Average Revenue per User (ARPU)
Average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber
What is Average Revenue per User (ARPU)?
Average revenue per user is the average subscription revenue each subscriber generates in a period, usually a month. It shows how much value a media service earns from its audience.
It is a key measure for pricing, plan mix and business health in subscription media.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Customer Success & Service
- Sub-function
- Subscriber Growth
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Revenue
- Unit
- $/month
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly
- Formula
- Total subscription revenue / Total subscribers
How to calculate it
Divide total subscription revenue by total subscribers.
For example, if a service earned 6,000,000 in a month from 500,000 subscribers, ARPU is 12.
Use average subscribers over the period, and split by plan, since free and discounted plans lower the average. Track alongside churn.
Where it is used
Setting pricing and plans
See the effect of price changes.
Tracking monetisation
Follow revenue per subscriber.
Forecasting revenue
Combine with subscriber numbers.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Raising ARPU by price alone may raise churn.
- Use average subscribers, not the end-of-period count.
- Watch the effect of discounts and free trials.
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