Cost to Promote Mobile Apps Soars to Record High

According to marketing firm Fiksu, the cost to acquire a loyal mobile app user (defined as one who uses an app at least three times) spiked in December. Mobile development firms spent an average of $1.81 to attract each loyal user -- a 26.5 percent increase over November.

The company said that developers spent big during the month in an effort to get their apps on the top download charts before Christmas day. Ad spending and traffic doubled during the final week of the year.