Report updated May 19, 2026
ABC News: Live Breaking News
For general news consumers seeking real-time updates, live video coverage, and curated analysis from a major network source.
ABC News: Live Breaking News is a struggling news app that is completely free. With a 4.2/5 rating from 39K reviews, it struggles with user retention. Users particularly appreciate the manual refresh button on the latest news feed provides a convenient way to update content, though frequent application crashes and navigation regressions disrupt the news reading experience following the latest update remains a common concern.
What is ABC News: Live Breaking News?
ABC News is a mobile news application providing 24/7 live-streaming, breaking news alerts, and curated video content for general news consumers on iOS and Android.
Users hire the app for immediate access to trusted network reporting, but the current UI clutter and stability issues force them to seek cleaner alternatives for daily news consumption.
Current Momentum
v2026.04 · today
Active- Shipped pull-to-refresh functionality on Android
- Redesigned home feed for content discovery
- Added dark mode support
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Continuous live video feed from ABC News Live accessible via the app home screen
Real-time text updates and headline tickers pinned to the home screen
Proprietary software tracking usage for market research and TV ratings
How much does it cost?
- Free access to all news content and live streams
The app operates as a free, ad-supported distribution channel for the publisher's news content, with no subscription gates identified.
Who Built It?
Disney
Extending global entertainment franchises into daily digital habits through streaming, live sports, and interactive park utilities.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Disney make?
Explore the full Disney report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Disney.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 62 of 111 total reviews analyzed · Based on 111 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a upset sentiment. Users appreciate the manual refresh button on the latest news feed provides a convenient way to update content, but report frequent application crashes and navigation regressions disrupt the news reading experience following the latest update and cluttered user interface design makes it difficult to distinguish between news and promotional content.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
How have ratings & review volume moved?
Rating, review sentiment, and total reviews over time, with release markers showing the post-launch impact.
Vertical markers = app releases. Hover any release for the post-release impact delta.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for ABC News: Live Breaking News?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The News Market?
How does it evolve in the News market?
ABC News holds a #6 Free rank in the Australian News & Magazines category, but its US-market performance (#49 Free) shows significant regional variance. The lack of subscription gates prioritizes reach over direct monetization, leaving the app vulnerable to competitors with cleaner, ad-free models.
Rank progression
56 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is ABC News: Live Breaking News in?
to stay informed on current global events
Explore the full Sports News Aggregators niche
Every app in this space — 148 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
As a global news powerhouse, Daily Mail competes directly with ABC News for the attention of mass-market readers seeking 24/7 breaking updates and high-volume content.
Contenders(4)
WKBN competes through deep local integration, specifically targeting users who require immediate, location-specific weather and community information.
KQED competes by providing a high-quality, public-media experience that mirrors the trusted, informative nature of the ABC News brand.
NTV Spor competes for the same news-consuming demographic by focusing on specialized sports data and real-time match tracking.
This app competes by offering hyper-local utility, such as weather and school closings, which captures the local audience segment ABC News serves.
Same space(3)
Semana competes in the broader news and magazine category, emphasizing investigative reporting and continuous updates.
This app shares the same news-delivery model, focusing on investigative journalism and local sports integration.
Cumhuriyet competes by offering a comprehensive news experience that includes financial tracking and historical archives.
Compare ABC News: Live Breaking News against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for ABC News: Live Breaking News
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Nielsen measurement integration monetizes user data via B2B TV ratings
- 24/7 live-streaming drives high session duration
- Established network brand sustains organic install velocity
Critical Frictions
- 0.23 rating gap between iOS and Android platforms
- Frequent post-update crashes disrupt reading flow
- Removal of widget functionality reduces daily utility
Growth Levers
- Granular notification filtering could reduce user churn
- Wearable integration could capture high-intent morning users
- B2B education partnerships could expand distribution
Market Threats
- NewsBreak’s hyper-local alert system drains the casual-entry funnel
- Google News’ AI-driven feed personalization reduces single-publisher app need
- CNN’s continuous live-streaming loop captures high-intent global event traffic
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild navigation logic because navigation resets are a top-cited complaint → stabilize daily active usage
Navigation resets and crashes are the #1 complaint theme in sentiment data.
Trade-off: Pause the home-feed redesign sprint — stability is a higher churn risk than UI polish.
Restore home screen widgets because widget removal is a primary churn driver → recover daily app-open frequency
Users explicitly cite the loss of widgets as a reason for decreased usage.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the podcast playback UI update — widget utility is more critical for retention.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on ad-supported video is not a weakness but a deliberate B2B play to feed Nielsen TV ratings, meaning the 'cluttered' UI is a revenue-maximizing feature, not a design failure.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Hyper-local neighborhood alerts (available in NewsBreak)
- AI-driven 'Full Coverage' perspective aggregation (available in Google News)
- Interactive data visualizations (available in Washington Post)
Key Takeaways
ABC News retains users through its broadcast authority, but the recent stability regressions and UI clutter threaten its daily habit, so the PM must prioritize navigation fixes and widget restoration to prevent further churn to cleaner, AI-driven news aggregators.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The news app market is consolidating around AI-driven personalization and hyper-local utility, leaving traditional broadcast apps like ABC News exposed. Without a rapid fix to stability and a return to user-centric features like widgets, the app will continue to lose ground to competitors that respect user time and device space.
Frequent post-update crashes and navigation regressions erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
The removal of home screen widgets has alienated long-term users, directly causing a decrease in daily app-open frequency.