2015 may well be a turning point for the mobile games market. This is hinted at by a recently published DAU-UP study, according to which the ROI of Android games in 2014 became comparable to the same within the iOS ecosystem.
How did this become possible?
Everything is simple. On Android, ARPU (average revenue per player user) has grown significantly, but advertising prices have changed less radically.
According to Israeli analysts, the ARPU of Android games in the first quarter of 2014 was 25% of that of iOS games. Now the difference is much smaller. The ARPU of Android games accounts for 65% of the ARPU of iOS projects.
At the same time, advertising costs (aka media costs) are 20-50% less on Android.
So it turns out that the ROI on both the App Store and Google Play when the same game is released may not differ so much today. Although, of course, this is “in theory”.
The growth of ARPU in DAU-UP is explained:
- improving the quality of Android devices;
- increasing the stability, as well as the quality and UI of the Android system;
- migration of early adopters (people who purchase a new product shortly after it appears on the market) to Android;
- continued distribution of Android devices among middle adopters, the main paying gaming audience;
- significant Android growth in Asia and Latin American markets;
- the appearance of an increasing number of projects that appear, primarily on Android, and not on iOS.
A source: http://www.prnewswire.comDAU-UP is a marketing company offering a full range of promotion services.