In September 2019, TikTok was the most downloaded social media app globally, with nearly 60 million installs, driven largely by India (44% of its total) and the US (8%). Facebook followed with over 50.5 million installs, primarily from India (23%) and Indonesia (11%). Instagram, Likee, and Snapchat completed the top five.
Data from Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence covers Sept 1-30, 2019, excluding Apple and Google pre-installed apps, and counts unique installs from App Store and Google Play worldwide.
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.
In 2019, users spent $83.5 billion globally on apps and mobile games, up 17% from 2018. App Store revenue hit $54.2 billion, while Google Play reached $29.3 billion. Games accounted for 74% of spending. First-time installs totaled 114.9 billion, with Google Play leading growth.
India's mobile app market hit record revenue of $345M in Q2 2026, with non-gaming up 50% YoY. For ad ops, key opportunities lie in short drama apps (Story TV tripled ad spend), AI subscriptions, and ad-supported games like arrow puzzles, which generate over 11% of global ad revenue from India. Gaming revenue grew 10% YoY, outperforming global decline. Hypercasual game ad revenue rose 180% QoQ. India is transitioning from an acquisition market to a monetization powerhouse, offering scalable ad inventory across entertainment, local commerce, and casual gaming.
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%).
TikTok hit 738M downloads and $177M revenue in 2019, growing 5x from 2018. India led downloads (44%). China topped revenue (69%). Q4 was best quarter. App faces privacy challenges but growth persists.
Marketing attribution is critical for connecting spend to revenue, but platform self-reporting and last-click bias distort budget decisions. Single-touch models (first/last-click) are simple but miss the full journey; multi-touch models (position-based, data-driven) are more accurate but require robust data. Mobile attribution is particularly challenging due to ATT, SKAdNetwork, and cross-platform gaps, necessitating a mobile measurement partner (MMP) for independent, deduplicated measurement. Clean attribution data is essential for AI-driven optimization—bad signals lead to bad decisions. Starting with position-based attribution and incrementality testing provides a practical foundation.
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.
Hong Kong protests boosted Telegram installs by 323% YoY in July, adding 110,000 users. LIHKG saw 900% growth. News app downloads rose 197%.
Snack Foods dominated retail media's food category in 1H 2026, accounting for a third of impressions. Leading advertiser...
Audience Insights now offers income percentiles, heatmap comparisons, and the ability to compare up to five audience seg...
Q2 2026 saw US digital ad spend hit $49B (+15% YoY), fueled by a Shopping category rebound (+13% YoY) after tariff uncer...
ChatGPT is emerging as a viable ad channel, with Sensor Tower now tracking US campaigns. Shopping ads dominate but decre...
GTA VI pre-sales reached $395M with PlayStation leading at 3.15M units vs. Xbox's 0.93M by July 20, already outpacing th...
July 2026 mobile gaming revenue hit $6.6B (+7.7% MoM), with Pokémon GO and Honor of Kings leading growth via anniversary...