28 November 2025

Digital Marketing Today: What’s Happening in the Mobile App Market

Digital marketing continues to evolve, and to build an effective promotion and PR strategy, brands must stay aligned with the latest trends.

SensorTower released its Q3 2025 report, highlighting:

The top mobile apps, games, and categories
Analysis of key global markets
Digital marketing spend
Retail media performance

Mobile app category trends were also analyzed in Adjust’s recent publication: The Mobile App Growth Report: 2025 Edition.

Relying on up-to-date industry data, we share the most important insights, explain how mobile app market trends impact digital marketing, and why mobile advertising is becoming a dominant tool for brand growth.

Mobile App Market in Q3 2025: In-App Purchase Revenue and Downloads

Global in-app purchase (IAP) revenue on iOS and Google Play exceeded $43 billion for the first time.

The non-gaming segment outpaced gaming, reaching $22.3 billion (about 52% of total revenue). Users are increasingly willing to pay for services — from streaming to AI-powered tools.

iOS maintained its position as the leading platform for mobile monetization with nearly $30 billion in IAP revenue. Non-gaming apps performed exceptionally well: iOS accounted for 72% of total non-gaming consumer spend.

Google Play demonstrated strong growth potential — revenue on the platform increased by nearly 15% YoY.

A total of 37.6 billion mobile app downloads were recorded in Q3 2025. Gaming app installs continued to decline relative to their early-2020 pandemic peak.

One key reason: tightening privacy regulations made it more difficult for mobile games to target and acquire high-value users, reducing advertising efficiency and profitability.

Mobile Market Growth in Western Europe and Latin America

Europe has become a notable growth region: Germany, the UK, and France collectively added $800 million in revenue YoY.

According to Adjust, mobile games remain highly profitable due to strong monetization and stable user retention. The market is expected to grow at a 7.8% CAGR through 2030.

Beyond gaming, utility, entertainment, finance, and shopping app categories also demonstrate strong performance.

LATAM: A Key Region to Watch in Late 2025

Brazil’s mobile app revenue grew by 29%.

Adjust forecasts that the LATAM mobile industry will reach $35.9 billion by 2030, supported by:

Rapid smartphone adoption
Improved network quality
Gaming as the leading segment

Growth Score — an index reflecting app or game growth dynamics — reached:

32.4 for gaming
25.5 for entertainment
21.9 for utilities

In 2025, LATAM’s mobile gaming market will reach $2.1 billion in revenue.

Top countries by Growth Score:

Argentina — 38.7
Colombia — 38
Mexico — 32.1
Chile — 30.8
Brazil — 30.4

This demonstrates a strong shift toward mobile-first content consumption. As a result, in-app advertising is becoming one of the most effective digital marketing channels in LATAM.

MENAT: Mobile Gaming Continues to Develop

In the MENAT region, gaming remains the top-performing segment with a Growth Score of 33.4. The mobile gaming market is expected to reach $3.73 billion in 2025, driven by a young population and targeted investments.

Turkey ranks first with a Growth Score of 34, supported by a strong ecosystem of game developers. Mobile gaming revenue in Turkey is projected to reach $427 million in 2025 — nearly half of the country’s total gaming industry revenue.

Media & Entertainment Leads Non-Gaming Revenue

Non-gaming revenue growth is observed across all major regions. The Media & Entertainment category accounts for 56% of total non-gaming spending.

AI apps continue to surge: consumer spending on AI-powered apps reached $1.5 billion.

ChatGPT rapidly climbed global charts, becoming the #2 app by IAP revenue, second only to TikTok.

According to Adjust, gaming apps still demonstrated the highest Growth Score in H1 2025 — 45.8.

Apps in the shopping, lifestyle, photo, and video categories remained at a medium level, indicating stable demand but heavy competition.

Education, health, and food apps recorded the lowest growth rate.

Mobile Gaming Trends

Strategy and Puzzle genres are gaining popularity, partly due to declines in markets traditionally dominated by RPGs — such as Japan and South Korea.

Fastest-growing titles in Q3 2025 include:

Kingshot (4X Strategy)
Clash Royale (Real-Time Strategy)
Last Z: Survival (4X Strategy)

Among puzzle games, the top performers were:

Gossip Harbor (Match Merge 2)
Royal Kingdom (Match Swap)

Global Mobile Market: Key Takeaways

Non-gaming apps continue to rise, showing more than 20% YoY growth.
The U.S. remains the largest IAP market, with strong traction in Europe and LATAM.
AI reshaped the global top charts: ChatGPT jumped from #16 to #2 in just one year.
Regional growth drivers vary: balancing acquisition and retention (Japan, Nordics), improving connectivity (LATAM), and targeted investment (MENAT).
Mobile market growth directly influences digital marketing and strengthens the role of in-app advertising.

Why Mobile Advertising Is Becoming Essential

The growth of mobile apps, shifting user behavior, and rapid expansion of digital markets across Europe, MENAT, and LATAM reshapes digital marketing strategies worldwide.

Users increasingly:

Spend more time in mobile apps
Make purchases directly from mobile devices
Interact with non-gaming services
Respond better to personalized content

As a result, mobile becomes the primary channel where brands compete for user attention.

In-app advertising allows marketers to:

Scale reach
Target precise audience segments
Leverage Big Data for optimization
Achieve deep engagement through interactive formats

For example, to promote the Karcher brand, the BYYD mobile platform team developed a Rich Media banner. Interest-based targeting and SSP-level optimization made it possible to reach more than 1 million users and generate 14,041 clicks.

Daily manual optimization by mobile specialists ensures the exclusion of underperforming placements and maximizes campaign efficiency.

Contact Us

For over 10 years, the BYYD platform has been helping companies run mobile advertising campaigns and continuously improving its tools. To learn more about in-app and explore BYYD platform cases, visit the website.