typical Active Users vs. Total Downloads and DAU vs. Active Users

Monetizing, Advertising & Marketing Advertising Networks
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Though this will vary greatly by app type, playability (if it is a game) - here are the Active Users vs. Total downloads figures I am seeing for 2 apps:

Active Users/Total Downloads:

21% in one app
31% in another app

Daily Active Users (from AppBrain stats) / Active Users (from Google stats):

0.06
0.10

This is a comparison of figures which WILL scale similarly (regardless of the age of the app, the established user base etc.).

In comparison, New Installs vs. DAU is LESS instructive - since if your app is new you will have fewer recurring users - so will be mostly new installs (ratio close to 1.0). And if it is an old app with a huge Active User base - out of which you will be getting daily recurring users - then there will be significant recurring users and the ratio will be less (since DAU = new installs plus recurring users that day).

Although in the long-term state even the New Install vs. DAU ratio can be instructive - since eventually if you will be reaching a STAGNANT state of discoverability - then your daily installs will wind up being nearly the same day to day. Your recurring installs (coming out of your Active User base) will also be reasonably similar day to day.

You will be LOSING nearly the same users from your Active User base (due to attrition/churn) as you are gaining - in the STAGNANT case - and so you will reach “equilibrium” when your churn rate is matching your new installs.

At this point your Total Downloads will be going up and up - BUT your Active User base will become stagnant.

So you can have 1M downloads - but eventually you will get so big with your Active User base - that you LOSSES from that Active User base become dominant and swamp your New Installs - at that point you will have reached equilibrium. Active User numbers will then be STAGNANT day to day - while Total Downloads going up.

Is that pretty much what the large download users are seeing ?

Like Mind with Word Hero and David and others (though I would place David in the “buzz” category as many people would be looking for iphone launchers) - but even at that scale it should eventually be something similar (unless at the high rankings in google - there are day to day GREATER fluctuations - as one or two position move can have greater consequences - so see greater jumps from one or two position change day to day).

Or something - anyway - just some thoughts - maybe folks can put out their analysis in a similar vein …

2

One app I have, has been on the market since 2010. Currently it gets about the same number of uninstalls as installs per day. So the active users is about the same each day, but total downloads still goes up. Sounds like the perfect candidate for StartApp.

3

One app I have, has been on the market since 2010. Currently it gets about the same number of uninstalls as installs per day. So the active users is about the same each day, but total downloads still goes up. Sounds like the perfect candidate for StartApp.

That exactly fitting the model described above i.e. EVEN for popular apps as your Active User base becomes large - even if you are leaking 1% of users, that will be a HUGE number that has to be made up by new installs.

If new installs fall, then you are operating at a net loss and Active User base will go down up to a point where the leak exactly matches the new installs.

This is equilibrium.

And the only way to break that is to increase user retention/engagement (so lower churn) - esp. if the new installs cannot be increased beyond a point.

Or you start off with an idea that is so great that it is destined to reach the top spots.

StartApp type stuff is directly proportional to the Total Downloads - so you are right - that makes for a novel model.

For ads and AppWalls - what is important is to have a high DAU (Daily Active Users) base. Here the Total Downloads is not as relevant, and neither is the Active User Base that relevant.

The Active User Base COULD be made more relevant perhaps if the developer puts in Google Cloud Messaging or some such thing - so they keep the user updated - in that way they can increase the involvement of dormant users (i.e. all those users in the Active User base who have the app installed that is … but who are not daily users).

Just talking here - I guess there was no other point to this post.