ReportMoloco
Post-IDFA Mobile Game Advertising Costs: Casual vs Core
1 Jan 20218 pages~9 min full read
Core games experienced a 78% surge in iOS CPI following the iOS 14.6 release, driven by intensified competition for a shrinking pool of high-value, trackable users.
Casual games saw a 38% decline in iOS CPI post-iOS 14.6, while Android CPI for the same segment rose by 16%.
Android CPI for core games increased by 36% during the same period, reflecting broader market volatility across platforms.
The historical CPI gap between iOS and Android has narrowed for casual titles, suggesting that Android installs now provide monetary value comparable to iOS for that segment.
iOS remains the premium channel for core games due to higher in-app purchase conversion rates, despite the significant cost increases.
The analysis is based on 13.5 billion programmatic ad impressions across iOS and Android tracked between January 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021.
Strategic mitigation of post-IDFA volatility requires diversifying media spend and utilizing machine-learning-based bidding optimized for return-on-ad-spend.
The analysis quantifies how Apple’s post‑IDFA privacy updates have reshaped user‑acquisition economics for mobile games, contrasting casual titles with core experiences. By aggregating 13.5 billion programmatic ad impressions from iOS and Android between January 1 2021 and September 30 2021, the study tracks cost‑per‑install (CPI) trends across three intervals—pre‑iOS 14.5, during the iOS 14.5‑14.6 rollout, and post‑iOS 14.6—using Moloco’s proprietary game taxonomy to separate titles into casual and core categories.
Casual games experienced a sharp decline in iOS CPI, falling 38 % after the iOS 14.6 release, while Android CPI for the same segment rose modestly by 16 %. In contrast, core games saw iOS CPI surge 78 % and Android CPI increase 36 % over the same period, reflecting intensified competition for a shrinking pool of high‑value, trackable users. The narrowing of the historical iOS‑Android CPI gap for casual titles indicates that Android installs now command comparable monetary value, whereas iOS remains the premium channel for core audiences due to higher in‑app‑purchase conversion rates.
Methodologically, the research averages weekly CPI data across the defined date ranges, applying a taxonomy that classifies games by genre and engagement depth, with subcategories overlapping between casual and core groups. Findings suggest that the divergent CPI trajectories are driven by user churn characteristics and lifetime‑value differentials rather than seasonal factors.
Strategic recommendations emphasize diversifying media spend, allocating budget to campaigns optimized for return‑on‑ad‑spend, and leveraging machine‑learning‑based bidding to mitigate volatility. These practices aim to preserve profitability amid the evolving privacy‑driven market dynamics for both casual and core mobile game publishers.
