CPI is still on the rise. According to the new study by Tenjin and GameAnalytics, cost per install in hyper-casual games reached an all-time high both on Android and iOS in Q4.
Compared to Q3 2022, Q4 saw the median CPI of hyper-casual games increase by $0.05 on Android and by $0.17 on iOS to $0.20 and $0.42 respectively. Median CPI never achieved this level before.
Top countries by ad spend on Android (it means the amount of money that advertisers spent on promoting their hyper-casual titles) are the United States, Brazil, Japan, South Korean and the United Kingdom.
A high level of ad spend in a region doesn’t mean a high median CPI. For example, even if Brazil is No.2 country by ad spend on Android, its median CPI is low in comparison with counties where ad spend was lower.
Android – median CPI for top 10 Countries by ad spend in Q4 2022
The same is true for the top countries by ad spend on iOS. Topping the chart are such regions as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany.
At the same time the United Kingdom and Germany are not even in the top 5 countries by median CPI. It is impossible to say that CPI there is dramatically lower, but the lag is obvious.
iOS – median CPI for top 10 Countries by ad spend in Q4 2022
Speaking of ad networks, there are no drastic differences between the top 10 ad networks by ad spend on Android and iOS. Same names, different positions. The only exception is the pair AdColony — Apple Search Ads. In the top 10 ad networks on Android, there is no Apple Search Ads, while in the top 10 ad networks on iOS, there is no AdColony.
At the same time as expected, the median CPI of hyper-casual games differs from network to network. They all have one thing in common: none of the ad networks experienced a decrease in median CPI during the last quartal.
Android – median CPI for top 10 ad networks by ad spend in Q4 2022
iOS – median CPI for top 10 ad networks by ad spend in Q4 2022
Also according to the study, retention rates on iOS are higher than on Android. This is true for the top 2% of hyper-casual games with the highest level of retention and for all the games on the platforms.
Surprisingly, only 2% hyper-casual games have day 1 retention rate of 45% on iOS and 38% on Android. In general across all the games of the niche, day 1 retention rate is about 24% on iOS and 23% on Android.
Full version of the report can be found there.