SensorTower Articles

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.

H1 2026 premium PC/console revenue rose 5% to $13.8B, but growth is uneven. Steam premium hours climbed ~13%, led by Action (+28%) and Strategy (+24%); shooters lagged (+14%) and RPG fell 14%. For ad ops, social budgets remain concentrated: Meta and YouTube capture ~76% of US social spend from PC/console publishers; adding TikTok pushes the top four past 91%. Reddit offers a niche PC/console skew near 5%. GTA VI pre-orders jumped 6x the day after Netflix’s Extended Look and stayed elevated, showing tentpole content can reset baselines, not just spike them. Prioritize Action-led UA, concentrated social buying, and sustained campaign measurement.

Retail beauty ad spend rose 23% YoY, with December and April peaks. Sephora (35% share) and Ulta (18%) dominate, but Amazon grew fastest (+61%). A key split: beauty-specific retailers prioritize social—Sephora puts 25% on Instagram, Ulta 20% on Facebook—while Target, Amazon, and Macy’s favor OTT for reach. Instagram (+57%) and OTT (+52%) led channel growth; TikTok slipped 1%. Sephora and Ulta account for 88% of ChatGPT beauty ad spend and most unique creatives. Pinterest drives high creative volume despite only 10% spend. For ad ops: align channel mix to discovery vs. reach, and test emerging surfaces (ChatGPT, Pinterest) with agile creative volume.

Home improvement retail media broke seasonal norms as July impressions rose 110% YoY to 1.1B, driven by Paint brands Behr, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, Valspar and Rust-Oleum. Campaigns combined cultural moments with promos: Home Depot's Beckham backyard tie-in, Lowe's July 4 BOGO, Ace's Benjamin Moore discount and Rust-Oleum RMN placements. For ad ops teams, the takeaway is to plan for non-traditional seasonal peaks, align RMN mix to product distribution and retail partnerships, and match channel tactics to campaign goals. Amazon led YTD with 1.5B impressions and OnSite Display; Home Depot and Lowe's leaned on Facebook; Walmart used Snapchat and Instacart OTT.

US digital ad spend hit $201B (+15% YoY) with 19T impressions (+7%). Facebook remains the top US ad channel at $42.9B; Shopping leads categories, and P&G is the #1 advertiser. Generative AI is compressing creative cycles: Gaming saw +54% unique creatives, with Food & Dining, Financial Services, and Media & Entertainment also accelerating. ChatGPT ad impressions are diversifying beyond Shopping (36.5% to 20.9%), while Financial Services, Travel, and Health & Wellness expand. OTT spend reached $12B (+17% YoY), outpacing YouTube (+6%) as Linear TV declines (-3%). Ad ops should shift budget toward streaming OTT and AI-driven creative testing while monitoring conversational AI as a high-intent channel.

August mobile gaming saw stable revenue at $6.57B and downloads at 3.76B. Honor of Kings led revenue through major events, while Tencent titles accounted for 5 of top revenue growth spots, driven by China. Download trends highlighted open-world crime games (Gangstar Mirage City), ASMR unboxing (Mystery Dumpling), and casual vehicle titles, with high growth in India, Brazil, and Turkey. For ad ops, seasonal events, limited-time cosmetics, and localized partnerships are key to engagement; emerging genres and fast-growth markets present new user acquisition opportunities. Live-ops pacing is critical for monetization.

Japan's mobile gaming market remains a revenue powerhouse, generating over $10B in IAPs in the past year despite a slight decline. Downloads are down, but engagement is stable, indicating a mature, high-value audience. Gaming ranks third in Japan's digital ad spend, with the ad market at record highs. Ad ops teams should align with major events and new releases for monetization spikes, balance casual puzzle UAC for volume with strategy/RPG for LTV, and consider cross-platform campaigns.

The Hair Care retail media landscape is highly fragmented: no brand holds more than 12% of category impressions, and 248 brands compete. Ad ops leaders should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Retailer environments differ sharply—Amazon drives conversions via OnSite Display, Sephora/Ulta support full-funnel social/video/OTT, and Walmart pairs OnSite with TikTok influencer creative. Moroccanoil’s lead came from a multichannel Sephora campaign, proving that premium beauty retailers reward integrated storytelling. With Walmart’s impressions trending as the second-fastest-growing RMN, investing there with display and OTT can capture emerging demand. Success requires tailoring creative and channel mix to each retailer's strengths.

US retail media impressions fell 17% in H1 '26, yet specialized home improvement networks grew sharply (Lowe's +151%, Home Depot +43%) while Amazon declined 16%. Offsite remains dominant for vertical RMNs (PetSmart, Instacart, Sephora at 100%), but Amazon shifted to 56% onsite. General merchandisers like Walmart and Target are investing in onsite to capture high-intent shoppers. For ad ops, this signals a fragmented landscape: specialized networks offer growth, while offsite still drives reach. CPG advertisers increasingly use multiple RMNs (80%+), so diversify your media mix and align with networks that match your category and funnel goals.

Sensor Tower is aligning the Video Game Insights (VGI) interface with its core frontend, giving ad ops and growth teams a single, consistent platform for gaming market intelligence. Headline additions: itemized wishlist tracking (new additions, deletions, and purchases), Compare Reports for dynamic cross-title metric benchmarking, and a consolidated Market Size Report merging Market Data with Genre Analytics. Localized interface text expands access for global teams. Rollout is phased: September 15, 2026, the new UI becomes default for new users with existing users able to opt in; October 15, 2026, it becomes the standard experience, with a temporary toggle back to legacy available for continuity.

