Cohort Analysis

Cohort analysis is the standard analytical method for understanding LTV, retention, and product changes in iGaming. By grouping players by when they were acquired (and often by channel and campaign), operators can see how revenue per cohort decays or sustains over months and years. The shape of the curve reveals retention quality; comparing curves between cohorts reveals the impact of product changes, marketing strategy shifts, or regulatory interventions. Cohort analysis is foundational to LTV modeling. Realistic LTV projections come from extrapolating partial cohort curves out to expected end-of-life, calibrated against fully-decayed historical cohorts. The discipline also enables clean attribution analysis: a marketing campaign's true value isn't its CAC, it's the LTV of the cohort it acquired against the cost. Operators that don't run rigorous cohort analysis tend to overspend on channels with strong immediate CAC but poor retention.