See how your app install costs compare. Explore mobile acquisition cost benchmarks by industry, region, and platform
August 2025 - August 2026
Detailed observation of presented data
The headline: Media’s cost-per-app-install in the pooled “All countries available” dataset largely tracked below the global benchmark for most months — until a March spike that dwarfed the market and rewrote the average. 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 Media in All countries available compared to the global benchmark.
From December 2025 to March 2026 the series moved from $2.90 to $2,313.63 per app install — an almost 800x increase between the first and last month. Across those four months the raw mean was about $584 per install (skewed by March) while the median was roughly $10.44, highlighting a single extreme value driving averages. Month-to-month volatility was extreme: December → January rose ~366%, January → February fell ~45%, then February → March exploded by roughly 31,300%. Excluding the March outlier, the three-month average (Dec–Feb) was about $7.93 per install, a far calmer picture than the headline mean.
Highs and lows: the low was $2.90 in December 2025, the high $2,313.63 in March 2026. Overlap with the global baseline shows a different scale: the benchmark median across the same months was about $14.72 and the mean about $17.23 — far below the March anomaly but above most Media-months before March.
The cadence reads like a compressed seasonal rhythm with an outlier. December was unusually soft, followed by a January uptick and a modest February pullback — a pattern consistent with quieter late-Q4 and early-Q1 churn. Then March became a singular event, overwhelming the prior rhythm with an order-of-magnitude cost surge. Typical seasonal language applies: performance softened in late-year months with modest early-year recovery — except for the anomalous March spike that breaks the usual pattern.
Measured against the global baseline, Media in All countries available usually sat below market levels for this window. On a median basis across Dec–Mar the Media series was about 39% below the global mean; excluding the March spike, Media’s three-month average was roughly 55% below the comparable global average. Month-level gaps varied widely: December costs were ~69% below the baseline, January roughly 5% above, February ~75% below, and March about 139x above the global March benchmark. Overall, the Media series was markedly more volatile than the global benchmark during this period.
Understanding cost-per-app-install benchmarks for Media across All countries available helps advertisers and analysts read volatility, seasonal swings, and extreme outliers in the context of Facebook Ads benchmarks, CPC trends, CPM analysis, CTR performance, country-specific ad costs, and broader industry ad performance.
Insights & analysis of Facebook advertising costs
Facebook advertising costs vary based on many factors including industry, target audience, ad placement, and campaign objectives. In the Media industry, Facebook ad costs can be influenced by seasonal trends and market competition. Geographic targeting affects ad costs based on market competition and user engagement in different regions. Different campaign objectives lead to varying costs based on how Facebook optimizes for your specific goals. The data shown represents median values across multiple campaigns, and individual results may vary based on ad quality, audience targeting, and campaign optimization.
We use the median CTR because the underlying distribution of click-through rates is highly skewed, with a small share of campaigns achieving extremely high CTRs. These outliers can inflate a simple average, making it less representative of what most advertisers actually experience. By using the median—which sits at the midpoint of all campaigns—we provide a more rigorous and realistic benchmark that reflects the true underlying data model and helps you set attainable performance expectations.
Note: This data represents industry median values and benchmarks. Your actual costs may vary based on specific targeting, ad creative quality, and campaign optimization.
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All data is sourced from over $3B in Facebook ad spend, collected across thousands of ad accounts that use Superads daily to analyze and improve their campaigns. Every data point is fully anonymized and aggregated—no individual advertiser is ever exposed.
This dataset updates frequently as new ad data flows in. It will only get bigger and better.
iOS CPIs often range from $2 to $5 or more. Android is usually cheaper, between $1 and $3. Your CPI will depend on geo, creative, and optimization goal.
Some regions like the US, UK, and Canada have higher competition and stricter privacy regulations, which drive up costs. Countries with lower purchasing power typically have cheaper CPIs.
Short videos showing app benefits, UGC-style content, and localized messaging tend to perform best. Clear CTAs and fast-paced visuals help lower your CPI.
Optimizing for installs gets volume, but optimizing for actions like signups or purchases brings higher quality users. It depends on your goals and how much post-install behavior matters.
Align your creative with the app experience, avoid misleading ads, and exclude users who already installed. You can also test lookalike audiences based on high-quality users, not just all installers.
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See how much it costs to get users to install an app