This Week’s Takeaways

LAST UPDATED: October 27th, 2020

• CPI trended downward this week, correcting the slight increase the week before. This could mean CPIs could be at a meager rate, especially in Asia.
• CPMs meanwhile kept increasing for the second week in a row. In North America, the rates climbed 5.1% and in LATAM, they increased by 10%.
• Little notable change in supply, other than LATAM continuing to rise with a further 1.3% increase in bid requests.

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Bid Requests

CPM

CPI

October 20th, 2020

• An overall increase of 1.8% of Liftoff’s supply continues the trend of rising inventory. Only Apac (-1.8%) saw a drop this week.
• CPIs rose 2.2%. By region, APAC increased by 2.1% and EMEA by 2.2%. By category, entertainment (18.6%) and e-commerce (10.9%) faced higher costs this week.
• CPMs also increased by 5.8%, making impression-based campaigns more costly after three weeks of consecutive decreases. APAC’s 3.9% increase was mild compared to LATAMs 7.3% rise.

October 13th, 2020

• Marking the transition to Q4, early October has seen a 3.6% increase in bid requests from suppliers, with North America leading the charge with 6.7% more supply versus the previous week. The last recorded decrease in supply happened in late August.
• Continuing a downward trend, CPI decreased a further -5.8%. By category, education and entertainment fell by -20% and -24.3%, respectively. By region, Japan saw the biggest fall by 11.3%. Meanwhile, Korea (7.4%) and LATAM countries (6.3%) saw costs to acquire rise.
• CPMs also fell, at a total rate of -4.3%. Curiously, education fell (-12.1%), but entertainment rose (by 11.2%). Regionally, marketers working in SEA or LATAM will have experienced rising costs (by 4.5% and 2.3% respectively) in the past week, the only locations to do so.

October 6th, 2020

• CPMs decreased sharply in the week of September 27th, falling by 9.6%. Entertainment apps fell the most, at -14.8%. While the only category to experience a rise was finance (0.1%), the past week represented a buyer’s market.
• CPIs were in flux, with an overall drop of 2.1%. While many categories (finance, gaming) got more expensive, some (entertainment, travel) became much cheaper.
• Speaking of CPI, Japan dialed the clock back by two weeks, with a 6.1% increase following a decrease of the same figure in the previous week.

September 29th, 2020

• A 2.4% increase in supply this past week suggests that users are as active and engaged as ever. Supply has only increased since the end of August.
• CPIs increased again this week, at an overall 6.9% rise. By vertical, Finance (23.1%) climbed steeply (following a 17.6% increase in the previous week). Other apps to note include entertainment (12%) and Social (11.5%). Only Travel (-8.5%) declined.
• CPMs in Korea are climbing with consecutive double-digit increases. CPIs have also been rising at an equal rate in the country. Marketers may want to revise their campaigns to ensure effective spending.

September 22nd, 2020

• Supply has barely shifted, with an overall increase of 0.8 (the same as the previous week). As before, North America supplied more requests, with a regional rise of 2.1%
• CPIs revived after three weeks of decline, with a 5.7% increase in costs. Marketers in Japan (+13.3%), Korea (+18.2%), and LATAM (+14.6%) have felt this the most.
• CPMs continued their increases by 4.9% (following weekly rises of 5% and 4%). Finance apps (+24.7%) and entertainment (10.2%) led the way, proving competitive as the seasons shift to Fall.

September 15th, 2020

• This week, CPMs have increased, CPIs have decreased, but supply has mainly stayed the same. With a slight 0.8% rise in the number of bid requests, which were led by North America’s 2.9% surge.
• Costlier CPMs have been felt across the world (and also the world of apps). APAC’s impression costs increased the most (averaging 6.7%), while Social apps spent more on costlier impressions.
• While it cost more to view, it cost less to install. The week of September 6th saw a -1.7% decrease in CPIs. Bucking the trend were finance apps, whose costs rose 8.1%.

September 8th, 2020

• After falling the week previous, bid requests moderately increased this week, rising nearly 2%. LATAM increased more (3.4%) than any other region.
• This week’s cost per install fell by -4.9%, though this was only felt in a few key categories. Travel apps began to correct their significant rise from last week. Installs were also cheaper for social (-12.6%) and e-commerce (-10.6%) apps.
• Meanwhile, CPMs increased by 5%. Impressions cost more for finance (9.1%) and entertainment (6.2%) apps. Cost increases were felt most in EMEA, rising by 10.9% in a week.

