On Friday, Fiksu reported that downloads from Apple’s App Store popped 11 percent in April, largely aided by Facebook mobile app install ads.
The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) climbed to 5.61 million daily downloads in April from March’s 5.02 million.
“April’s Fiksu Indexes reflect three key forces at play which, when combined, created increases in volume and costs,” explained Fiksu CEO Micah Adler.
“First, the relentless industry investment in mobile by brands large and small that kept competition high,” Adler says. “Second, the industry’s smooth transition from Apple’s UDID to its new Advertising Identifier (IDFA) actually kept traffic stable when it could have caused some disruption.”
“And third,” the Fiksu boss concludes, “the rapid traction of Facebook mobile app install ads, which may have provided developers with a greater pool of efficient inventory and consequently may have buffered the industry against even greater rises in costs.”
Friday’s report suggests that the increase in mobile marketing costs noted in the April Fiksu Indexes could be attributed to the end of UDID and the impact of Apple’s new IDFA which has prompted many high-visibility, valuable app publishers to enter the marketplace, “bumping up available premium inventory for advertisers.”
“Previously, these kinds of publishers had been reluctant to participate using earlier identifiers,” Fiksu reports, “but they are now reassured by the advertising-friendly IDFA.”
