Average revenue per user (ARPU) has – generally – increased across Android platform versions over the last 12 months, with the ageing Gingerbread version seeing a 33 per cent spike, according to monetisation company Tapjoy.
The company said the positive trend is likely to be as attributable to improvements in its own ad network and the improved monetisation practices of app developers as any changes to Android operating systems.
There was one exception, however, with ARPU for Android JellyBean (4.1) – the latest version of the platform for the year in question – dropping by 4 per cent to $1.57.
But this decrease was attributed to “normalisation” as the volume for the platform increased from high-end devices through vendor portfolios.
Indeed, the $1.57 is still higher than any earlier version of the platform except for Gingerbread (2.3), which stood at $1.60.
Tapjoy said the continued strength of Gingerbread is “good news for Android developers”, because it means that users of older devices are still driving solid revenue.
Of course, ARPU rates alone do not give a full picture. According to Google figures, around 55 per cent of devices visiting its Play store are running Android JellyBean, compared with 24 per cent for Android Gingerbread.
This means that while the latter offers slightly better monetisation potential, the former is a larger target market – making it the more lucrative target.
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