Average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU)

Demystifying ARPDAU: A Cornerstone for Game App Monetization

ARPDAU, short for Average Revenue Per Daily Active User, is a pivotal metric enabling game developers to keep tabs on their game app’s revenue generation on a per-user basis daily. This robust metric is instrumental in gauging the implications of in-game changes, new features, or promotional events on the overall ability of your game to generate revenue.

The Core Concept of ARPDAU

Revenue derived from in-app purchases, ads, and subscriptions come together to form ARPDAU – a snapshot of daily earnings per active user. This indicator offers a wide-angle view of your game’s financial performance, reflecting shifts in response to alterations.

Whether you’ve rolled out a game update, launched a new feature, or kicked off a seasonal event, ARPDAU acts as your financial compass, providing real-time tracking of your earnings trajectory.

ARPDAU: Why it Matters?

ARPDAU is a powerful tool, providing game developers and marketers with real-time insights into the monetization effectiveness of their app. Suppose you have tweaked the cost of premium upgrades to encourage more player purchases. In that case, ARPDAU can help track whether this strategic pricing change leads to an uptick in paid upgrades and revenue generation.

Keep in mind, though, that ARPDAU, while a powerful tool, is best suited for short-term tracking and does come with some limitations. When complemented with other metrics like Lifetime Value (LTV), it provides a more comprehensive picture of your game’s monetization potential over time.

How to Compute ARPDAU?

Computing ARPDAU is quite simple: You divide the total daily revenue by the total count of daily active users.

So, if you have a gaming app with 10 million daily users, racking up a total of $4 million in daily revenue, the average daily spending per active user would be 40 cents.

Enhancing Your ARPDAU

Driving up your ARPDAU can be accomplished with well-thought-out strategies. Enhancing ad engagement with mechanisms like reward walls can lead to a rise in revenue. Similarly, strategically presenting exclusive offers, special in-app purchases, or exclusive bonuses to particular player segments can boost the probability of transactions, subsequently enhancing your ARPDAU.

ARPDAU and ARPU: Two Sides of the Same Coin

ARPDAU and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) are closely related but serve different purposes. While ARPDAU centers around daily active users, ARPU assesses the average revenue generated per user over a set duration and isn’t confined to a daily timeline.