Sensor Tower's new Web Insights reports—Web Overlap, Path Journey, Conversion Rate, and Search Keywords—give ad ops decision-makers sharper competitive and audience intelligence. These tools reveal audience overlaps, three-click navigation paths, real-time conversion proxies, and organic search drivers. Gap.com examples show 15% overlap with JCrew, 3.49% listing-to-cart flow, conversion rate as purchase proxy, and 'banana republic' delivering 400k visits. These insights enable precise targeting, better campaign optimization, and actionable competitive benchmarking for revenue growth. By understanding overlapping audiences, navigating user paths, monitoring conversion proxies, and leveraging high-impact keywords, ad ops teams can fine-tune strategies to maximize ROI and stay ahead of competitors.

Snack Foods dominated retail media's food category in 1H 2026, accounting for a third of impressions. Leading advertisers ranged from legacy CPGs like Frito-Lay and Oreo to emerging wellness brands including David Protein and Khloud, with rankings shifting via major campaigns. Amazon (1.3B) and Walmart (710M) led impression volume, favoring OnSite Display, while other RMNs leaned on OffSite channels. Notable examples: Instacart saw 60% OTT impressions, and Walmart drove 13% Snapchat share. For ad ops, success requires tailoring channel mix and creative to each retail media network, with flexible strategies that respond to campaign-driven spikes.

Audience Insights now offers income percentiles, heatmap comparisons, and the ability to compare up to five audience segments side-by-side. These features help ad ops decision-makers benchmark income distributions, visualize demographic divergences at a glance, and identify where target audiences concentrate across platforms. By combining income data with age, gender, and persona insights, marketers can make sharper decisions on ad spend, platform selection, and creative targeting. The heatmap visualization simplifies complex data comparison, saving time and revealing strategic opportunities. The new capabilities support both forward and reverse audience analysis, from platform selection to competitor benchmarking, ultimately enabling more precise and effective campaign strategies.

Q2 2026 saw US digital ad spend hit $49B (+15% YoY), fueled by a Shopping category rebound (+13% YoY) after tariff uncertainty. Major retail advertisers like The Home Depot and Dick's Sporting Goods leveraged the FIFA World Cup, boosting spend 66% and 93% QoQ. Meanwhile, ChatGPT emerged as a key ad channel, with shopping advertisers taking 31% of its impressions. Global growth shifted from the US (-3%) to China and Europe. For ad ops, prioritize event-driven retail campaigns and test conversational ad units on GenAI platforms.

ChatGPT is emerging as a viable ad channel, with Sensor Tower now tracking US campaigns. Shopping ads dominate but decreased from 36% to 25% of spend (April–July), while financial services surged from 2% to 12%. Booking.com leads with 50M+ impressions across 700+ creatives. For ad ops decision-makers, early adoption offers a competitive edge as ChatGPT scales toward IPO. Prioritize testing in high-intent categories like travel and finance, and leverage new tracking tools to benchmark performance.

GTA VI pre-sales reached $395M with PlayStation leading at 3.15M units vs. Xbox's 0.93M by July 20, already outpacing the cadence of earlier blockbusters. Rockstar's digital ad spend is ramping up after initial waves in late June and mid-July, with TikTok capturing 45% of US spend, Instagram 22%, and Facebook 20%, while X and YouTube trail. The second wave dropped YouTube and Facebook, signaling a focused TikTok-Meta strategy. For ad ops teams, this concentration suggests where gaming audiences are engaging and hints at rising CPMs for gaming-adjacent inventory as November launch approaches. Historical comparisons to GTA V's 11M launch-day units underscore the scale of demand.

July 2026 mobile gaming revenue hit $6.6B (+7.7% MoM), with Pokémon GO and Honor of Kings leading growth via anniversary events and localized IP collabs. Live-ops calendars remain critical: major updates, esports, and cultural moments drive engagement and spending. Downloads reached 3.72B (+2.2%), led by ROBLOX and Free Fire, while hypercasual and World Cup-themed games surged. For ad ops, prioritize high-engagement windows around live events, leverage IP crossover audiences, and consider market-specific peaks (e.g., US 29.5% revenue share). Brands should align campaigns with seasonal content drops and user acquisition spikes.

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.

Reddit's engaged, niche audiences offer advertisers a high-intent opportunity. With 33% retention (beating X and TikTok), US users spend 1h50m/week on app and 3.5h on web. Demographics skew male (64%) and under 45 (89%). Top personas overindex: LGBTQ Daters (2.07x), PC Gamers (1.83x). Impressions mostly on Instagram (29%), then Reddit (18%). Ad spend is down 5% YTD while impressions rose 20%, creating a rare window. Key mismatch: Shopping, Media, CPG underrepresented on Reddit despite high exposure elsewhere. Actionable: target specialized subreddits where competition is thinning.

H1 2026 gaming market shows stable demand but tighter competition. Mobile IAP held at ~$40B while downloads fell 12%. Ad impressions surged 14% to 1.4T and spend rose 8% to $7B, despite flat engagement—raising CPMs and cost of user acquisition. PC/console sales were flat, with EA SPORTS FC 26 leading due to the World Cup. For ad ops, the key takeaway is a mature market where efficiency, event-driven targeting, and selective investment in growth areas like hybridcasual mobile games and World Cup-themed live ops are critical to maintain ROI.