September 1st, 2020

• Liftoff received a drop in bid requests this week, with a -5.1% fall in supply. Though all markets felt a decrease, LATAM almost delved into the double digits, with -9.8% less supply than the week before.
• Costs also fell worldwide, with a -10.1% decrease in CPMs and -3.6% in CPIs. Prices in Asia mostly held steady, aside from a -14.5% decrease in CPMs in Korea (and -17.6% across APAC), but U.S. marketers also welcomed cheaper costs to acquire users.
• Travels picking up. The vertical saw an astonishing 128% rise, mirroring a sudden increase in mid-April. This activity suggests users are ready to travel again, even amidst the pandemic (or perhaps dreaming of where to go next).

August 25th, 2020

• After weeks of Summer malaise, bid requests to Liftoff have begun to pick up. We’ve tracked a 1.4% increase in supply (the largest of any in the last four weeks). LATAM drives this trend, with a 4.3% rise in requests.
• Per region, both CPM and CPI have soared by almost 10% each. North America continues its skyward march, with a 15.2% increase in CPM and a 15.6% increase in CPIs.
• Mirroring regional activity, costs per category have increased by almost 10% on CPIs and CPMs. Gaming is hard hit, driving the trend with 18% higher CPIs and 12.4% higher CPMs. Education apps are also finding it more costly to acquire users as schools reopen. On the other side, e-commerce continues to decrease — an outlier of the bunch.

August 18th, 2020

• The week of August 9th, 2020 won’t be remembered as a vintage period of supply, nor a poor one, as worldwide bid requests fell by a meagre 0.1%. APAC’s increase of 3.5% offset the rest of the world’s decreases.
• Cost per mille rallied after a drop at the beginning of August, seemingly correcting the downward trend. CPMs increased by almost 10% in LATAM and averaged a 5.1% increase in the rest of the world.
• Despite signs that the cost of installs would fall after prolonged increases, August has returned to July trends of rising CPIs. The overall figure of 3.1% hides ballooning costs in Education (11.5%) and Finance (6.2%) apps.

August 11th, 2020

• After weeks of gains, supply dropped -3.3% at the very beginning of August. North America and LATAM decreased by 4% each, though only Latin America saw an equal rise (4.7%) in CPI costs.
• On the flip side, CPIs in SEA fell -10%, the largest decrease of any region. Marketers in APAC have seen a large rise in cost over July, so this should be welcome news to UA managers in the region.
• CPMs decreased at an average -10.6%. This was felt most in North America, where costs have decreased by a total of -19.1%. CPMs also decreased the most for Entertainment (-13.6%), Finance (-18.5%) and Gaming (-16.9%).

August 3rd, 2020

• There was a stable amount of available supply compared to the previous week (+0.8%). There were relatively small changes in each region.
• CPMs grew by +6.5%. All regions saw CPM increases and there were decent increases (+6% to +10%) across most regions. These increases were driven by Gaming, Finance, eCommerce, and Education.
• Global CPIs increased for the fourth consecutive week (+8.0%). We saw increases in CPI across every region. There were some notable large swings in APAC. We also saw increases across every app category except for Travel (-8.2%).

July 28th, 2020

• We saw a +7.7% increase in available supply. An increase was seen across all regions, the largest coming from NAR (13.9%).
• CPMs were lower throughout the week but spiked on the weekend (overall -3.1%).
• Global CPIs rose by 7.1%. The rise in global CPIs are mainly due to increases from APAC regions & LATAM. Finance CPIs continue to be volatile (+16.6%). There have been four straight weeks of double-digit % changes.

July 20th, 2020

• We saw a slight decrease in global supply (-2.2%). Each region decreased but the change was largely driven by decreases in the Americas (LATAM -4.4% and NAR -4.7%).
• Global CPMs were effectively the same compared to the prior week (+0.4%).
• Global CPIs rose by 7.1%. We saw CPIs increase in every region except for Korea (-1.5%). Every app category experienced an increase in CPIs except for Education (-1.8%). There was a very large increase in CPIs in the Rest of APAC region (+23.7%).

July 14th, 2020

• Many of the changes this week are likely due to natural fluctuations in prices (i.e. not caused by major shifts or events).
• This is the third straight week of increased global supply. There were notable increases in NAR (+4.8%) & APAC (+3.4%). Except for EMEA, each region has grown for the third consecutive week as well.
• Global CPMs declined again this past week (-2.9%). All regions saw a decline in CPMs except for the Rest of APAC (+6.1%). This is likely partially due to the increase in available supply.
• Although CPMs declined by almost 3%, global CPIs rose by 2.1%. Granular CPIs trends were a mixed bag this week – about half of all regions & app categories saw CPI increases while the others declined. We saw the largest decreases in Finance and Utility CPIs (-11.7% & -10.7%, respectively). The largest CPI increases came from Entertainment and eCommerce (+9.7% & +7.1%, respectively).

