What is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?

The percentage of app users who view an ad and then click on it, measuring how compelling an ad is.

Click-through rate (CTR) in mobile advertising indicates the percentage of app users who have viewed an ad and then clicked on it. Simply put, a mobile ad's click-through rate measures how compelling an ad is – that is, how many viewers are driven to click on an ad to take them to a particular landing page or to the app store.

Why It Matters

CTR reflects user interest in an app - the higher the CTR, the stronger the user intent. It tells advertisers how well their ads resonate with users and helps determine the success or failure of ads from their creatives, copy, or placement. UA managers can compare CTRs across different ad formats and channels.

How to Calculate

CTR = (Number of Clicks ÷ Number of Impressions) × 100. For example, if an ad has 1,000 impressions and 25 clicks, the CTR would be 2.5%. If there are 1,000 impressions and 30 clicks, the CTR would be 3.0%.

Industry Benchmarks

Best Practices

A/B test ad creatives, copy, and colors continuously. Test ad timing and frequency. Experiment with different ad formats and targeting groups. Focus on serving ads to the right target audience rather than broad audiences for better CTR and cost efficiency.

Examples

A gaming app tests different video ad end cards: animated end cards achieve 4.2% CTR while static end cards get 2.8% CTR. An e-commerce app optimizes button colors and sees CTR improve from 1.5% to 2.3% after changing from green to orange CTAs.

Notes

High CTR shows user interest but doesn't guarantee quality users - monitor alongside conversion metrics. Be aware of "accidental clicks" especially with full-screen interstitials that can inflate CTR without reflecting true user intent. CTR should be measured with click-to-install rates and post-install metrics.