According to Sensor Tower, Mario Kart Tour became Nintendo's fastest mobile game launch ever, reaching 90 million unique downloads in its first week. This is six times higher than Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (14.3 million) and surpasses Super Mario Run (13 million). However, in player spending, it ranks third with $12.7 million, behind Super Mario Run ($16.1 million) and Fire Emblem Heroes ($28.2 million).
Android accounted for 59.5% of downloads (53.5 million), while iOS contributed 75.5% of revenue ($9.6 million). Revenue per download was $0.26 on iOS versus $0.06 on Android. The US led both downloads (13.2 million, 14.7%) and revenue ($5.8 million, 45.4%), followed by Brazil and Japan.
In comparison, Tencent's Crazy Racing KartRider had 2.8 million first-week downloads and $17.8 million spending in China.
Global app consumer spending hit $39.7B in H1 2019, up 15.4% YoY. Apple's App Store generated $25.5B, Google Play $14.2B. Top non-game apps: Tinder ($497M), Netflix ($399M). Game revenue reached $29.6B.
TikTok surpasses 1.5 billion downloads, ranking 3rd most downloaded non-gaming app in 2019. India leads with 31% of installs, China 11.5%, US 8.2%. Revenue hits $175M, mainly from China (48.3%) and US (35.7%).
Top 1% of publishers got 80% of global app downloads in Q3 2019. In games, they earned 95% of revenue. Discoverability and ASO are crucial for the remaining 99% to compete.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang reached $502.5 million lifetime gross revenue, driven by $214.1 million in 2019 (up 36% YoY). Asia contributed 61% of revenue, with Malaysia ($87.5M) and Indonesia ($69.2M) as top markets. Google Play accounted for 68% of revenue and 89% of 281.3 million downloads. First-mover advantage helped it surpass Honor of Kings outside China.
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.
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.
Q4 2026 planning should treat peak shopping as a compressed event, not a week. Black Friday/Cyber Monday purchase lift runs 2–3x install lift, so ad ops must schedule by daypart and hour. Singles Day is not global: Brazil, UAE and Spain show real lift, while US/France barely react. CPI spikes hardest in supposedly cheap markets—Spain’s CPI rose nearly 50%. Remarketing already drives 65–92% of non-organic spend and rises during peak. Deep linking is critical: deep-linked users are ~2x more likely to purchase and spend nearly 3x more. Benchmark market CPI, shift budget to remarketing, and connect every entry point.
Hong Kong protests boosted Telegram installs by 323% YoY in July, adding 110,000 users. LIHKG saw 900% growth. News app downloads rose 197%.
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...
Mobile finance is outpacing broader app trends: global finance app downloads are projected at 8.9B in 2026 (+6% YoY), wi...