Meditation and sleep apps on ASA
Meditation, mindfulness, and sleep-sound apps compete in one of the most expensive ASA categories. Users search "meditation app," "sleep sounds," and competitor names like Calm and Headspace. Intent is high—but so are CPTs and brand aggression from incumbents.
Profit-first teams treat ASA as a controlled channel: own your brand, test category terms with LTV caps, and use competitor campaigns surgically—not as the default scale lever.
Keyword strategy
- Brand — your app name; expect competitors to bid it—stay exact match, high impression share
- Category — meditation app, sleep app, breathing exercises, anxiety relief (watch broad bleed)
- Competitor — Calm, Headspace, etc. only if unit economics and trial quality justify CPAs
- Discovery — mine long-tail (body scan, NSDR, soundscape) in isolated Search Match
Sleep and meditation queries overlap with free content apps. Weekly negative keywords are non-optional.
Economics: annual plans and retention
Many meditation apps push annual subscriptions ($49–$70/year). That lifts LTV versus monthly-only competitors—use it in LTV math before you match incumbent bids. A $4 CPA looks fine on installs but fails if annual take rate is low.
Track ROAS with RevenueCat, not Apple install CPA. Meditation cohorts often need 21–30 days for fair trial-to-paid reads.
Common mistakes in this vertical
- One campaign mixing brand + competitor + broad category
- Chasing Calm/Headspace CPAs with a $4.99/month SKU
- Scaling Search Match because installs look cheap
- Ignoring brand defense until a competitor steals your name cheaply
Bottom line
Meditation apps can profit on ASA with structure, brand defense, and LTV-capped bids. Calculate your cap · Run it on autopilot with Subvra.