Competitor campaign bidding strategies: what works in 2025

Competitor brand bidding on Apple Search Ads has changed dramatically over the past 18 months. CPTs on top competitor terms in competitive verticals (finance, health, fitness) are up 40–60% year-over-year. The strategies that worked in 2023 are generating negative ROAS for most operators today.

What Changed

Three things happened simultaneously: more operators discovered ASA competitor campaigns, Apple expanded Search Match to surface competitor terms more aggressively, and the install-to-subscription gap widened as apps raised prices.

The result: high CPT, lower CVR (competitor-intent users are harder to convert), and worse LTV (they're more likely to churn).

Strategies Still Generating Positive ROAS

Adjacent competitor targeting. Instead of bidding on direct competitors, target adjacent tools that your ideal users also use. A project management app bidding on productivity tools adjacent to their core competitor set sees 2–3x better CVR than direct competitor terms.

Conquest with a clear value prop. If you're going to bid on a competitor's brand, your creative must clearly state why you're better. Generic creatives on competitor terms almost never work.

Price-sensitive competitor audiences. If a major competitor has recently raised prices, terms like "[competitor] alternative" or "[competitor] pricing" spike in volume and intent. Monitor these programmatically.

What We're Seeing in Data

In the accounts Keenbid manages, competitor campaigns that generate positive ROAS in 2025 all share one characteristic: they're targeting users in a decision-making state, not users already committed to a competitor.