About Benchmarks
Benchmarks is a tool in MobileAction’s Apple Ads Campaign Management Platform that shows you how Apple Ads performance metrics behave across the wider industry. Instead of looking at your campaign data in isolation, you can compare your results against aggregated data from across categories, countries, and ad placements. This helps you understand whether your numbers are strong or weak in context, and where the opportunities for improvement actually lie.
Why benchmarks matter
Apple Ads performance varies significantly by category, country, and ad placement. A conversion rate that looks low in one category may be strong in another. A cost per tap that looks high in one country may be the norm in that market. Without an external reference point, it is difficult to know whether your campaigns are underperforming or simply operating in a competitive market where those numbers are expected.
Benchmarks gives you that reference point. It lets you:
- Set realistic targets for your campaigns based on what is achievable in your category
- Spot areas where your performance is falling behind the market average, so you know where to focus optimization effort
- Understand how market-level trends are shifting over time, so you can adjust strategy ahead of changes rather than reacting after the fact
- Compare your performance against broader competitive activity without needing access to any individual competitor's data
The four core metrics
Benchmarks focuses on four key metrics that reflect the most important stages of the Apple Ads funnel:
|
Metric |
Definition |
|
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) |
The average cost to acquire a user who installs your app through an ad. This is the clearest indicator of overall campaign efficiency, as it combines both the cost of reaching users and the rate at which they convert. |
|
Cost Per Tap (CPT) |
The average cost for each tap on your ad. This reflects how competitive the auction is for the keywords and placements your campaigns target. |
|
Conversion Rate (CR) |
The percentage of users who tap on your ad and then complete the desired action, typically installing your app. This indicates how effectively your ad, product page, and targeting align with user intent. |
|
Tap-Through Rate (TTR) |
The percentage of impressions that result in a tap on your ad. This reflects how well your ad creative and positioning capture user attention in the search results. |
Together, these four metrics give you a complete picture of upper funnel performance from impression through to install. Benchmarking each one individually helps you pinpoint exactly where your campaigns are strong and where they are underperforming relative to the market.
What Benchmarks does not show
Benchmarks shows aggregated industry data, not data about specific competitors. You can see how your category is performing on average, but not how a named competitor's specific campaigns are performing. For competitor-level insights, use the competitor insights section of Overview.
Benchmarks also shows upper funnel metrics only. It does not include post-install event data, retention, or ROAS, which depend on your MMP integration and appear in other parts of the platform.
Related links
- Navigate to Benchmarks and apply filters
- Reading the Benchmarks dashboard
- Best practices for using Benchmarks
Need more help?
If you have further questions on the process, contact your dedicated Customer Success Manager or contact the support team via live chat.