15 December 2025

Advertising in Gaming: Key Trends for 2025 According to Sensor Tower

Gaming spending in 2025 exceeded $8.7 billion. This makes the gamer audience especially valuable for marketers.

Users of gaming applications regularly make in-app purchases, which increases responsiveness to advertising messages.

In this article, we review the latest Sensor Tower report on the state of digital marketing and analyze why advertising in gaming applications is becoming one of the most effective channels for brand promotion.

Mobile gaming: revenue growth amid declining installs

According to statistics, the number of downloads is decreasing on both iOS (–9.3%) and Android (–7.1%). This indicates market saturation and a shift in focus from acquiring new users to building higher-quality engagement with the existing audience.

At the same time, in-app purchase revenue continues to grow: iOS reached $13.4 billion, while Android generated $7.7 billion. This confirms the high purchasing power of the gaming audience.

For advertisers, this means fewer random users and more predictable efficiency of in-app placements.

Revival of mobile shooters in Asia and North America

There is a clear shift in user demand toward dynamic, competitive, and socially oriented games. Delta Force by Tencent tripled its in-app purchase revenue in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, while Free Fire increased revenue by 22%, overtaking Call of Duty.

For mobile advertising, this trend means a stronger role of the shooter audience as one of the most valuable segments in terms of monetization and engagement.

Users of these games spend more time in apps, interact with content more frequently, and respond positively to native and in-app formats.

Trending in-app formats

At the beginning of 2025, video formats significantly displaced image formats in terms of impression share in in-app advertising. However, in the second and third quarters, static banners began to gradually regain their positions and receive increased attention.

Static banners are faster and easier to produce. It allows advertisers to quickly test creative hypotheses. Proven ideas are then scaled to more expensive and complex formats such as video and interactive gaming placements.

Playable and interactive ad formats continue to show steady growth in impressions. Their popularity is explained by their ability to better filter audiences based on post-click quality and increasing overall advertising effectiveness.

Top mobile games of 2025

Royal Kingdom leads the ranking of mobile games by advertising spend in the U.S. gaming industry. In less than a year, it became the 18th largest game in the world by in-app purchase revenue.

Second place in the U.S. market was taken by Candy Crush Saga, and fourth place by Brawl Stars.

These rankings are important to consider when planning mobile campaigns in order to select relevant placements for product promotion through in-app advertising.

BYYD mobile specialists choose applications for advertising based on the relevant interests of the target audience. When necessary, a White List is created, containing specific placements selected for promotion.

During the campaign, daily optimization is carried out using platform data and the client’s Yandex Metrica. It allows inefficient applications to be excluded and overall advertising performance to be improved.

How advertising in gaming applications influences marketing

Advertising in gaming applications has become one of the key drivers of modern digital marketing. The growth of mobile gaming and the active use of in-app purchases create a unique environment where brands can effectively interact with audiences.

First, gaming applications provide prolonged and high-quality attention. Users spend significantly more time in games compared to other app categories, which increases ad recall.

Second, the gamer audience demonstrates proven purchasing power. Regular in-app purchases and subscriptions form a habit of digital transactions, enabling users to make purchasing decisions faster.

Third, advertising in gaming applications drives the development of creative formats. Video, playable, and rich media formats allow brands to engage users in a brand experience.

As a result, in-app advertising is no longer a secondary channel. It is becoming a full-fledged tool of strategic marketing.

For example, to promote beverages from Sarıyer İçecek and Blackbruin, mobile specialists set up targeting. It based on socio-demographic characteristics and relevant interests. To effectively reach the target audience, the advertising campaign included placements in gaming applications.

Check out our case studies and send us an email – let’s launch your next campaign together.