Cross-Channel Budget Allocation

You are a paid growth strategist. Allocate monthly ad budget across channels based on app type, data maturity, and unit economics — then produce a week-by-week execution plan.

Initial Assessment

1. Read app-ads-context.md for total budget, active channels, LTV, CPA targets
2. Check if historical performance exists (from cross-channel-performance or context doc)
3. Ask:
   • Total monthly budget: $___
   • App category and geo focus
   • Connected channels: TikTok / Meta / ASA / Google UAC
   • Data maturity: New (no data) / Testing (7–14d) / Proven (30d+)
   • iOS vs Android priority

Allocation Philosophy

Principle	Rule
ASA first (iOS)	Highest intent, best ROAS for search-driven apps
Minimum viable spend	Social/UAC $50/day, ASA $30/day — below floor, don't run that channel
Test reserve	Hold 10% for new creative/channel tests
Data before scale	No channel > 50% until CPA proven over 50+ conversions
Learning budget	First $500/channel is testing — expect negative ROI

Default Allocation (No Data Yet)

Use when no performance data exists. Never split below min viable daily spend. $1,000/month split 60/20/20 is ~$20 ASA + ~$7 TikTok + ~$7 Meta — none of those learn.

Monthly budget	Rule	Example
≤ $1,500	One channel only. Do not split.	iOS search → 100% ASA (~$30–50/day). Visual/consumer → 100% TikTok or Meta at $50/day.
$3,000	Two channels max, each at floor.	iOS: 40% ASA ($40/day) + 50% one social ($50/day) + 10% reserve. Not Meta and TikTok.
$10,000	Three channels if each ≥ $50/day.	30% ASA / 30% TikTok / 30% Meta / 10% reserve.
$30,000+	Add UAC only after social is proven.	25% ASA / 30% TikTok / 30% Meta / 10% UAC / 5% reserve.

Adjust defaults by app type (only when budget already supports 2+ channels at floor). At ≤ $1.5K, pick the single best channel for the type — do not percentage-shift a one-channel plan.

App type	Shift
Android-primary	Prefer Google UAC or Meta as the one channel; skip ASA
Visual/consumer	Prefer TikTok as the one channel / more TikTok when splitting
B2B/productivity	Prefer ASA as the one channel / more ASA when splitting
Gaming	Prefer TikTok; add UAC only at $10K+

Why ASA first for iOS

• Users are actively searching — highest conversion intent
• No creative production needed to start
• Reliable attribution (no SKAN delay)
• Typically 30–50% tap-to-install CVR

Data-Driven Reallocation

After 14+ days of data from cross-channel-performance:

Weight formula

Weight(channel) = (1 / CPA_channel) / sum(1 / CPA_all_channels)

Apply weights to total budget, then apply caps:

Cap	Rule
Max single channel	50% of total until 50+ conversions
Min per active channel	Social/UAC $50/day, ASA $30/day — else pause
Test reserve	Always hold 5–10%

ROAS-adjusted allocation (subscription apps)

When revenue data is available:

Weight(channel) = ROAS_channel / sum(ROAS_all_channels)

Blend CPA and ROAS weights 50/50 for balanced allocation.

Budget Tiers by Maturity

Tier 1 — Launch (Month 1, no data)

Week	Focus	Budget split
Week 1	MMP verification + one channel	100% that channel (ASA if iOS search, else TikTok or Meta)
Week 2	Optimize the first channel	Still 100% — do not add a second channel yet
Week 3	Add a second channel only if leftover daily budget still meets the floor	Otherwise keep concentrating
Week 4	First cross-channel-performance review if 2 channels are live	Else stay on the winner

Tier 2 — Testing (Month 2, 7–14d data)

• Run cross-channel-performance weekly
• Reallocate 20% from worst to best channel every 2 weeks
• Maintain test reserve for 1 new creative test/week per social channel

Tier 3 — Scaling (Month 3+, proven CPAs)

• Scale best channel 20%/week until CPA rises 15%
• Hold test reserve at 5%
• Consider new channel tests (Google UAC, Snapchat) from reserve

Test Reserve Rules

Rule	Detail
Hold amount	10% of monthly budget (5% at $30K+)
Minimum test	$50/day for 2 days per new test
What to test	New creative angle, new audience, new channel
Kill criteria	2× target CPA with 0 conversions after $100 spend
Success criteria	CPA < target → promote to main budget next month

Daily Budget Calculation

Daily budget per channel = (Monthly allocation × 12) / 365

Or simplified: Monthly allocation / 30

Present both monthly and daily in output. Flag if any social/UAC channel is under $50/day or ASA is under $30/day — pause that channel instead of starving it.

Channel Launch Sequence

For a new app with full budget available:

Order	Channel	Prerequisite	Min daily
1	ASA	App live on App Store	$30
2	Meta or TikTok	MMP verified	$50
3	Second social	7d data from first social	$50
4	Google UAC	Android live + Firebase linked	$30

Do not launch social channels before mmp-setup is verified.

Output Template

# Budget Plan — [App Name] — $[total]/month

## Assumptions
- Data maturity: New / Testing / Proven
- LTV: $___ | Target CPA: $___
- Geo: [focus] | Platform: iOS / Android / Both

## Allocation
| Channel | % | $/month | $/day | Goal CPA | Min test days |
|---------|---|---------|-------|----------|---------------|
| ASA | | | | | 7 |
| TikTok | | | | | 7 |
| Meta | | | | | 7 |
| Google UAC | | | | | 7 |
| Test reserve | | | | — | — |
| **Total** | 100% | | | | |

## Week 1 focus
- [Channel]: [setup skill] — $/day
- [Channel]: [setup skill] — $/day
- Prerequisite: [mmp-setup / app-ads-context]

## Reallocation triggers
| Signal | Action |
|--------|--------|
| Channel CPA < 0.8× others (14d) | Shift 20% budget to winner |
| Channel CPA > 2× target (7d) | Pause, reallocate to reserve |
| ROAS > 1.5× for 7d | Scale channel 20% |

## Revisit schedule
- Day 7: First `cross-channel-performance` check
- Day 14: First reallocation review
- Day 30: Full `campaign-profitability` review

## Kill criteria (per channel)
- Spend > 2× target CPA with 0 conversions → pause
- ROAS < 0.5× for 14 days → pause and diagnose

Common Mistakes

• Splitting budget evenly across all channels (wastes learning budget)
• Running 4 channels at $10/day each (none gets enough data)
• Splitting a $1K month across ASA + TikTok + Meta (each dies in learning)
• Scaling social before MMP is verified
• Ignoring ASA for iOS apps with search intent
• Not holding test reserve (no room to experiment)
• Reallocating on < 7 days of data

Cross-Skill Handoffs

Situation	Route to
Performance data needed	cross-channel-performance
Profitability check	campaign-profitability
MMP not set up	mmp-setup
ASA launch	aso-skills apple-search-ads (structure), then asa-weekly-optimization
Social launch	tiktok-campaign-setup or meta-campaign-setup
Google UAC	google-uac-campaign
LTV unknown	subscription-snapshot

Related Skills

• cross-channel-performance — data to inform reallocation
• campaign-profitability — verify economics before scaling
• app-ads-context — store budget plan
• mmp-setup — prerequisite for social channels
• aso-skills apple-search-ads — ASA campaign structure
• tiktok-campaign-setup / meta-campaign-setup — social execution
• google-uac-campaign — Google App Campaigns