Marketers and developers paid much more for a conversion in Apple Search Ads during the fourth quarter of 2021 than they have in the past, according to data from SplitMetrics.

The CPA in Apple Search Ads is the indicator to measure how much on average marketers or developers pay for the conversion, which equates to a tap on the “Get” button.

SplitMetrics calculated the average CPA by dividing the total spend by the number of installs from an ad in Apple Search Ads in a specific time frame.

SplitMetrics estimates the average CPA at $3.64 in Q4 2021 — up from $2.58 in Q3 2021. It remained steady in Q2 at $2.58, but rose from $2.22 in Q1 2021. The company also estimates the compound annual growth rate at 6.42%.

The report from SplitMetrics — a global tech company focused on analyzing data from mobile apps — analyzed the average taps and impressions (TTR), clickthrough rates or downloads and taps (CR), spend and taps (CPT), and spend and download or the cost per action (CPA) by categories and markets for the second half of 2021.

The data also compares each measurement with Apple Search Ads benchmarks from previous years, quarter-over-quarter.

The average tap-through rate (TTR) for Apple Search Ads for the second half of 2021 fell to 8.87%, up from 9.17% in the first half of the year, according to data from SplitMetrics.

The TTR measures the number of times that App Store users tapped on an ad. Then it is divided by the total number of impressions for the ad.

In Q4 2021, the TTR came in at 8.32%, up from 8.25%, but down from 8.7% in Q2 and 9% in Q1, according to data from SplitMetrics, a global tech company focused on analyzing data from mobile apps.

Sports led with the highest TTR for the second half of the year at 19.86%, up from 1767%. In the first half. Entertainment followed with 18.79% in the second half, but fell from 19.46% in the first half. Graphic & Design rounded out the top three with 14.43%, up from 9.94% in the first half of the year. The data tracked 15 popular categories. Eight out of 15 App Store categories under consideration had TTR above the overall average, 9.34%.

The average Apple Search Ads conversion rate (CR) reflects the number of app downloads divided by the total number of taps on the ad. The average CR in H2 2021 reached 62.22% in the fourth quarter in 2021, up from 60.96% in Q3 2021.

Similar to the TTR, SplitMetrics analyzed the top CR for 15 app categories.

Eight out of 15 categories show the CR above the overall average at 62.22%. The top three were Business, increasing 10.94%; Games at 8.19%; and Sports at 7.42%.

Health & Fitness, Graphics & Design, and Music fell 17.92%, 13.21%, and 8.77%, respectively.

The average CPT in Apple Search Ads is the total spend on the ads divided by the total number of taps on those ads. The average CPT rose to $2.27 in Q4 2021, up from $1.58 in Q3 2021.

The data shows the overall average TTR at 8.87%; CR, 62.22%; CPT, $2.22; and CPA, $3.76 for the second half of 2021.

CPT for Finance came in five-times higher at $11.73, compared with the average across all categories.

The CPA for Finance also affected the average CPA for other categories — rising to $21.22, which is 5.6 times higher than the overall average.

Marketers and developers paid much more for a conversion in Apple Search Ads during Q4 2021 than they have in the past, according to SplitMetrics. The average CPA in Q4 2021 came in at at $ 3.64, up from $ 2.58 in Q3.