July 6th, 2020

• There was a huge increase in available supply which grew by 10.3%. The notable increases in supply were across all four regions but North America saw the largest jump with a 14.1% increase. This was helped by the July 4th holiday weekend in the US.
• Global CPMs dropped by -6.1%. We saw this trend across every major geographic region and every app category. Increase in available supply helped to lower CPMs. Decline in supply cost was seen across several supply partners.
• For the first time in almost 3 months, we saw a decrease in global CPIs (-8.1%). Global CPIs decreased because there was a decrease across every major region except for SEA (+1%). CPIs also decreased across every app category except for Utility (3.6%).

June 29th, 2020

• Overall supply grew by 0.8%. We saw notable increases in supply in the Americas (both North America at 4.3% and LATAM at 4.2%).
• Global CPMs rose by 9.5%. We see this trend across most supply partners as well. Mainly driven by increases in North America (+11.1%) and EMEA (+8.1%).
• We’ve seen global CPIs continue to trend upwards. This week’s uptick was quite large (+10.5%). This is the 11th straight week that CPIs have increased. CPIs have increased across every region and almost every app category (Finance being the only app category where CPIs have decreased). Increases are largely due to increased competition.

June 22nd, 2020

• Overall supply declined by 8.3% which is the largest WoW decline in the past 6 months. Declines were seen across all major regions but the large decline was mainly driven by the -16.1% decline in NAR. Part of the decline is due to some supply sources rolling out “consolidated requests” (combining multiple ad formats in the same request, instead of splitting them into multiple).
• For the first time in two months, supply costs declined (-0.2%). A large increase in CPMs from NAR (+8.8%) was largely balanced out by decreases in other major regions. Although overall CPMs declined slightly, CPMs in every app category except for Finance increased this past week.
• Global CPIs continue the trend upwards but only rose slightly (+0.6%). 10th straight week that CPIs have increased. CPIs in APAC & LATAM declined while NAR & EMEA rose.

June 15th, 2020

• Supply saw the largest decline in about a month (-3.1%). All regions experienced softening in terms of available supply but the largest came from EMEA (-4.6%). This is likely due to people using their phones less frequently.
• This is the ninth straight week where we have seen CPMs increase (+1.4%). Although we’ve seen supply costs continue to increase, the increase this past week was the smallest WoW change over the past 2 months. Supply cost actually declined throughout most of the world, except for Japan (+8.7%) and NAR (+6.2%).
• CPIs continue to show increases WoW (+5.5%). Liftoff saw increases in CPI across every major app category. The largest increases came from EMEA, KR, and the “Rest of APAC”. CPIs in LATAM have leveled off after being quite volatile over the past couple of months. There are a few reasons for the increase in overall install costs:
  • First, there is slightly lower supply and we’ve seen an overall increase in demand (more advertisers in the mix). Those market forces push the average CPI up.
  • Second, scale. This is related to the first point but some existing marketers have been pushing scale during this period and have increased budgets/goals which lift CPI values.
  • And third, we’ve seen strong post-install performance from several advertisers. So although their installs cost more, their down-stream conversion rates may have improved so post-install events are not as costly as before.

June 8th, 2020

• Supply was constant over the past week (-0.1%). A 1% drop in bid requests from EMEA was made up by small increases in the other three regions.
• This is the eighth straight week where we have seen CPMs increase (+2.8%). They increased in all regions except for NAR where supply costs were constant compared to the previous week (0.0%).
• CPIs took a decent jump upwards (+8.2%). We saw increases across every major region and almost every app category. The two app categories where CPIs decreased were Finance (-0.3%) and Education (-10.8%). Education CPIs declined even though Education CPMs increased by over 22%. This speaks to an increased ITI rate for Education apps. CPIs are likely increasing due to steady supply and increased demand across all regions.

June 1st, 2020

• Available supply was relatively constant week over week (-0.2%). Decreases in LATAM and APAC (-2.0% & -0.5%) were made up for by a moderate increase in NAR (+0.7%). Although the decrease was subtle, it did mark the 5th consecutive week with a decline in supply.
• CPMs continue to rise (+4.0%). This is the 7th straight week that CPMs have increased. We saw CPM increases in every region except EMEA (-1.1%).
• Although supply costs increased, this week’s CPIs were very similar compared to the prior week (+0.2%). CPIs remained constant due to increased performance (CTR + CTI).

