Data & Research

UDID confusion has caused App Store marketing inertia says Fiksu

But app download numbers on the rise

UDID confusion has caused App Store marketing inertia says Fiksu
Citing what it brands as 'App Store inertia' partically caused by a seasonal summertime slump, mobile marketing app firm Fiksu claims daily downloads on Apple's platform still hit a 2012 high in May.

The firm's App Store Competitive Index – which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free iPhone apps in the US – jumped by 7.3 percent across the course of the month to hit 4.54 million.

Downloads on the up

That's compared to the 4.23 million daily downloads the App Store saw back in April, and up significantly on the 3.78 million amassed back in May 2011.



Nonetheless, Fiksu notes that a combination of the summer months and confusion surrounding possible replacements to Apple's UDID tracking system has resulted in a drop off in regards to marketing spend.

As a result, Fiksu claims it cost marketers an average of $1.26 to attract a loyal user (defined as someone who opens up an app three or more times) across the course of May, down from $1.46 a month previously.

Marketers may not

"In May, marketers began gearing up for the summer months which, historically, have presented increased opportunity for app promotion," said Fiksu CEO Micah Adler.

"Yet amid concern around Apple's speculated deprecation of UDID, compounded by a host of confusing alternative UDID-less tracking technologies, we observed inertia.

"It appears that brands' caution may have contributed to the dip in acquisition costs."



Fiksu's Cost Per Loyal User Index has monitored a scaling back in some areas of App Store marketing spend for some months now, previously put down to the crackdown on the use of bot farms.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.