App Store search got a second ad. My downloads stayed the same, my costs doubled

Author here.

Even though I wasn’t thrilled from a user perspective about Apple adding a second ad slot to App Store search, I was generally optimistic it would help my indie app business, since Search Ads convert well for me.

What surprised me was that total downloads stayed roughly the same while paid installs increased and organic installs fell by a similar amount. In the end I paid more without increasing downloads.

Happy to answer questions about the data, Search Ads setup, or the Japanese dictionary app market.