Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures the revenue generated by advertising divided by what that advertising cost, usually over a fixed cohort window such as the first 7 or 30 days after install.
ROAS is revenue attributed to a campaign divided by that campaign's spend. The Apple Ads glossary expresses it as a percentage (campaign revenue divided by ad cost, times 100), so 100% means revenue has matched spend; many teams quote it as a ratio instead. Because revenue keeps arriving after the install, ROAS is always tied to a window: D7 ROAS counts revenue from a cohort's first seven days, D30 its first thirty. In-app revenue usually lives outside the ad platform, so teams join spend to revenue through a mobile measurement partner or their own analytics, and should say whether revenue is gross or net of store commission.
Subscription apps often look unprofitable at D7. Trials convert later, annual plans renew a year out and monthly plans pay back in instalments, so early ROAS understates value, and cutting campaigns on week-one numbers can starve the channel that feeds renewals. Teams set a payback target instead, such as 100% by day 90 or day 180, and track each cohort against it. Over a long enough window ROAS converges on lifetime value divided by cost per install, and organic installs lift blended ROAS by adding revenue without spend. Our Apple Search Ads calculator turns a ROAS target into a break-even bid.
Example
A fitness subscription app spends $10,000 on Apple Ads in March. That cohort brings in $3,000 by day 7, a 30% ROAS, and $9,500 by day 60. Because annual renewals land later, the team judges the campaign against a 120% day-180 target rather than cutting it in week one.