Table of Contents
Mobile app marketing benchmarks 2026 are the reference ranges that define healthy acquisition, retention, and monetization performance across mobile verticals, broken down by Cost per Install (CPI), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), and retention curves at Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30. Benchmarks matter because every marketing decision, from which channel to scale to how aggressively to bid, is an implicit comparison against a reference point. If the reference is wrong, the decision is wrong. This guide lays out the benchmarks Admiral Media uses internally, derived from managing over €500M in mobile ad spend across 150+ mobile brands, and validated against external industry sources. The numbers are precise. The interpretation is what matters.
Admiral Media’s position is that most published benchmarks are too coarse to be useful. A “gaming CPI” number is almost meaningless when slots games run 8x the CPI of casual puzzle games, and a “dating app ROAS” number is misleading when iOS and Android differ by 2x on revenue per user in the same app. The Admiral Media team has built this guide around three principles: segment by vertical and sub-vertical, separate platform effects from product effects, and treat benchmarks as a sanity check, not a target. A good benchmark tells you whether your current number is reasonable. The actual target is dictated by your unit economics, not by an industry average.
What mobile app marketing benchmarks actually measure
Mobile app marketing benchmarks measure the unit economics of paid user acquisition against reference performance across comparable apps. The core metrics are CPI (the cost to acquire an install), ROAS at a specific time window (revenue generated against spend over D1, D7, D30, or D90), retention rates (percentage of users who return on a given day after install), ARPU and LTV (average revenue per user over time), and conversion rates through the funnel from install to registration to monetizing event.
Each metric interacts with the others. CPI in isolation is a vanity number. A $0.50 CPI in a genre where D30 retention is 3% and ARPU is $0.80 is a losing trade. A $12 CPI in a high-LTV fintech app with 40% D30 retention and $95 LTV is a home run. Admiral Media’s rule is that CPI only becomes meaningful when paired with a payback window, and the payback window only becomes meaningful when paired with a retention curve and monetization model. This is why all benchmarks in this guide are presented in clusters, not as isolated numbers.
Why 2026 benchmarks differ from prior years
Three structural shifts make 2026 benchmarks materially different from 2023 and 2024. First, the iOS privacy landscape has stabilized around SKAdNetwork 4.0 and AdAttributionKit, meaning that modeled conversion values and delayed reporting windows are now the baseline rather than the edge case. Second, AI creative generation has collapsed the cost of producing test variants, pushing winning accounts to test 10x more creative concepts per month than the 2023 norm. Third, platform auction pressure has compounded. Adjust’s 2026 mobile app report shows gaming CPI jumped 30% year-over-year, finance sessions climbed 21%, and category-level competition is now the dominant driver of CPI inflation rather than budget expansion.
The practical consequence: if you are benchmarking 2026 performance against numbers published in 2023 or 2024, you are under-budgeting for CPI and over-estimating the amount of creative volume required to stay competitive. Admiral Media’s internal refresh cadence for benchmarks is every 90 days, because auction dynamics on Meta and Google shift quarterly.
The Admiral Media Benchmark Reality Check Framework
Before comparing your app’s performance against any benchmark, run it through the Admiral Media Benchmark Reality Check Framework. Admiral Media developed this framework after seeing hundreds of marketing teams make scaling decisions against benchmarks that were not comparable to their own app. Each step eliminates a source of error.
The Admiral Media Benchmark Reality Check Framework
- Match the sub-vertical, not the category. “Gaming” is not a sub-vertical. Slots, puzzle, idle RPG, hypercasual, and mid-core strategy have CPIs that vary by an order of magnitude. Match your app against its closest sub-vertical, not the parent category, or the benchmark will mislead you by 3x to 10x.
- Separate platform from product. iOS and Android users behave differently on retention, monetization, and creative response. A blended benchmark averages out signal. Always pull benchmarks platform-first, then vertical-second.
