BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Mar 6, 2014) - Fiksu, Inc. (www.fiksu.com), developer of award-winning app marketing technologies, today unveiled two new indexes designed to help app marketers analyze and benchmark mobile app advertising strategies, with an eye on engagement. Fiksu's January analysis revealed iOS and Android app marketing costs converging at just $0.16 per app launch, after 10 months of a considerable price gap between the two, with Android as the bargain opportunity.
Of the two new Indexes, the new Fiksu Cost per Install (CPI) Index focuses on download costs, measuring the cost per app install directly attributed to advertising. The new Fiksu Cost per App Launch Index focuses on engagement and ongoing value, tracking the cost of each repeat app launch over time. Both Indexes are further analyzed by platform and categorized by games and general apps. A full analysis of these indexes for 2013 can be viewed here: http://www.fiksu.com/assets/new-fiksu-indexes-reveal-app-marketing-trends.pdf.
In January, the new Fiksu Cost per App Launch Index was just $0.16 on both Android and iOS. This is the first time app engagement costs on both platforms have converged since February 2013, followed by months of fluctuation with iOS costs consistently higher than Android. January's rare convergence is likely a post-holiday "correction" following the big brand budgets spent around the holidays, especially on Android.
Fiksu's January CPI Index for Android dropped 29 percent to $1.27 from its December spike of $1.80. By comparison, the CPI Index for iOS for January increased 13 percent to $1.01 from December's $0.88, following several months of stability. This is reflective of a more mature app market in iOS over Android and also reveals the impact of traffic sources. On iOS, incentivized networks generally provide a low-cost, high-value marketing tool to quickly drive additional installs and boost App Store visibility during a busy holiday season. On Android, however, install volumes have less immediate value and dramatic impact on visibility in the Google Play app store. Hence, Android marketers focused their spending over the holidays on relatively more expensive sources of installs and then re-adjusted back to more cost-effective incentivized networks in January.
"Today's savvy app marketer is looking to achieve two things: 1) cost-efficiently acquire new users and, 2) drive engagement and repeat app usage," says Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu. "By benchmarking the cost of both installs and app launches, our new Fiksu Indexes provide two distinct points of analysis, helping app marketers fine-tune their strategies and spending. Furthermore, with our granular side-by-side analysis of iOS versus Android and games versus general apps, we're helping them drill down a level to understand the distinct nuances of marketing on different platforms and to different user bases."
Fiksu's existing Indexes continue: in January, the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index increased three percent to $1.80 -- a 15 percent increase year-over-year. Fiksu's App Store Competitive Index held steady at 6.4 million downloads per day -- a six percent increase year-over-year.
For Fiksu's full analysis, visit http://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes#analysis.
To date, Fiksu has accumulated more than 218 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 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.