Facebook Ads Cost Per App Install Benchmarks for Consumer Goods

Introduction

Consumer Goods app install costs told a dramatic story across all countries: an early‑winter surge that exploded into a February spike, followed by a rapid reset and a quiet, low‑cost summer. Against the steadier global benchmark, this category swung from far above market to meaningfully below it by late Q3. This analysis is based on $3B worth of advertising data from our dataset, which provides strong directional benchmarks. This analysis explores ad performance trends for Consumer Goods in all countries compared to the global benchmark.

The story in the data

Cost per app install (CPI) for Consumer Goods opened at 32.6 in November 2024, climbed to 142.2 in December, and accelerated again to 318.5 in January 2025 before spiking to 1,728 in February—the period high by an enormous margin. From there, costs collapsed to 11.24 in April, then drifted lower: 3.18 in June (the period low), 7.78 in August, and 4.85 in September. From start to finish, CPI fell 85%, ending well below where it began.

Across the eight reported months, CPI averaged 281, though that mean is heavily skewed by February’s outlier. The median across months was 21.9, underscoring how atypical the winter heights were. Month‑to‑month absolute movement averaged 490 points between observations, with the bulk of the volatility concentrated in the January–April window (+1,409 points from January to February, then −1,717 points into April).

By contrast, the global all‑industry benchmark averaged 16.1 across the same overlapping months, with much tighter swings (average monthly absolute change of 6.2). The global range ran from 7.13 (January) to 27.90 (June), a band of roughly 21 points versus Consumer Goods’ 1,725‑point span.

Seasonal and monthly dynamics

The pattern split into two distinct chapters:

• Late Q4 through late Q1: escalating costs culminating in a February apex. November to December jumped +337%, December to January added +124%, and January to February surged another +442%.
• Spring through late summer: a swift normalization and subdued costs. February to April dropped −99% to near pre‑surge levels. June marked the trough at 3.18, followed by a modest rebound in August (7.78) and a softer September (4.85).

The global benchmark showed a more familiar rhythm: softer in Q1 (January at 7.13), firming into early summer (June peak at 27.90), then elevated but contained through late Q3.

Country vs. Global

Relative positioning flipped over the year. In the surge phase, Consumer Goods CPI sat dramatically above market: +106% vs. global in November, +1,158% in December, +4,369% in January, and +13,704% in February. After the reset, it moved below market levels: −11% in April, −89% in June, −57% in August, and −79% in September.

Averaged across overlapping months, Consumer Goods CPI was 281 versus the global 16.1 (+1,645%), but excluding the February spike, Consumer Goods averaged 74.3 versus 16.6 (+347%). In the late‑summer cohort alone (April, June, August, September), the category averaged 6.8, roughly 67% below the global benchmark for those months—evidence of a pronounced rebound and then sustained discount to market.

Closing

In sum, Facebook Ads benchmarks for cost per app install in Consumer Goods across all countries showed an extreme winter spike and a decisive return to low, sub‑benchmark territory by late Q3. This CPI arc—surge, correction, and calm—stands in contrast to the steadier global baseline and offers a clear read on industry ad performance relative to broader market patterns. Understanding cost per app install trends for Consumer Goods in all countries helps frame country‑specific ad costs within the wider context of global Facebook Ads benchmarks, CPM analysis, CPC trends, and CTR performance.