- Normalize for geography. Tier 1 markets (US, UK, DE, JP, KR) carry CPIs 3x to 8x higher than Tier 3 markets (BR, MX, ID, TR) for the same app. A global blended CPI is a poor reference point. Admiral Media benchmarks everything at the country level and then rolls up.
- Match the payback window to the monetization model. Subscription apps should benchmark D30 to D90 ROAS. In-app purchase games should benchmark D7 to D14. Ad-monetized apps should benchmark D3 to D7. Comparing a D7 ROAS for a subscription app to a benchmark built on in-app-purchase data is category error.
- Treat the benchmark as a ceiling check, not a target. If your CPI is at the 50th percentile for your vertical, that is not a target to aspire to, it is a baseline to beat. Admiral Media designs every campaign against the 75th to 90th percentile for the sub-vertical, platform, and market combination.
This framework is applied to every new Admiral Media engagement during the benchmark audit phase, before any budget is committed. It prevents the most common mistake in mobile marketing, which is scaling a campaign to hit an average when the underlying unit economics cannot support it.
CPI benchmarks 2026 by vertical
CPI benchmarks 2026 show significant compression at the top of the funnel, with gaming CPIs rising 30% year over year and finance verticals holding at elevated levels. The table below combines Admiral Media’s observed ranges across client accounts with publicly reported industry data from Adjust and Business of Apps. Ranges represent typical Tier 1 market CPIs on iOS unless noted. Android CPIs typically run 40% to 60% lower. Tier 2 markets run 50% to 70% lower than Tier 1.
| Vertical | Sub-vertical | iOS CPI range (Tier 1) | Android CPI range (Tier 1) | Primary driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaming | Hypercasual | $0.80 to $2.50 | $0.30 to $1.20 | Volume plays, ad monetization |
| Gaming | Casual puzzle | $2.50 to $6.00 | $1.20 to $3.00 | D7 retention, ARPDAU |
| Gaming | Mid-core strategy | $8.00 to $18.00 | $4.00 to $10.00 | LTV from payers, cohort depth |
| Gaming | Slots and social casino | $20.00 to $60.00 | $10.00 to $30.00 | Whale LTV, payer concentration |
| Gaming | Idle RPG | $4.00 to $9.00 | $2.00 to $5.00 | D30 retention, creative variety |
| Finance | Neobank | $8.00 to $20.00 | $3.00 to $9.00 | KYC completion, funded accounts |
| Finance | Trading and crypto | $10.00 to $25.00 | $4.00 to $12.00 | Deposit rate, KYC, compliance |
| Finance | Payments | $2.00 to $6.00 | $0.80 to $2.50 | Transaction activation |
| Dating | Mainstream dating | $4.00 to $10.00 | $2.00 to $5.00 | Gender balance, D7 retention |
| Dating | Niche and premium dating | $8.00 to $20.00 | $3.00 to $10.00 | Subscription LTV, match quality |
| Health & Fitness | Fitness tracking | $2.00 to $6.00 | $1.00 to $3.00 | Subscription conversion, retention |
| Health & Fitness | Nutrition and fasting | $3.00 to $8.00 | $1.50 to $4.00 | D7 activation, onboarding |
| Health & Fitness | Meditation and mental wellness | $4.00 to $10.00 | $2.00 to $5.00 | Subscription conversion, LTV |
| EdTech | Language learning | $3.00 to $8.00 | $1.50 to $4.00 | Subscription conversion, D30 retention |
| EdTech | Brain training | $3.50 to $9.00 | $1.50 to $4.50 | Trial-to-paid, ROAS at D30 |
| EdTech | Kids and academic | $3.00 to $7.00 | $1.50 to $3.50 | Family subscription LTV |
| Shopping & eCommerce | Marketplace | $2.00 to $6.00 | $0.80 to $2.50 | First purchase, AOV |
| Shopping & eCommerce | DTC retailer | $3.00 to $8.00 | $1.50 to $4.00 | ROAS at D7, repeat rate |
| Travel | OTA and booking | $3.00 to $9.00 | $1.50 to $5.00 | First booking, margin per booking |
| Productivity & AI Tools | AI assistants and utilities | $2.00 to $6.00 | $0.80 to $2.50 | Subscription conversion, usage frequency |
Several patterns repeat across the table. First, iOS CPIs are consistently 2x to 3x Android CPIs, because iOS users generate 2x to 3x the revenue on subscription and in-app purchase apps. Admiral Media’s work on the Inshallah iOS growth case study documented that iOS users delivered nearly 2x the retention of Android users and were the reason the app achieved a 1,253% increase in US iOS revenue after the Admiral Media team reallocated spend from Android to iOS. Second, CPI alone means nothing until you overlay ROAS and retention. A $20 CPI in a neobank with a $400 LTV is profitable. A $6 CPI in a hypercasual game with $4 LTV is not.
