July CPIs Show Strong Summer Growth

It?s time to take a look at CPIs on the Chartboost Network for July 2014. Looking at the overall picture, CPIs rose for most major devices and markets. As you may already know, summer tends to be a season when players are spending more time (and money) on their mobile games, and competition among bids increases. It looks like this summer is no exception, as we saw clear growth across all three platforms.

iOS CPI

• iPad: ???12.13% growth
• iPhone: 8.10% growth
• iPod: ???-5.84% growth

Looking at iOS devices, the iPad, which already boasts the highest CPI in the Network, showed a good amount of growth at 12%. Only the iPod saw a decrease in average CPIs, reflecting a downward trend for iPod as a business for Apple [ref], and potentially lower LTVs for the lower-value devices. The chart below shows CPI changes, per country, from June to July. One notable area of interest was the strong growth found in Russia for the iPad and the iPhone, which as we looked further into the data, the double digit growth was driven by the rise of publishing games within the Action category.

Google Play CPI

• Google Play: 13.31% growth

CPIs on Google Play devices rose significantly in several large countries. Ireland in particular rose by a whopping 37%, to $1.12, mostly due to a rise in user engagement in the Adventure category. Other notable countries include Finland (+23% to $1.11,) due to a rise in players in the Action category, and Japan (+23% to $1.29) with a rise in players in the Sports category.

Amazon CPI

• Amazon: 3.63% growth

CPIs on Amazon grew modestly by about 4%. Russia showed strong growth with an amazing jump of 84% to a $1.23 CPI. We should keep our expectations in check, however, as the volume for Amazon tends to be lower than iOS and Google Play. The Amazon Fire Phone came out at the end of July, and we?ll be keeping an eye on how the Chartboost Network reacts as more people start to buy the new phone. To date, the new device represents a minor share of volume.

In summary, the overall takeaway for CPIs in July was growth, but if last year?s pattern holds true, we may see CPIs decrease in August as students go back to school and mobile device usage drops.You may have noticed that this month?s blog post has something new - category information! With the release of Category Targeting on our Network (iOS and Google Play only) we?ve seen many instances where advertisers see greater improvement in their average performance. If you haven?t already, we recommend that you give Category Targeting a try and see if you get better results.Chartboost CPI InsightsCheck out the other CPIs for countries you?re targeting to see how competitive your bids are on our Insights Page.The shared CPI figures are averages from our Network and should be used for guidance only.