Fiksu Indexes: App Downloads and Marketing Costs Rise in May as Marketers Face App Inflation

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jun 27, 2014) - App inflation is the new normal for brands and app marketers, a trend illustrated by the latest Indexes released today by Fiksu, Inc. (www.fiksu.com), developer of award-winning app marketing technologies. The App Store Competitive Index for May, which measures the aggregate daily download volume among the top 200 ranked apps, grew by 24 percent to 6.6 million, compared to April's 5.34 million. Meanwhile Fiksu's Cost per Loyal User Index rose 17 percent to $1.78 in May and 34 percent year-over-year.

With the increase in volume this month, app marketers will need to find more creative ways to find and acquire loyal users. Granular targeting options and optimized app marketing efforts continue to improve, helping advertisers break through the noise.

"While there have been ebbs and flows, it's very clear that the cost of app marketing and the competition for downloads is on a constant upward trajectory: what we're calling app inflation," said Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu. "The increased quality and growing popularity of apps continues to fuel ever-increasing demand, meaning marketers must continually hone their new strategies and spending in the quest to cost-efficiently acquire loyal and engaged users."

Other key results from the Fiksu Indexes this month show a decline in the Cost per Launch (CPL), with Android CPL falling 20 percent to $0.10, and iOS CPL decreasing five percent, to $0.20. This is likely due to an increase in "super users" or those who launch an app dozens of times in a day (see eMarketer report: The Rising Tide of Mobile App Engagement); this increases total launches, without additional user acquisition spending, keeping overall CPL down. This engagement pattern also creates more of a challenge for marketers looking to gain mindshare with users and convert them to loyal fans -- which also likely fueled the rise in the Cost Per Loyal User. The Cost Per Install (CPI) Index remained steady, at $1.31 for Android and a three percent increase for iOS to $1.28.

For Fiksu's full analysis, visit http://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes#analysis.

To date, Fiksu has accumulated more than 282 billion app actions including launches, registrations and in-app purchases, as well as massive amounts of data from real-time bidding requests and mobile advertising networks. Additionally, Fiksu has also driven more than 2.7 billion app downloads for its customers.

About Fiksu
Fiksu is the leading provider of mobile app marketing products that help app and game marketers reach their user acquisition goals. The company's patent-pending Programmatic Mobile Demand Platform applies intelligent technology to proprietary big data to master ALL the challenges of mobile advertising -- including tracking, optimization, media buying and integration. This cohesive approach spans the entire mobile ecosystem and ultimately delivers the best marketing performance. Additionally, Fiksu offers FreeMyApps®, the world's largest app discovery platform where users are rewarded. Based in Boston, Mass., Fiksu is venture-backed by Qualcomm Ventures and Charles River Ventures. More at www.fiksu.com, @Fiksu, and on the Fiksu blog.