CPI benchmarks by platform: iOS vs Android
iOS CPIs in Tier 1 markets run 2.0x to 3.5x Android CPIs across almost every vertical. The premium exists because iOS users over-index on LTV in subscription apps, in-app purchase games, and premium fintech. Admiral Media’s portfolio data shows iOS delivers roughly 2.2x the D30 revenue per user of Android in subscription categories, which more than pays for the CPI premium. The exception is ad-monetized apps, where iOS and Android ARPDAU are closer and Android often delivers better margin.
ROAS benchmarks 2026 by vertical and payback window
ROAS benchmarks 2026 split cleanly by monetization model and payback window. Subscription apps should target D30 ROAS of 40% to 70% to achieve 12-month payback. In-app-purchase games should target D7 ROAS of 15% to 40% depending on sub-vertical. Ad-monetized hypercasual and hybrid games should target D3 ROAS of 30% to 80%, because their payback window compresses into the first week. The table below shows Admiral Media’s target ROAS ranges for each category, based on what is required to achieve typical 12-month payback.
| Vertical | Monetization | Target D7 ROAS | Target D30 ROAS | Target D90 ROAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription apps (health, EdTech, productivity) | Weekly/monthly/annual subscriptions | 15% to 30% | 40% to 70% | 70% to 110% |
| Dating apps | Subscription + in-app purchase | 10% to 25% | 30% to 60% | 60% to 100% |
| Mid-core and strategy games | In-app purchases | 15% to 35% | 35% to 70% | 70% to 120% |
| Casual games | IAP + ads hybrid | 25% to 50% | 50% to 90% | 90% to 140% |
| Hypercasual games | Ad-based | 50% to 90% | 80% to 120% | 110% to 150% |
| Fintech (neobank, trading) | Transaction fees, trading revenue | 5% to 15% | 20% to 50% | 50% to 100% |
| eCommerce and DTC | Purchase margin | 30% to 80% | 80% to 150% | 150% to 300% |
The Admiral Media team’s view is that D30 ROAS is the single most actionable ROAS metric for subscription and game apps, because it captures the majority of the cohort’s monetization signal while still being fast enough to inform budget decisions. D7 ROAS is useful only as an early directional indicator. D90 ROAS is the number that actually determines whether the cohort is profitable, but it is too slow for operational decisions. In Admiral Media’s campaigns, D7 ROAS is used for creative and audience optimization, D30 ROAS is used for budget allocation between campaigns, and D90 ROAS is used to validate cohort-level profitability quarterly.
Predictive ROAS for early signal
Predictive ROAS (pROAS) is a modeled forecast of D30 or D90 ROAS based on early-window signals, typically D0 to D3. Admiral Media uses pROAS as the primary bidding input for campaigns on platforms where the lag to real D30 data would leave the algorithm blind to cohort quality for too long. In Admiral Media’s experience, a well-calibrated pROAS model predicts D30 ROAS within 15% accuracy by D3 for subscription apps, which is enough to make early scaling and killing decisions without waiting for a full month of data.
