November App Download Volumes Smash Previous Records, Finds Fiksu

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 30, 2014) - App download volumes soared to new heights in November, according to the new indexes published today by Fiksu, Inc. (www.fiksu.com), developer of award-winning mobile marketing technologies. The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index, which tracks the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free iOS apps, surged to 8.1 million downloads in November, propelled by new iPhone ownership and increased app activity over the Thanksgiving break. Compared to November 2013, app download volumes have grown by a notable 42 percent year-over-year.

The Fiksu Cost Per Loyal User Index (CPLU) declined 27 percent to $1.58 in November, a 12 percent decrease year-over-year. This decrease in costs was driven by two main factors. First, the surge of new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices meant higher organic download volumes as users eagerly loaded up their new phones with apps, particularly during the holiday downtime. Second, as reports have indicated, app engagement has increased in 2014. This includes time in-app, which increased by 21 percent, and frequency of opening apps, which increased to 11.5 times per month, up from 9.4 times a year ago.

Costs fell on Android as well. The Android Cost per Launch (CPL) Index, which tracks the costs of driving engagement from mobile users, decreased 16 percent month-over-month and 41 percent year-over-year. Cost per Install (CPI) also fell, down two percent since October and 17 percent since last year. These trends of falling costs are expected continue and offer an attractive opportunity for marketers to reach a diverse range of Android users in 2015.

On iOS, the CPL Index decreased to $0.21, down 20 percent since October and up two percent year-over-year, while CPI decreased 25 percent to $1.10 in November, up one percent year-over-year. These costs have not significantly changed since last month, but competition is expected to intensify in December and January. Underscoring this trend are analyst reports indicating Apple iPhone device shipments in Q4 2014 are expected to reach a whopping 71.5 million. Marketers should be strategizing and preparing to get their apps more aggressively in front of users over the next few months.

"Breaking the 8M app download threshold marks a staggering new milestone for mobile marketers and sets the tone for a new year filled with both promise and challenges," said Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu. "As we've seen in past years, the effect will surely last into January with volumes and acquisition costs continuing to rise. While January isn't a bargain time for marketers, it is an important time to plan for acquiring new users and adopting strategies for retaining them."

The Fiksu Indexes measure monthly fluctuations in competition for rank in the Apple App Store and the cost to acquire loyal users, helping mobile app marketers benchmark their performance against industry trends, remove complexity and guesswork and plan with more agility. In the interest of more accurately representing how the incentivized traffic impacts the Cost per Install and Cost per Launch metrics, Fiksu has updated the formulas used to calculate those indexes. As a result some previous months' data has been adjusted to reflect that new formula.

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

About Fiksu
Fiksu is the leading provider of mobile marketing products. A data-driven mobile ad tech company, the power of Fiksu is fueled by information assets from over 3.5 billion app installs and 5.4 trillion marketing events tracked across 1.7 billion devices. 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.