The fourth quarter is a time of holidays and sales. These days, the number of payments inside iOS games can jump up to 85% in the United States.
According to AppsFlyer, sales reach similar peak values specifically on Halloween, Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas.
The number of non-organic downloads in the fourth quarter is also increasing compared to other quarters. However, it remains, on average, homogeneous throughout October-December.
The exception is Christmas, when advertising campaigns reach their maximum. On this day, there is an increase in non-organic downloads in the App Store by 106% compared to the average of the previous two weeks. Conversion from non—organic to Christmas is also increasing – by 46%.
The peaks of organic downloads correspond to holidays and sales days.
Curiously, AppsFlyer does not record organic growth on Halloween, but it records them on Columbus Day (Columbus Landing Day on San Salvador is celebrated on the second Monday of October, is a weekend in many US states).
The overall growth of purchasing activity (in relation to games) on iOS in the fourth quarter may increase by more than 140% (this is how much it jumps in early October relative to September). But by the beginning of January, activity drops to the previous (or similar) values.
On Google Play, purchasing activity in the fourth quarter is also noticeably growing (growth in early October relative to September — 110%). The difference is that, having peaked in early October, it remains relatively stable throughout the entire period.
Inorganic downloads in October-December in the Android store are more uniform than on iOS. The growth of such downloads at Christmas compared to the previous two weeks is 28%, but the conversion from non-organic downloads of games in the fourth quarter is falling compared to the third and by the beginning of the first quarter of next year is not recovering.
AppsFlyer used data collected for the fourth quarter of 2015 as the basis for the study.
A source: AppsFlyer