Retention benchmarks 2026 by vertical
Retention benchmarks 2026 indicate that average D1 retention sits near 24%, average D7 retention near 12%, and average D30 retention near 5% across all categories. The spread by vertical is enormous. Marketplace and banking apps retain at 2x to 3x the rate of gaming and social apps. Retention is the most product-driven metric of the three core benchmarks, because it reflects the app’s actual value delivery more than marketing quality. But marketing channel and creative choice still move the number, often by 20% to 40%, by changing who enters the funnel.
| Vertical | D1 retention | D7 retention | D30 retention | Top-quartile D30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace (Amazon-style) | 30% to 38% | 14% to 20% | 7% to 12% | 12%+ |
| Banking and finance | 28% to 36% | 16% to 22% | 8% to 14% | 14%+ |
| News and media | 30% to 40% | 15% to 22% | 6% to 11% | 11%+ |
| Shopping and eCommerce | 22% to 28% | 9% to 14% | 4% to 7% | 7%+ |
| Dating (mainstream) | 22% to 30% | 10% to 16% | 4% to 8% | 8%+ |
| Health and fitness | 25% to 32% | 11% to 16% | 5% to 9% | 9%+ |
| EdTech (language, brain training) | 24% to 32% | 10% to 16% | 5% to 9% | 9%+ |
| Mid-core gaming | 25% to 35% | 10% to 16% | 4% to 8% | 8%+ |
| Hypercasual gaming | 20% to 28% | 6% to 11% | 2% to 4% | 4%+ |
| Productivity and AI tools | 24% to 32% | 10% to 16% | 5% to 10% | 10%+ |
Admiral Media’s position is that retention is bought, not just built. The audiences that marketing brings into the app determine 30% to 50% of the retention curve, and the campaign structure determines whether high-LTV segments receive sufficient exposure. On the PURE dating case study, Admiral Media reduced CPI by 74% while simultaneously exceeding D7 ROAS goals, because the team targeted the retention and revenue cohorts the platform algorithm was under-serving, not just the cheapest installs. Cheap installs with poor retention are a tax, not a gain.
Creative volume benchmarks 2026
Creative volume benchmarks 2026 show a decisive shift. The top-performing accounts on Meta, Google, and TikTok ship 15 to 40 new creative concepts per month, refresh winners every 2 to 4 weeks, and maintain a continuous testing flywheel where 20% of spend is always on net-new variants. Platform documentation from Meta now estimates that creative is responsible for 60% to 80% of the variance in CPA across comparable campaigns. The Admiral Media AI Creative Factory is built around this reality: the bottleneck is no longer media buying skill, it is the rate at which fresh, on-brand, platform-native creative can be produced and tested.
The Admiral Media team delivers 100+ creative variants per month per top-tier client, combining AI generation for base concepts with human review for brand fidelity and hook quality. On the NeuroNation Google Creative Framework case study, Admiral Media executed a creative refresh strategy that reduced CPP by 34%, increased purchases by 129%, and scaled spend on video ads by 952% within a single campaign, with impressions climbing 3363% and clicks climbing 1215%. The unlock was creative velocity, not a bid change.
How creative volume maps to CPA reduction
Admiral Media’s internal analysis of hundreds of creative tests shows a predictable power law. Accounts shipping fewer than 5 new creative concepts per month typically see CPAs drift up by 15% to 30% per quarter as auction pressure compounds. Accounts shipping 15 to 25 concepts per month typically hold CPAs flat or reduce them modestly. Accounts shipping 40+ concepts per month can reduce CPAs by 20% to 40% in a quarter, because they are harvesting the long tail of creative upside. The Admiral Media AI Creative Factory is designed to operate at the 40+ end of this range.
