Riot Games' mobile titles—League of Legends: Wild Rift, Legends of Runeterra, and Teamfight Tactics—have collectively surpassed $100 million in player spending from the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. Teamfight Tactics, released in March 2020, has generated 15 million downloads and $27.5 million. Legends of Runeterra, launched globally in April 2020, has nearly 13 million installs and $16.2 million.
League of Legends: Wild Rift, a MOBA based on the PC hit, debuted in October 2020 and has been rolled out globally, amassing 46.3 million downloads and $64.7 million, accounting for about 60% of Riot's mobile revenue. In Q2 2021, the three games generated a combined $36.5 million, up over 50% from Q1 and 3.4 times year-over-year. The US is the top revenue source with $28 million (26%), followed by South Korea at 22% and Brazil at 6.5%.
Google Play contributes 59.4% of revenue ($63.4 million), while the App Store accounts for 40.6% ($44 million). For downloads, Brazil leads with 7.4 million (10%), South Korea at 9.6%, and the US at 8.3%. Google Play also dominates downloads with 65% (48.3 million).
Riot plans to expand mobile presence with Wild Rift launching in China and a mobile version of Valorant.
In the U.S., the top 100 mobile games accounted for 64.4% of player spending in 2020, down from 2017 but revenue grew 35% YoY to $14.4B due to COVID-19. Lower tiers saw faster growth, increasing their share. Globally, top 100 games held 53.5% of spending, up slightly from 2019 but down from 2017. Top 10 worldwide grew 34% to $13.7B, with 17.2% share. The market is expanding for all tiers, especially outside the top 100 in the U.S.
The Nordics have high mobile usage, with increased app installs during the pandemic. Women dominate mobile gaming but men spend more. Poor UX and privacy concerns remain, though users welcome iOS 14 changes. Marketers should measure, invest in mobile, prioritize UX, and build trust.
App Clips are lightweight iOS app extensions under 15MB for instant actions like ordering or paying without full installation. They reduce friction, use QR/NFC triggers, and support Apple Pay and Sign in with Apple.
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 shopping apps drive 3x higher conversion than mobile web. Granular measurement, deep linking, fraud protection, and re-engagement are key. Personalization and privacy compliance balance is crucial for success.
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.
SKAdNetwork reveals advertiser-publisher connections, showing Social and Gaming apps drive 92% of paid installs. Privacy thresholds cause conversion value nulls, impacting optimization. Advertisers must adapt campaign structures to overcome NOI decline and leverage limited data for LTV predictions.
ROX measures financial impact of customer experiences on campaigns, focusing on contextualized, personalized, and frictionless CX to boost engagement and LTV.
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...