AppsFlyer: 2025 saw big AI-driven changes and regional splits in app marketing

AppsFlyer’s year-end analysis highlights a move towards retention-led strategies, rapid AI adoption, and platform-specific regional trends shaping the future of mobile marketing in 2025.

AppsFlyer’s year-end analysis of global app marketing activity paints a picture of a market in the midst of structural change, driven by platform divergence, the rise of retention-led strategies and the early but rapid integration of AI into campaign workflows. According to the original report released on December 10, 2025, total app marketing spend reached $109 billion in 2025, with user acquisition accounting for $78 billion and remarketing contributing $31.3 billion. ^[1][3]

Generative AI applications emerged as a meaningful new ad category, attracting $824 million in advertising spend across iOS and Android as installs rose 16% year‑on‑year. The category , spanning creative tools, productivity apps and AI assistants , ranked as the fastest‑growing on Android and fourth on iOS, signalling that GenAI has moved from experimental to mainstream mobile experiences. “Many marketers say they are still struggling to measure clear ROI from AI, yet the adoption curve tells a different story,” said Inna Weiner, VP Product, Data and AI at AppsFlyer, in the announcement. ^[1][2]

Platform splits underpin much of the report’s narrative: iOS drove virtually all user acquisition growth in 2025, with iOS spend up 35% while Android was flat at 1%. Non‑gaming apps led the expansion , rising 18% to $53 billion , while gaming grew just 3% to $25 billion, illustrating a shift in advertiser priorities toward commerce and utility use cases on iOS. The United States remained the largest app marketing economy, representing 42% of user acquisition spend, even as it registered strong iOS and Android gains. ^[1][3][6]

Remarketing surged as brands shifted to retention economics. Remarketing spend rose 37% to $31.3 billion and increased its share of total app marketing from 25% in 2024 to 29% in 2025, with iOS remarketing up 71% to $17 billion and Android remarketing up 10% to $14 billion. The report frames this as a rational response to rising acquisition costs: reactivating existing users delivers superior unit economics, particularly in subscription and commerce categories. Industry data cited by AppsFlyer, including analyst forecasts, reinforce the point that a large share of future mobile revenue will come from a concentrated set of existing customers. ^[1][4]

Regional dynamics intensified platform fragmentation. Western markets saw iOS paid installs rise between 25% and 84% year‑on‑year while Android showed flat or negative movement in many mature markets; non‑Western markets provided most Android growth. Shopping and finance categories posted especially large iOS gains in multiple regions, while countries such as Spain, Italy and the UK recorded outsized percentage increases. These divergent patterns underscore the strategic need for platform‑specific planning rather than a one‑size‑fits‑all approach. ^[1][3][7]

AppsFlyer also reported that mobile remains the persistent base in cross‑platform journeys: mobile holds 60–80% of activity even as users move between mobile, connected TV, PC and console. The company’s analysis found distinctive journey shapes , such as an “M‑shaped” flow in non‑gaming verticals and a dominant mobile‑PC loop in gaming , reinforcing smartphones’ role as the primary controller of multi‑device experiences and the natural focus for retention and reengagement tactics. ^[1][7]

On AI adoption, AppsFlyer’s first‑time analysis of agent usage shows marketers are applying agents conservatively: 57% of deployments were technical automations (configuration, data‑integrity checks) while 32% supported business optimisations. Queries to AppsFlyer’s AI Assistant skewed toward complex analytical questions, with many marketers operating as active supervisors of AI outputs rather than fully delegating campaign control , a “trust but verify” posture that mirrors broader industry moves to layer safety and validation around agentic systems. The company’s Model Context Protocol and wider market launches from major vendors earlier in 2025 illustrate a fast‑evolving ecosystem for marketing automation. ^[1][5]

Looking ahead, AppsFlyer expects user acquisition spend to rise in 2026 despite slower user growth, driven by scarcity of attention as generative AI and low‑code tools expand the supply of apps and creative permutations. The firm forecasts a continued pivot toward video and retention‑first strategies as advertisers compete for “share of attention,” while agentic AI adoption is predicted to evolve from defensive checks to more offensive, autonomous optimisation under marketer guardrails. Third‑party forecasts cited in the report concur that emerging markets will drive much of next‑year’s growth, principally on Android, while Western budgets increasingly favour retention on iOS. ^[1]

The findings present a practical roadmap for marketers: allocate by platform and region, prioritise retention and remarketing where unit economics support it, prepare for escalating media costs driven by attention scarcity, and mature AI use from validation tasks toward controlled automation. AppsFlyer’s dataset , 32 billion paid installs across 45,000 apps , provides the empirical basis for these conclusions, even as the company and industry observers acknowledge that measurement, ROI clarity and project risk will continue to shape how rapidly advertisers hand over control to agents. ^[1][3][5]

📌 Reference Map:

##Reference Map:

• ^[1] (PPC Land / AppsFlyer release) – Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 4, Paragraph 5, Paragraph 6, Paragraph 7, Paragraph 8, Paragraph 9
• ^[2] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 2
• ^[3] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 1, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 5, Paragraph 8
• ^[4] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 4
• ^[5] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 7, Paragraph 9
• ^[6] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 3
• ^[7] (AppsFlyer newsroom) – Paragraph 6

Source: Fuse Wire Services