Platform benchmarks: Meta, Google, TikTok, Apple Search Ads
Platform benchmarks 2026 vary more by sub-vertical than by platform, but each platform has a distinct profile. Meta remains the largest and most versatile channel for subscription and consumer apps, Google App Campaigns (now part of the Performance Max family for apps) dominate pure install volume at the lowest CPI, TikTok drives the highest creative velocity upside, and Apple Search Ads captures the highest-intent iOS audience. Admiral Media’s portfolio mix typically allocates 40% to 55% of spend to Meta, 20% to 30% to Google, 10% to 25% to TikTok, and 5% to 15% to Apple Search Ads, with exact proportions varying by vertical and stage.
Meta benchmarks
Meta App campaigns in 2026 typically run at CPIs 20% to 40% above Google equivalents for the same vertical, but deliver higher LTV per install because the targeting and creative match quality is stronger. Admiral Media’s work across subscription and dating apps shows that Meta accounts that hit 15+ new creatives per month and use Advantage+ with bid value signals consistently outperform accounts that rely on lookalike audiences alone. Target ROAS bidding on Meta requires a minimum of 30 to 50 weekly conversion events per ad set to exit the learning phase. For details on Meta-specific ROAS scaling, see Meta Ads for Mobile Apps: How to Scale ROAS.
Google App Campaigns benchmarks
Google App Campaigns (UAC) deliver the lowest CPIs in most verticals because of Google’s inventory depth across Search, Play, YouTube, and Display. The trade-off is that the algorithm is more opaque than Meta’s. In Admiral Media’s portfolio, Google UAC delivers CPIs 15% to 30% lower than Meta for the same target but requires disciplined bid management and aggressive creative refresh to prevent installs from drifting toward low-LTV placements. On the NeuroNation Google case study, Admiral Media used a structured creative framework that decreased CPP by 34%, CPI by 40%, and CPR by 40% on Google UAC, with spend scaling 952% on the refreshed creatives.
TikTok benchmarks
TikTok CPIs in 2026 typically run 10% to 30% below Meta for apps that match the platform’s audience age and content style, and 20% to 50% above Meta for apps that don’t. The variance is driven by creative fit. TikTok rewards native UGC-style creative and punishes repurposed Meta assets. Admiral Media’s TikTok clients ship 20 to 40 new vertical videos per month because TikTok’s auction penalizes stale creative faster than any other platform.
Apple Search Ads benchmarks
Apple Search Ads delivers the highest-intent iOS acquisition at CPIs that vary by keyword competitiveness rather than audience targeting. For branded keywords, Admiral Media sees CPIs in the $0.80 to $3.00 range for most consumer apps. For category keywords in competitive verticals (dating, fitness, meditation), CPIs run $4.00 to $15.00. Apple Search Ads is typically Admiral Media’s highest-LTV channel per install, because intent to search already qualifies the user, but it cannot be the primary volume driver at scale.
Subscription app benchmarks
Subscription app benchmarks 2026 revolve around three metrics: install-to-trial conversion rate, trial-to-paid conversion rate, and D30 ROAS. Healthy subscription apps convert 15% to 30% of installs into trials, convert 40% to 65% of trials into paid subscribers, and deliver D30 ROAS of 40% to 70%. The largest variance driver is the paywall, not the ad. Apps that redesign their paywall and onboarding every quarter consistently outperform apps that treat the paywall as a one-time build.
On the ChatPDF case study, Admiral Media managed paid acquisition for an AI subscription app and delivered +320% ROAS YoY growth, +156% subscription growth, and -42% CAC reduction. The driver was a combination of value-based bidding calibration, paywall A/B testing, and a disciplined creative refresh cadence. For broader subscription app strategy, see Admiral Media’s subscription app marketing agency page.
Subscription trial benchmarks
Subscription trial benchmarks vary by vertical. Health and fitness apps typically see trial starts at 18% to 28% of installs and trial-to-paid conversion at 40% to 55%. EdTech apps see trial starts at 12% to 20% of installs and trial-to-paid conversion at 50% to 70%. Productivity and AI tools see trial starts at 15% to 25% and trial-to-paid conversion at 45% to 65%. The Admiral Media team consistently observes that trial length is the most under-tested variable. Apps running a 3-day trial almost always benefit from testing a 7-day version, and vice versa. The optimal length is driven by the time it takes the user to reach the app’s “aha” moment.
