Average Revenue Per Unit - ARPU

Average Revenue Per Unit - ARPU is the measure of the revenue generated per unit or user. ARPU, a non-GAAP measure, allows management of a company as well as investors to refine their analysis of a company's revenue generation capability and growth at the per-unit level.

Average revenue per unit is equivalent to total revenue divided by average units (or users) during a period. The period-end date is not the measure date for the denominator because the number of units can fluctuate intra-period. Instead, the beginning of the period and the end of the period numbers are typically averaged.

This measure is used in the telecommunications sector by Verizon, AT&T and the others, for example, to track the amount of revenue generated per mobile phone user. Cable companies such as Comcast also disclose ARPU figures. The values of the measures obtained can be used internally and externally as a comparison among subscriber-based companies and to assist in the forecasting of future service revenues produced from a customer base. Relatively new on the scene, social media companies like Facebook and Snap, though not subscriber-based - report ARPU numbers to investors. The difference in these measures between the two companies has some explanatory power for the large gap in valuations. Facebook's average revenue per user in the third quarter of 2017 was $5.07, while Snap's ARPU was $1.17.

ARPU is a long-standing measure that is useful to management and analysts. However, one common critique is that it does not provide detailed information about a user base. It is only a macro-level measure. For instance, in the Facebook example above, there may be tens or hundreds of millions who have signed up as users but only seldom engage on the platform or perhaps not at all. The true ARPU figure could be distorted.