MAU 2025 Recap: Exploring Today’s Mobile Moment

The mobile industry has entered a new fragmentation era, where user attention is spread across a wide range of specialized and community-driven apps rather than concentrated on a few major platforms. According to Moloco's analysis at MAU 2025, only 32% of in-app time is now spent on Meta and Google platforms, with the remainder distributed across the 'independent app ecosystem' of approximately 3 million apps. This independent ecosystem reaches 2 billion daily active users globally, matching the combined audience of TikTok and Instagram.

Despite this, many marketers still rely on social media dominance and struggle to measure incrementality. In collaboration with Singular, Moloco analyzed the impact of diversifying ad spend: advertisers who added independent platforms to their predominantly social media mix saw Day 30 ROAS increase by 48% for all app advertisers, 116% for consumer app advertisers (finance, on-demand, education, entertainment, health & fitness, shopping, travel), and 214% for shopping app advertisers. The key takeaway is that the lift is substantial, not just present.

To navigate this landscape, marketers should leverage AI-driven technology, similar to what Google and Meta used, to match advertisers with users in the right context at scale. Actionable advice: ad ops decision-makers must understand this shift, use data to educate their organizations, and reallocate budgets to capture the high ROAS from the independent app ecosystem.