Navigating the waters of a holiday UA campaign is a process as complicated as it is expensive.

With US CPIs increasing by about a third (up 64 cents) during the peak of the holiday ramp-up, a new launch over Christmastime faces an added cost of roughly $46,000 per day just to score a place on the App Store's top-ten free chart.

Clearly, there's a lot at stake in this gamble on a crowded market - but the rewards can be well worth the expense.

New players with new devices are usually in a spend-y mood around the holidays, and the opportunity for returns on an intelligent UA campaign can make for a merry Christmas, indeed.

Bah, humbug

Of course, we're well aware that the 2014 holiday season is still - thankfully - 11 months away, but we figure some of you are already planning and budgeting for a winter warm-up.

If you're one of these long-term planners, we'd like to point you to our 2013 App Promotion Report.

The data in the report examines the ever-changing area of app promotion and gives some best practices for how you can get the best bang - and most users - for your buck.

It also gives a few tips on how to skirt around the Christmas rush, such as looking for comparable holiday spending patterns in other global markets.

Click here to learn more about our 2013 App Promotion Report.