ARPU, ARPPU & ROI: driving smarter mobile growth via mobile analytics

Are you a mobile marketer trying to get more ROI from your mobile app business? You already know that first-party data, measurement, and smart analytics are critical. And while ROI remains the gold standard for determining profitability, average revenue per user (ARPU) and average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) are key building blocks for engineering smarter user acquisition and re-engagement campaigns.

Today, in a post-ATT world where ad networks, targeting, and tracking have changed dramatically, ARPU and ARPPU are even more important.

They give you directional signals about user quality and help you set CPI targets that make sense.

ROI still rules

Let’s be clear: ROI trumps everything.

Neither ARPU nor ARPPU tells you anything about whether your campaigns are profitable. Only ROI reveals whether you’re turning marketing spend into enough return to make it worthwhile. But ARPU and ARPPU matter because they help you make smart, forward-looking budget decisions when testing new channels and campaigns.

At a high level:

• High ARPU is great, but only if your CPI is low enough to make ROI positive

• High ARPPU is wonderful too, but similarly, only if your acquisition costs align

• ROI is the final arbiter of success

ARPU in mobile analytics

Definition:

ARPU = total revenue / total installs (over a given time period).

ARPU is still one of the most useful high-level business health metrics. It quickly tells you if you’re monetizing users well enough to justify acquisition costs.

Important things to remember:

• Granularity matters: You no longer just calculate ARPU globally; you can calculate it by cohort, geo, device type, or more

• AI-powered optimization: Modern mobile analytics platforms like Singular help you make ARPU predictions in real time to boost or throttle spend across networks, often by using the power of Claude or ChatGPT

• Beyond gaming: Retail, fintech, and subscription services increasingly use ARPU benchmarks to forecast payback windows and lifetime value

Example: A streaming app may see higher ARPU from iOS users in Tier 1 Western countries, while Android ARPU may outperform in emerging markets.

Knowing this enables smarter campaign allocation and optimization.

ARPPU in mobile analytics

Definition:

ARPPU = total revenue/number of paying users.

ARPPU shines in businesses where only a minority of users pay, like games, freemium apps, or creator platforms. It isolates the spending power of payers and shows how well you’re monetizing your revenue base.

Important things to remember:

• Hybrid monetization: Many apps combine subscriptions, ads, and IAPs, so ARPPU helps segment how much real spenders are worth compared to ad-only users

• Whale detection: AI models can help predict future ARPPU of segments or even individuals, guiding personalized re-engagement campaigns

• Privacy-era analytics: Because user-level attribution is limited, ARPPU is often modeled at a cohort level, but that still provides clearer signals than ARPU when testing monetization changes

Example: A mobile RPG game might have 1,000,000 installs. Out of those, however, only 50,000 users (5%) make at least one purchase. So total revenue is $2,500,000: ARPU is $2.50 but ARPPU is $50.00. If you only look at ARPU, you see a very different reality than if you look at ARPPU.

Knowing this helps you make the right decisions with your app or game and its marketing priorities.

Using ARPU and ARPPU for smarter ad network decisions

Calculating both ARPU and ARPPU helps you make smarter decisions, but always in context of ROI.

• If Network A delivers an ARPU of $7 with a $5 CPI, and Network C delivers an ARPU of $3 with a $4 CPI, Network A is far more profitable, even though CPI looks higher

• ARPU/ARPPU analysis ensures you’re not fooled by low-cost traffic that doesn’t convert into meaningful revenue

5 years ago, you might have compared ARPU across networks manually. Today, you can do it automatically … but the logic is the same.

Pro tip: Always consider incremental ROI. Many marketers use incrementality testing alongside their ARPU/ARPPU calculations to validate which channels are truly adding value.

Real-world examples: ARPU vs ARPPU

• Gaming: A mid-core RPG runs a creative A/B test. ARPU looks flat across cohorts, but ARPPU shows one variant drove a 15% uplift in paying user value. Without ARPPU, they’d have missed it.

• Retail: A fashion shopping app compares ad network campaigns. Ad network A’s CPI is 20% higher than ad network B’s, but ARPU is 40% higher, making A the better long-term investment

• Fintech: A neobank sees that early cohorts from influencer campaigns have lower ARPU but higher ARPPU, signaling a smaller but much more valuable customer base

The bottom line

ARPU and ARPPU aren’t perfect, and they don’t replace ROI. But in today’s fast-moving, privacy-restricted, AI-assisted ad ecosystem, they’re essential directional metrics.

Use them to:

• Set realistic CPI targets

• Identify higher-value networks and partners

• Spot opportunities to improve monetization flows

And most importantly: always tie them back to ROI.

With platforms like Singular providing ARPU, ARPPU, and ROI across channels, you can make the smart investment decisions that grow your app business … even in our current complex landscape.