Gaming benchmarks 2026
Gaming benchmarks 2026 diverge sharply from all other verticals. CPIs are wider, LTV distributions are more skewed (payer concentration often >80%), and creative demand is higher. Gaming accounts that scale profitably ship 30 to 60 new creatives per month because gaming auctions compound creative fatigue faster than any other category. Adjust’s 2026 gaming report shows European gaming CPI rising 47% year-over-year, which means gaming studios that held their creative velocity flat in 2026 lost significant ground on efficiency.
Sub-vertical specificity matters more in gaming than anywhere else. Hypercasual and casual puzzle games live on ad monetization with D3 payback windows. Mid-core and strategy games live on IAP with D30 to D90 payback windows. Slots and social casino live on whale concentration with D180+ payback windows. A benchmark that averages across these is worse than useless. For deeper detail on mobile gaming UA economics, see Admiral Media’s user acquisition for mobile games resource.
Localization and geographic benchmarks
Localization and geographic benchmarks show that Tier 1 CPIs run 3x to 8x Tier 3 CPIs for the same app, but Tier 1 LTV typically runs 4x to 12x Tier 3 LTV. The direction of profitability therefore depends on the app’s unit economics. Subscription apps with high conversion rates usually favor Tier 1 scale. Ad-monetized games often favor Tier 2 and Tier 3 for volume with strong efficiency. ASO (App Store Optimization) is the lowest-cost acquisition lever in every market, and it compounds geographically as the app localizes its store listing.
On the NeuroNation Korea ASO case study, Admiral Media delivered a 93.10% increase in search downloads and a 43.95% increase in search impressions through ASO alone, by adapting the store listing to Korean linguistic norms. This was achieved with zero incremental paid spend. Geography-specific ASO is a compounding benchmark that many teams underweight.
Case studies: what top-quartile performance looks like
Benchmarks are most useful when grounded in real campaign outcomes. The cases below represent Admiral Media’s client results that define what “top-quartile” looks like in 2026.
- NeuroNation (brain training subscription): +117% ROAS, -39% CPI: Admiral Media managed NeuroNation’s mobile UA across Meta and Google, achieving a 117% increase in ROAS, a 66% increase in installs, a 42% increase in net cohort revenue, and a 39% reduction in CPI over 15 months. See the NeuroNation case study.
- NeuroNation Google Creative Framework: -34% CPP, +129% purchases: Admiral Media executed a creative refresh framework on NeuroNation’s Google App Campaigns that decreased cost per purchase by 34%, increased purchases by 129%, and increased spend on top-performing video ads by 952%. See the creative framework case study.
- NeuroNation Korea ASO: +93% search downloads: Admiral Media’s ASO team adapted NeuroNation’s Korean store listing, achieving a 93.10% increase in search downloads and a 43.95% increase in search impressions. See the NeuroNation Korea case study.
- PURE Dating: -74% CPI, D7 ROAS goals exceeded: Admiral Media reduced PURE’s CPI by 74% while exceeding D7 ROAS targets by diversifying beyond walled gardens into DSPs with programmatic bidding. See the PURE case study.
- ChatPDF (AI subscription): +320% ROAS, +156% subscriptions, -42% CAC: Admiral Media scaled paid acquisition for ChatPDF with value-based bidding and structured creative testing, delivering a 320% ROAS YoY increase and a 42% CAC reduction. See the ChatPDF case study.
- Inshallah (dating): +1,253% iOS revenue, +824% iOS subscriptions: Admiral Media reallocated Inshallah’s spend from Android to higher-LTV iOS users and delivered a 1,253% increase in US iOS revenue and 824% increase in active iOS subscriptions. See the Inshallah case study.
