable.
The lesson from the earlier attempt was not to stop at the peak. ASOWorld recommended keeping a lower maintenance level once a term reached the Top 10, and avoiding any sudden jump in volume during the final days, which can look unnatural. The client followed that pacing and extended its orders through the Black Friday and Cyber Monday rush, checking rankings every day.
Stability mattered as much as the peak. Over the last 10 days, the target terms held their Top 10 positions on about 90% of daily checks, compared with the client’s earlier attempt, when positions slipped within days of the orders stopping. The app went into Black Friday week with its rankings already in place.
Planning for the next peak in your own category? ASOWorld’s team can help you size up your keyword library and ordering pace before the sale window opens.
Want more Black Friday app growth guides in one place? Visit the Black Friday 2026 ASO Hub.