[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] OpenAI's AI video-generation app Sora drew explosive popularity right after its launch last October, but has recently been in a steep decline, TechCrunch reported on Jan. 29 (local time).

Sora logged 100,000 downloads on its first day, an unusual success for an invitation-based iPhone app, and rose to No. 1 on the U.S. App Store. But downloads fell 32% from December and dropped another 45% in January 2026, to 1.2 million. Consumer spending also fell 32% over the same period.

Sora now ranks No. 101 overall on the U.S. App Store and No. 7 in the Photo and Video category, and has slipped to No. 181 overall on Google Play.

Sora lets users generate videos by entering AI prompts. It offers a feature that includes users and their friends, drawing attention as an "AI version of TikTok." But user interest faded over time, and its share plunged as competition intensified between Google Gemini and Meta AI.

Copyright issues also contributed to the decline. OpenAI initially ran Sora on an opt-out basis that allowed Hollywood characters to be used, but switched to opt-in after pushback from studios, limiting the use of popular characters. It recently struck a deal with Disney to allow the use of "Disney characters," but that was not enough to restore consumer interest, TechCrunch reported.