When it comes to measuring revenue, it’s essential that businesses analyze it from a variety of perspectives. While there’s revenue and net income on an income statement to show a company’s quarterly financials, another way to measure it is through ARPU (average revenue per user) and ARPPU (average revenue per paying user). 

Defining ARPU 

ARPU is the average revenue per customer or per unit. It looks at how much revenue is earned over a particular timeframe (multiple times a month, quarter, half-year or 12-months) divided by the average patron during the same timeframe. This can be applied to many different types of companies, including social media and software as a service (SaaS). It’s calculated as follows: 

ARPU = Total revenue/Average units or subscribers  

ARPU = $10,000,000/100,000 = $100 

Interpreting ARPU 

This is a snapshot of a company’s profitability. It’s a way for companies to track revenue generation over a short or long period. With this information, a company or investor can analyze the business’ past and present performance. It can help determine whether or not the business needs to re-evaluate its operations and product models or if an investor should invest in a company.  

When it comes to evaluating an investment, if one company in a specific industry is generating an ARPU of $5, and another company is generating an ARPU of $3, the first company could be a more attractive investment. Similarly, if the trend of a company’s ARPU is increasing, it’s worth looking at how the company’s stock has performed. Additional investment research can determine how the company’s stock price appreciated.  

Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) 

ARPPU is used to determine the average revenue from a company’s paying customers only. To contrast this measurement type, ARPU factors in all users.  

Assume the following: A business had revenue of $2 million, an average user base of 1 million and an ARPU of $2. 

If, however, we’re looking at the ARPPU, we need to take out the non-paying user base. If the non-paying user base is determined to be 425,000, the remaining, paying base is 575,000. Use the following formula to calculate ARPPU: 

ARPPU = Period of Recurring Revenue/Active Paying Users during the same measurement period 

ARPPU = $2 million/575,000 = $3.48 per active paying user 

Interpreting ARPPU 

When the ARPPU is low, this indicates the business’ products or services aren’t well received by customers and those to whom it is marketing. A higher ARPPU indicates a company’s marketing efforts, products, and services are received well by customers. Similar to ARPU, results from ARPPU can be analyzed for trends to see when products or services are well received; and then investigated to determine whether it is influenced by the sales and marketing, customer service, product quality, etc. 

Whichever way a business analyzes its sales and revenue generation processes, taking multiple approaches can provide different perspectives to help owners and employees determine when and where to make improvements to its operations.