Mobile app marketing costs hit an all-time high during December 2011, according to Fiksu, as the market saw a record number of iOS app downloads in the run-up to Christmas.

“What we witnessed during the month was a ‘land rush’ in which advertisers earnestly spent marketing dollars in order to achieve ranking before the traditional App Store freeze which then would generate substantial organic downloads through increased visibility,” said Fiksu CEO Micah Adler.

Fiksu said that advertisers entered into bidding wars to secure top rankings in the Apple App Store, leading the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index to hit US$1.81 at the end of the year, up 27 percent compared to November.

Meanwhile the company’s App Store Competitive Index – which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free iPhone apps in the US – peaked at just over six million daily downloads, seven percent more than the previous record set in November.

Fiksu also found that the final week of December saw traffic and dollars spent increase by 100 percent compared to the weeks immediately prior.