Clubhouse Download Numbers Don't Bode Well For The Network

It seems that Clubhouse's time in the limelight is coming to a close. Although its name still has some weight in the social media space, its user base may have started to plateau. After raking in millions of downloads earlier this year, the Clubhouse app has reportedly been downloaded less than a million times last month, hinting that its growth spurt might finally be over, giving the social networking giants the chance to take over.

To be clear, the numbers are about downloads of the Clubhouse app that's currently available only on Android. According to Business Insider's report on Sensor Tower's data, that app has been downloaded only 922,000 times in April. While that's still a large number, it's actually a sharp dive compared to March's 2.7 million or February's whopping 9.6 million.

That doesn't reflect the actual user numbers of the social network. In fact, Sensor Tower says that retention is actually strong, meaning that those who were able to get into the invite-only network tend to stay. What it does mean, however, is that Clubhouse is no longer growing as astronomically as it did for months.

This isn't exactly surprising considering how limited Clubhouse's availability actually is. In fact, it's more surprising that it reached that amount of fame given the limitations on its membership and platform. It was only yesterday that it officially expanded to Android but only in an even more limited rough beta test.

Larger social networks like Facebook and Twitter will most likely take advantage of Clubhouse's situation to reclaim lost time and opportunity. Twitter just made its audio-only Spaces available for all, and even though it has a hard requirement on having at least 600 followers, it's still a more open platform at least for those who want to tune in on such broadcasts.