A new report from mobile marketing company Fiksu has revealed that the App Store has broken its download volume records for the third month in a row.

On top of this, the data also showed that the cost of acquiring loyal users has risen by 20 percent compared to year ago.

It would seem that while demand for free iOS apps is increasing, brand marketers are cranking up the costs of acquiring those individuals through the holiday season.

According to the report, the top 200 free iOS aps averaged daily download volumes of 9.2 million in December 2014 – a big increase from November’s 8.1 million and October’s 7.8 million.

This was also a 44 percent boost compared to the same period in 2013.

Spiralling costs

It’s good news for app developers and marketers. But it comes bundled with the fact that the Fiksu CPLU (cost per loyal user index – which measures the cost of acquiring a user who opens an app at least three times) increased 33 percent month-on-month to $2.10 in December.

According to Fiksu CEO Micah Adler, this pace of growth is “an indicator of what we call the ‘new reality of apps.’”

In a statement he said “Consumer demand across iOS and Android is rising, which draws significant attention from major brands who are putting cost pressure on the games and other mobile-first apps."

“We expect these factors will not only elevate costs for marketers, but also drive an evolution of marketing strategies. In 2015, just buying mobile ads won't be enough to drive usage - app marketers will need robust strategies based on customer data and precision targeting to find the right users for their apps."

And putting the trend into a longer history, we recently looked at how CPI costs had risen over the past two years.