Meta just dropped numbers that show how the AI video race is shaping up. The company's AI app downloads surged 56% since launching Vibes in late September, but OpenAI's Sora is still pulling ahead despite being invitation-only. This comes just ahead of Meta's Q3 earnings Wednesday, where investors are looking for signs the company's massive AI investments are paying off.
Meta just handed investors a preview of its AI strategy ahead of Wednesday's earnings call, and the numbers tell a story of rapid growth shadowed by fierce competition. The company's AI app downloads shot up 56% month-over-month since launching its Vibes video feed on September 25, hitting 3.9 million total downloads by October 18.
"That's what I'd call standout growth," Randy Nelson, Head of Insights at mobile research firm Appfigures, told CNBC. But here's the reality check - OpenAI's Sora is still winning the download war despite being iOS-only and invitation-only since launching September 30.
Sora grabbed 2.6 million iOS downloads compared to Meta's 1.1 million on the same platform during the same period. That's not surprising to the dozen creators and marketers who spoke with CNBC - they consistently find Sora easier to use and more capable of producing realistic videos with talking people, while Vibes limits users to preset songs as audio.
Behind Meta's growth push is a creator payment strategy that's raising eyebrows. The company is actively paying influencers to produce AI-generated videos for Vibes, specifically targeting creators who specialize in Midjourney tools. These deals come with NDAs, according to people familiar with the matter who weren't authorized to speak publicly.
The Vibes feed itself reads like a fever dream - four lions sharing pizza in the jungle, hedgehogs doing karaoke. It's surreal content that's fundamentally different from Sora's more polished, realistic output. While Sora runs on OpenAI's proprietary models, Meta's Vibes relies on third-party providers like Midjourney and Black Forest Labs, a strategic choice that underscores the company's willingness to seek outside help after its underwhelming Llama 4 launch in April.
That launch failure triggered CEO Mark Zuckerberg to spend billions reshaking Meta's AI organization and installing new leaders like chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, formerly of Scale AI. The overhaul continued last week with 600 AI division layoffs, though Wang's core TBD Labs group - which oversees flagship efforts like Llama - was spared.
Creators are responding differently to each platform. Gaurav Bisen, an Indian creator posting 10-15 times daily on Vibes, grew his following to 25,000 and discovered that short, animated dance clips perform best. "Creating content on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube takes a lot of time, energy and investment," he explained. "But here, it's so easy. You just type a prompt."
But engagement tells a different story. Most Vibes creators average fewer than 10 likes and almost no comments, far below Instagram or TikTok standards. Instead, success gets measured through "remixes" - a feature letting users edit existing AI videos and repost them. "Remixes kind of seem like the currency on the app," said Dylan McIntyre, who runs JunkBoxAI on Instagram with 1.3 million followers but just 22,000 on Vibes.
Meta's geographic strategy also reveals the competitive landscape. Many paid Vibes influencers operate from India, where Sora isn't available and TikTok is banned. Company executives previously noted that Meta AI usage peaks in India, primarily through WhatsApp integration.
This AI video battle comes as Meta prepares for Wednesday's Q3 earnings, where analysts expect 22% revenue growth to $49.4 billion quarterly and 19% full-year growth to $196.2 billion. Investors will scrutinize how Meta's massive AI investments translate to user engagement and revenue, especially as the company shifts resources from its struggling metaverse initiatives to AI products.
The strategic pivot became clearer Monday when Meta confirmed that Vishal Shah, who spent four years leading metaverse initiatives, now helps run AI products under the Superintelligence Labs division led by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
Meta's Vibes launch signals the company's aggressive push into AI-generated content, but the download data reveals OpenAI maintains the early lead in consumer AI video tools. As Meta heads into earnings Wednesday, investors will judge whether this creator-focused strategy can justify the billions spent reshaping its AI division. The real test isn't just download numbers - it's whether these AI video tools can drive the engagement and revenue growth Wall Street expects from Meta's massive AI bet.
