Glossary
ARPU
Average revenue per user: total revenue in a period divided by active users, which tells an affiliate what a typical referred player is worth. It is the first input when weighing RevShare against a CPA.
Also called: average revenue per user, average revenue per player.
In iGaming the revenue is usually GGR or NGR, and active users are typically players who placed at least 1 bet in the period. Both choices change the result, so ARPU from 2 sources is comparable only when both define revenue and activity the same way. Monthly ARPU on NGR, split by GEO and by source, is the version an affiliate can actually use.
A hypothetical example: 400 active players generate $12,000 of NGR in a month, so ARPU is $30. On 35% RevShare that is $10.50 per active player per month. If they stay active for about 6 months on average, each is worth roughly $63 to you, and that is the number a CPA offer has to beat.
The trap is that ARPU averages everyone. A few big depositors plus a crowd of $10 players can produce the same figure as a steady mid-range base, with very different churn and risk. Pair it with ARPPU and look at it by cohort before you trust it.
Related terms: ARPPU, LTV, Churn rate, Cohort analysis, RevShare.