During the first half of 2019, global consumers spent $39.7 billion on mobile apps and games, a 15.4% increase from $34.4 billion in H1 2018. Apple's App Store accounted for $25.5 billion (up 13.2%), while Google Play generated $14.2 billion (up 19.6%). Non-game app spending was led by Tinder ($497 million), Netflix ($399 million), and Tencent Video ($278 million).
First-time installs totaled 56.7 billion, with iOS downloads declining 1.4% to 14.8 billion and Google Play growing 16.4% to 41.9 billion. Game spending reached $29.6 billion (up 11.3%), with Honor of Kings as the top grossing title. Q2 2019 saw nearly $20 billion in spending, 17.2% growth YoY.
September mobile gaming softened overall but delivered clear live-ops wins. Global consumer spending hit $6.13B, down 7% MoM, with the US at 28.7%, China iOS 15.7%, and Japan 12.4%. Downloads reached 3.56B, down 5.2%, led by India at 16.2%. ROBLOX topped downloads and revenue growth; Honor of Kings stayed strong via seasonal content; Candy Crush and Pokémon GO used music, celebrity, and event-driven engagement. For ad ops, prioritize event-aligned UA/retargeting, IP collaborations, seasonal battle passes, and localized creatives for US/India/Brazil. Monitor launch spikes from Bus Fever Party!, Honor of Kings Chess, and Brain Puzzle 3 to time bids and creative refreshes.
Mario Kart Tour achieved 90 million downloads in its first week, six times more than Nintendo's second-best launch. It ranks third in player spending with $12.7 million. Android led downloads (59.5%), while iOS dominated revenue (75.5%).
Adjust has expanded store detection and verification across multiple app storefronts, making Store Type the primary dimension for identifying where an install originated rather than relying on platform or OS alone. For ad ops teams, this means campaign performance can now be analyzed at the store level across Huawei AppGallery, Xiaomi GetApps, Samsung Galaxy Store, Vivo Appstore, and Google Play variants, with independent verification of install origin. Newly detected stores are flagged in AppView with a direct route to configuration, and store-level data flows automatically into reporting, raw data, callbacks, and CSV exports, plus Conversion Rules via Store Rule conditions.
Japan's finance app category is outperforming, with H1 2026 installs up 8% YoY and sessions up 40%—nearly 5x the install growth and well ahead of global figures (5% and 29%). Stock trading is the standout subvertical: installs +90% YoY and average session length climbing to 11.7 minutes, driven by NISA reforms and a retail investor resurgence. Retention is improving across the full 30-day curve (D1 17% to 19%, D30 7% to 8%). For ad ops teams, the takeaway is clear: prioritize measurement depth, re-engagement, and channel-level quality over top-of-funnel volume alone.
AppsFlyer’s 2026 creative data shows video and static image ads reward opposite creative qualities, so ad ops teams should plan, budget, and test them separately. Video spend is concentrating: gaming’s top 2% of video creatives captured 60.7% of spend, up from 53.5%, while image spend spread out. Top spenders are testing far more variations, widening the testing gap. Action/Strategy and Puzzle/Lifestyle show format-specific tone and social-proof reversals; Finance is the exception. Teams should use AI-assisted variation, analyze video winners deeply, keep broad image testing, and measure performance at attribute level.
Mobile CPI and app store fees are eroding ROAS, making web gaming a viable acquisition channel. Full Unity-to-HTML5 ports now deliver 30-50% lower CAC and avoid 15-30% store revenue cuts via web payments. Measurement parity is here: AppsFlyer enables independent attribution, conversion signals, and unified reporting. Retention can improve; one strategy title jumped from 6-7 minutes mobile to 70+ minutes web. Best fit: deep RPG, strategy, puzzle, story games, not hypercasual. Action: audit catalog, pilot web ports, link accounts cross-platform, and use owned media to drive high-intent web users.
Adjust's Halloween 2025 data across six weeks shows the holiday window opens well before October 31 and differs by category and market. Entertainment installs peaked the weekend before Halloween (up 42–44% vs. summer baseline), with OTT/streaming and video content installs up 120% on October 25 and 300% YoY. Photo and video sessions instead spiked on Halloween night itself (+6% global vs. the four prior Fridays; Canada +15%, Germany +13%, U.K. +11%, U.S. +9%, Mexico +7%). Single global send dates miss market-level peaks, so ad ops should time creative, push, and budget shifts per market—especially in Mexico, where activity runs through Día de los Muertos.
Hong Kong protests boosted Telegram installs by 323% YoY in July, adding 110,000 users. LIHKG saw 900% growth. News app downloads rose 197%.
Pathmatics now tracks podcast ads across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, giving ad ops teams visibility into spend, i...
Automotive advertisers are shifting budgets toward localized digital acquisition as domestic growth slows. In China, pre...
Breakout game launches are increasing, driven almost entirely by indie studios. 76 titles sold 500k+ paid units in their...
Sensor Tower’s 2026 game ad report shows ad ops must manage more creative volume, not just bigger budgets. Top US mobile...
Target’s 2026 back-to-school retail media campaign became more concentrated: impressions fell 66% YoY to 781M and partic...
The holiday retrospective shows three distinct ad ops plays. Coca-Cola doubled spend (+110%) and impressions rose 91%, c...