Report updated Jun 3, 2026
The Economic Times
For investors, business professionals, and individuals tracking Indian financial markets and economic policy.
The Economic Times is an established news app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.4/5 rating from 1.4K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate reliable and comprehensive financial reporting provides high value for global business news readers, though aggressive email and notification spam persists despite multiple user attempts to unsubscribe remains a common concern.
What is The Economic Times?
The Economic Times is a business news app for Indian investors and professionals, offering live market data and financial analysis.
Users hire the app to track domestic financial indices like Sensex and Nifty, relying on its investigative depth to make informed investment decisions.
Current Momentum
v4.4
- Ships stability improvements in latest update.
- Maintains high-frequency market data updates.
What makes this app unique?
Loading...
What Are The Key Features?
Real-time tracking of Sensex, Nifty, and stock quotes.
Access to investigative journalism and curated investment ideas.
Syncs stories for access without an active data signal.
How much does it cost?
- Free ad-supported news
- ETPrime subscription
Freemium model uses ETPrime as a pay-gate to monetize high-value financial content while maintaining broad reach via ad-supported news.
Who Built It?
Times Internet
Providing real-time financial, business, and regional news to professionals and investors. Delivering localized content across multiple languages.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Times Internet make?
Times Prime:Premium Membership
Live Quiz Games App, Trivia &
The Times of India - News App
Advanced Data Usage Tracker - smartapp
Astrology, Horoscope & Numerology by Astrospeak
ET Markets
Explore the full Times Internet report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Times Internet.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 49 reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate reliable and comprehensive financial reporting provides high value for global business news readers, but report aggressive email and notification spam persists despite multiple user attempts to unsubscribe.
Limited review volume (49 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.
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 The Economic Times?
How's The News Market?
**Pricing Strategy**: Freemium model using ETPrime as a pay-gate for exclusive content while maintaining broad reach via ad-supported news. **Target Audience**: Investors, business professionals, and individuals tracking Indian financial markets and economic policy.
How does it evolve in the News market?
The Economic Times maintains a strong domestic presence in the Indian finance category, though its #2 grossing rank in India is pressured by global competitors. The gap between its free-tier reach and premium-tier monetization indicates a need to resolve ad-friction for subscribers.
Rank progression
73 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Dominates the business news niche with massive scale and a high-frequency release cadence that keeps the app ahead of competitors.
Differentiators
- Integrates real-time stock market data directly into the news feed for immediate financial context.
- Offers deep-dive video segments and live market coverage that creates a high-retention media ecosystem.
- Maintains a consistent release schedule that ensures high stability and rapid feature iteration for users.
Head to head
The target app must pivot toward integrating live financial data or interactive market tools to prevent users from migrating to CNBC for their daily business intelligence.
Contenders(3)
Strong alternative for users seeking analytical depth and high-quality audio content alongside written business news.
Differentiators
- Features a robust library of podcasts that allows users to consume news during their daily commute.
- Employs a unique editorial voice that differentiates its content from standard wire-service business reporting.
Offers a premium, subscription-focused experience that competes directly for the attention of serious business readers.
Differentiators
- Prioritizes long-form, in-depth investigative journalism over the rapid-fire news cycle of general news apps.
- Utilizes a strict paywall model that reinforces the perceived value of their exclusive business insights.
A direct competitor in the professional business news space with a strong focus on high-quality, data-driven journalism.
Differentiators
- Provides exclusive access to professional-grade financial analysis and proprietary market data sets.
- Features a sophisticated, minimalist UI designed for high-net-worth individuals and professional investors.
Same space(3)
A reliable source for global news that competes for the user's time in the broader news category.
Differentiators
- Provides unbiased, wire-service reporting that serves as a neutral foundation for global news consumption.
- Offers a clean, ad-light reading experience that prioritizes speed and clarity over multimedia features.
Dow Jones & Company, Inc., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Focuses on the intersection of market data and financial news, serving a similar audience to the target app.
Differentiators
- Integrates real-time market tickers and data visualization tools directly into the news reading experience.
- Leverages the editorial authority of the Dow Jones brand to provide credible financial market commentary.
A major player in the finance category that combines news with essential portfolio tracking tools.
Differentiators
- Allows users to track personal stock portfolios alongside relevant news, creating a sticky daily habit.
- Provides free, accessible market data that serves as a low-barrier entry point for casual investors.
New entrants(1)
Aggressive release cadence and a focus on hyper-local news make it a disruptive force in the news aggregation space.
Differentiators
- Uses AI-driven personalization to deliver hyper-local news alerts that general business apps often overlook.
- Maintains an extremely high update frequency to rapidly adapt to user feedback and changing news trends.
Compare The Economic Times 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 The Economic Times
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Localized Sensex/Nifty coverage creates a domestic moat
- ETPrime investigative content drives high-intent subscription conversion
Critical Frictions
- Aggressive notification spam drives user churn
- Premium-tier ad friction frustrates paying subscribers
Growth Levers
- Segmented content discovery for beginners and students
- Wearable integration for real-time market alerts
Market Threats
- CNBC's global data integration siphons professional users
- NewsBreak's AI-driven local alerts disrupt news aggregation
What are the next best moves?
Audit notification opt-out logic because spam is the top complaint → reduce churn.
Notification spam is the #1 complaint theme in user sentiment data.
Trade-off: Pause the UI navigation redesign sprint to prioritize retention-critical notification fixes.
Remove ad-prompts for premium subscribers because ad-friction is a top churn driver → increase LTV.
Paying subscribers report frustration with persistent ad popups in sentiment analysis.
Trade-off: Deprioritize new ad-inventory placements to ensure premium subscriber satisfaction.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's aggressive notification strategy is not a failure of design, but a desperate attempt to maintain session frequency against the superior data-integration moats of global rivals like CNBC.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time stock market data integration (available in CNBC but missing here)
- Professional-grade portfolio tracking (available in Yahoo Finance but missing here)
Key Takeaways
- Prioritize the removal of ad-prompts for premium subscribers to stabilize the high-value user base.
- Audit the notification and email opt-out logic to reduce churn driven by marketing fatigue.
- Integrate interactive market tools to compete with CNBC's data-rich interface.
The Economic Times holds a strong domestic lead through localized financial reporting, but persistent notification spam and premium-tier ad friction threaten its retention, so the PM must prioritize fixing subscription-status logic to prevent churn to global competitors.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The market for business news is consolidating around platforms that bridge the gap between news and actionable trading data. The Economic Times remains advantaged in domestic Indian markets, but its failure to resolve basic subscription friction leaves it vulnerable to global rivals who offer a more polished, ad-free experience.
Persistent notification spam and premium-tier ad friction erode user trust, which compounds the churn pressure from global financial news competitors.
Reliable financial reporting remains a strong retention anchor, providing a stable foundation for potential monetization improvements in the coming quarters.