May 25th, 2020

• Overall, available supply was relatively flat but did decrease for the fourth straight week (-0.8%). Decreases in APAC, EMEA, and NAR were offset by a large supply increase in LATAM.
• Supply costs increased for the 6th consecutive week (+6.8%). We saw significant CPM increases in Japan, Korea, and North America (+13.0%, +10.1%, and +10.4% respectively). Increases in CPMs this week largely came from Gaming and Social (+11.5% and +18.8% respectively)
• CPIs continue to be on the rise (+10.2%). This is true across all regions and almost all app categories. Also this is the 6th straight week that CPIs have increased.
• The increase in CPMs & CPIs are due to decreasing/flat available supply growth with a continued increase in demand.

May 18th, 2020

• We saw an even larger decline in overall supply this week (-3.7%). This is the third consecutive week where the number of available impressions has gone down. The decline in available supply was seen across all regions but felt most notably in NAR (-5.5%). The decline in supply could be an indication that people are using their devices slightly less as some stay-at-home restrictions are lifted.
• Lower available supply likely contributed to CPMs increasing this past week (+4.4%). APAC overall saw an increase in supply costs but both Japan and Korea saw slightly lower CPMs (-3.9% & -0.6%, respectively). CPMs by app category continue to be erratic as cost and performance fluctuates.
• CPIs increased for the fifth straight week (+8.9%). Installs are getting more competitive; increased competition from more advertisers getting back into the market and less available supply globally. Although LATAM saw another large increase in CPI (+12.4%), the region continues to have some of the lowest CPIs compared to the rest of the world.

May 11th, 2020

• Available supply declined slightly (-2.2%) and supply declined across all major regions. The largest decline came from EMEA (-3.8%).
• Global CPMs increased for the fourth consecutive week (+6.1%). Korea and Japan both saw CPM decreases but every other region experienced supply cost increases. Utility apps saw the largest increase in CPM (+28.4%).
• Global CPIs also increased for the fourth consecutive week (+6.7%) and every region saw increases in CPI, except for LATAM (-0.9%). All app categories saw CPI increases except for eCommerce (-1.6%). This is the fourth straight week where CPIs for Social/Dating apps have increased by double digit % (+14.6% this week).

May 4th, 2020

• We had another week where volume of supply remained fairly constant (-0.4%).
• Global CPMs increased for the third consecutive week (+5.9%) and every region saw an increase in CPM except for Korea (-2.5%). APACx saw the largest increase WoW (16.5%).
• CPIs also increased for the third straight week (+4.4%) and every region saw at least a 4.0% increase in CPIs. This is the second straight week where every region saw CPI increases. LATAM experienced the largest WoW CPI increase at 15.0%. eCommerce was the only app category which saw a decrease in install costs (-3.1%).

April 27th, 2020

• We saw another increase in available supply, globally (+5.2%). This is the fifth consecutive week where the available supply pool grew. It is also the second straight week that the largest supply increase came from North America (+7.8%).
• Global CPMs increased for the first time since early March of 2020 (2.1%). However, the overall change was relatively small. Japan, Korea, & SEA saw decreases in CPMs while other regions increased.
• Global CPIs increased for the first time in 6 weeks (4.3%). When looking at all regions, this week’s changes in CPIs tend to mirror the increase in CPMs. This suggests that performance was relatively similar WoW. CPIs in Social/Dating apps saw the biggest increase (11.5%).

April 14, 2020

• We saw an increase in available supply, globally (+4.0%). The largest increase came from North America (+5.9%).
• Global CPMs dropped for the fourth consecutive week (-5.3%). All regions saw decreases in CPMs, although some were fairly small changes.
• Global CPIs dropped for another week as well (-3.2%). All app categories except for Education & Travel saw decreases in CPI. Travel CPIs continue to fluctuate considerably.

April 7, 2020

• Global CPMs continue to decrease and CPMs decreased by 10.7% compared to the week of March 30. CPMs are down across every region. 
• Global CPIs are also on the decline andCPIs decreased by 6.8% globally compared to the week of March 30. All regions except for North America saw a decrease in CPI. 
• Most regions saw subtle increases in available bid requests (BR) but they have increased for a third straight week overall. Latin America was the only region which saw a small decrease in BRs this week. This positive trend in available supply is likely why CPM costs have continued to decrease Higher bid request volume likely has two causes:
  • People are using their phones more frequently. 
  • Ad networks are pulling budget, leaving more open to programmatic.