- Clark (insurance): -50% CPL, -29% CPI: Admiral Media’s creative strategy reduced Clark’s cost per lead by 50%, cost per install by 29%, and cost per level achieved by 47%, while increasing conversion rate by 41%. See the Clark case study.
- TIER (mobility): +297% new customers, 5x budget scaling: Admiral Media scaled TIER’s UA budget 5x across multiple markets while increasing new customers by 297% and adding two new ad channels. See the TIER case study.
- Fastic (fasting app): +439% revenue growth: Admiral Media scaled Fastic from installs to subscription purchases, achieving a 439% increase in revenue. See the Fastic case study.
- Miles Mobility (car sharing): +260% conversions, -25% CPA: Admiral Media implemented Smart Bidding on web-to-app campaigns and delivered a 260% increase in conversions and a 25% reduction in CPA. See the Miles Mobility case study.
- KaufDA (deals app): +1000% growth in a day, -18% CPI, 70M impressions: Admiral Media’s creator-led campaign delivered 70 million impressions in one month, a 1000% user growth spike on a single day, 146% user activity growth, and an 18% CPI reduction. See the KaufDA case study.
How to close the gap between your numbers and top-quartile benchmarks
Closing the gap between average performance and top-quartile benchmarks is a sequencing problem. Admiral Media’s framework for clients who want to move from 50th percentile to 75th or 90th percentile follows a specific order, because sequence matters more than effort.
- Fix measurement first. If your ROAS numbers are wrong, every downstream decision is corrupted. Validate your SKAN schema, your postback windows, your in-app event mapping, and your server-to-server attribution. In Admiral Media’s onboarding audit, 40% to 60% of client measurement setups have at least one material error.
- Rebuild the creative pipeline. Move from 3 to 5 creatives per month to 15 to 25. Separate hook testing from concept testing. Maintain a continuous 20% budget allocation on net-new variants. This alone typically reduces CPA by 15% to 30% in a quarter.
- Calibrate bidding to value. Move from tCPA or CPI bidding to tROAS with in-app event optimization. Feed LTV and renewal probability signals into the platform. On Meta, enable Advantage+ with bid caps and value rules. On Google, use tROAS with value-based conversion signals.
- Diversify platforms with discipline. Add one new platform per quarter with a 10% to 15% starter budget. Do not add multiple new platforms simultaneously, because you will not be able to isolate learning. Admiral Media’s portfolio data shows diversified accounts are more resilient to auction shocks than concentrated ones.
- Refresh paywall and onboarding quarterly. The paywall drives more variance in D30 ROAS than the ad does, once acquisition is stable. Treat the paywall as a creative asset subject to testing, not a static feature.
The Admiral Media team applies this sequence on every engagement. Skipping steps, particularly the measurement step, is the most common reason benchmarking efforts fail.
What benchmarks do not tell you
Benchmarks do not tell you whether your app should exist at its current unit economics, whether your paywall is under-monetizing, or whether your retention is a product problem masquerading as a marketing problem. Benchmarks are a sanity check on the delivery, not a verdict on the strategy. Admiral Media’s work with 150+ mobile brands across €500M+ in managed spend consistently shows that teams who use benchmarks as the primary decision tool under-invest in product and paywall optimization, which is where the largest LTV unlocks actually sit.
A well-run benchmarking process answers three questions and nothing more. Are my CPIs reasonable for my sub-vertical, platform, and geography? Is my ROAS curve consistent with a payback window I can tolerate? Is my retention curve consistent with my monetization model? If any of the three is materially off the benchmark, investigate that specific dimension. If all three are in range, benchmarks are no longer useful and the leverage sits elsewhere, in product, paywall, or LTV expansion.
