Android CPI well above iOS, rising 72% since March

The cost per install for a game on Android has shot above that of iOS once more after a brief period of Apple's platforms proving to be the more expensive. The latest CPI data from Fiksu now puts the average cost on Android at $1.82 per user - whilst iOS sits at $1.32.

"There's definitely opportunity to reach a continually growing user base on Android, but it's going to come at a cost," says Fiksu's Glen Kiladis. "Android games costs for the month of May were nearly 40 per cent higher than iOS costs, a trend that can also be observed on a broader scale outside of just games. In fact, Android costs were up 72 per cent since March, while iOS costs were relatively flat compared to just 2 months prior."

"As we've mentioned before, these indexes include both incent and non-incent spending. As a result, iOS games costs are oftentimes lower than Android games costs as a result of increased spending on iOS on lower-cost incentivized networks. Nonetheless, this is the highest Android games costs have been during the past year.

"When looking at year over year trends, Android costs were up 31% while iOS costs were down 25%. In May of 2014, costs on both platforms were hovering around the $1.50 mark.

"These higher costs on Android are not unexpected. In our broader Fiksu Indexes, we've observed a pattern of increasing costs across the board. However, as advertisers consistently employ higher-value targeting and more precise audience segmentation data, we expect that loyalty rates will also go up."