External sources for benchmark validation
Admiral Media’s benchmarks are validated against public industry sources to ensure they represent the broader market, not just the Admiral Media portfolio. The most reliable external benchmark publishers in 2026 include AppsFlyer’s benchmark suite for retention and install quality, Business of Apps for cost and revenue benchmarks, Adjust’s mobile app reports for platform and vertical trends, and Apple’s App Store developer documentation for platform policy and measurement context. Cross-referencing against at least two independent sources is Admiral Media’s standard practice before publishing any benchmark internally.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good CPI for a mobile app in 2026?
A good CPI depends entirely on the app’s sub-vertical, platform, and geography. As a directional answer, a $2 to $4 CPI is strong for a casual game on Android in a Tier 1 market, a $5 to $8 CPI is strong for a subscription health app on iOS, and a $10 to $15 CPI is acceptable for a neobank with high per-user LTV. CPI is only meaningful when paired with the corresponding retention curve and ROAS target for the same sub-vertical. Admiral Media benchmarks every CPI against the 75th to 90th percentile for the exact sub-vertical, platform, and country combination.
What D7 ROAS should a subscription app target?
A subscription app with a 12-month payback target should aim for a D7 ROAS in the 15% to 30% range, depending on the strength of its renewal curve. D7 ROAS is an early indicator, not a final verdict. The more important benchmarks for subscription apps are D30 ROAS (target 40% to 70%) and D90 ROAS (target 70% to 110%). Admiral Media uses predictive ROAS models to forecast D30 from D0 to D3 signals, because the D30 measurement window is too slow for real-time bidding decisions.
How much should I be spending on paid user acquisition to hit these benchmarks?
Spend level is less important than spend structure. Most apps can validate whether they can hit Admiral Media’s benchmark ranges on €25,000 to €50,000 per month in focused paid spend, provided the creative pipeline supports 15+ variants per month and measurement is clean. Scaling past that level depends on the category. Gaming and fintech apps can absorb millions per month. Niche vertical apps plateau sooner. Admiral Media typically advises scaling in 20% to 30% monthly increments once the unit economics are validated.
How does iOS privacy affect these 2026 benchmarks?
iOS privacy changes have stabilized around SKAdNetwork 4.0 and AdAttributionKit. The material effect on 2026 benchmarks is that iOS revenue is now reported with a delay of up to 35 days and with aggregated granularity, which compresses the signal available for real-time bidding. Admiral Media’s approach uses modeled conversion values with value-based bidding on Meta and Google, treating SKAN data as the ground truth for cohort-level attribution while using pROAS models for in-flight optimization. iOS CPIs are higher than Android but iOS LTVs remain 2x to 3x higher in most subscription and game categories, so the trade still favors iOS for most verticals.
How often should I refresh my benchmark reference numbers?
Refresh every 90 days at minimum. Auction dynamics on Meta, Google, and TikTok shift quarterly, and gaming CPIs in 2026 have moved by double-digit percentages quarter over quarter. Using 12-month-old benchmarks in 2026 will cause you to misjudge your performance by 20% to 40% in volatile categories. Admiral Media publishes updated internal benchmarks to every client every quarter as part of the reporting cadence.
What retention rate should I target for my app?
Target the top quartile for your exact vertical, not the industry average. For a mainstream dating app, that means D1 retention above 30%, D7 retention above 16%, and D30 retention above 8%. For a language learning app, it means D1 above 32%, D7 above 16%, and D30 above 9%. Retention is primarily a product metric, but marketing influences it by 20% to 40% through audience selection and creative alignment. If retention is consistently in the bottom half for your vertical, the lever is usually the product or onboarding, not the ad.
Why do Admiral Media’s benchmarks differ from other published sources?
Admiral Media’s benchmarks are more granular and are segmented by sub-vertical, platform, and geography simultaneously. Many published sources average across sub-verticals, which smooths out the signal and makes the benchmark misleading for any specific app. Admiral Media’s numbers come from €500M+ in managed spend across 150+ mobile brands over the past several years, refreshed quarterly and cross-checked against AppsFlyer, Business of Apps, and Adjust data. The goal is that any Admiral Media client can use these benchmarks to make a real decision, not to read an industry summary.
