Here is an analysis of the global non-gaming App user acquisition marketing trends for September 2024, based on ad data from 50 countries/regions and 28 global media platforms, according to AppGrowing's report.
In September 2024, the top three categories for active apps in remained Shopping, Finance, and Tools.
However, the top three categories for newly launched apps were Health & Fitness, Food & Drink, and Lifestyle.
While dominant mainstream categories continue to focus on stable customer acquisition for already-launched products, niche categories are seeing more new products entering the market.
In terms of ad volume, the Shopping category maintained a commanding lead, with ad volume further growing to nearly 5 million.
The top 2-5 categories in ad volume were Entertainment, Tools, Finance, and Lifestyle.
As for ad material types and video durations, the proportion of image-based materials increased further to 62.84%.
Meanwhile, the proportion of video ads shorter than 15 seconds slightly declined month-over-month, accounting for 40.52%.
01. Top Non-gaming App Developers & Apps
According to AppGrowing’s data, TEMU, Пятёрочка, and Particle Media ranked as the top three developers in the September app ad leaderboard.
Пятёрочка, which ranked second, primarily promoted its app Пятёрочка: доставка продуктов, a grocery delivery service targeting the Russian market.
This month, 10 Chinese developers made it to the top 30, with two accounts from STORYMATRIX making it into the top 20, both promoting their short drama app DramaBox.
Looking at the top 30 product rankings, Temu remained in first place.
The food and drink app Пятёрочка: доставка продуктов, from Russian developer Пятёрочка, saw its ad volume skyrocket over 12,000% month-over-month, jumping to second place.
Positions three to five were occupied by familiar names: NewsBreak, 10.10 Brands Festival and SHEIN.
Additionally, SHOPEE made a strong push this month, with two more of its shopping apps entering the top 30 ad leaderboard alongside 10.10 Brands Festival, which ranked fourth.
02. Top Apps in Selected Catagories
AppGrowing selected four categories for this month’s leaderboard: AI + Companion, Shopping, Short Drama, and Social.
In the AI + Companion leaderboard, Talkie maintained its first-place position, with Linky Al and Dialogue taking second and third, respectively.
The shopping leaderboard was dominated by familiar top-tier products, with Principessa—a shopping app by Brazilian developer Magazord focused on the Latin American market—ranking fifth.
All the top-ranking short drama apps were from Chinese developers, with DramaBox by STORYMATRIX taking first place.
In the social leaderboard, Skool Communities stood out, ranking sixth. This app, designed for students, includes features like course calendars and social chat functions.
Next, let’s take a look at the Google Play download rankings.
The top 15 in terms of downloads were largely dominated by Google-owned apps, with WhatsApp Messenger and Facebook being the only exceptions.
The top 15 apps by month-over-month growth in downloads were primarily tool apps, with My QR Code Scanner taking the top spot.
03. Ad Creative Case：Linky AI
Linky Al is an AI + Companion app from Chinese developer Kunlun Tech, reportedly utilizing their proprietary large language model series, “Skywork”.
Linky Al shares a similar core design with Talkie, where users can create custom virtual characters and interact with them, as well as chat with virtual characters created by other users.
According to AppGrowing’s data, Linky Al showed a slow but steady increase in ad volume throughout September, with an average daily ad volume of over 800.
As an AI + Companion app focused on customizable virtual characters, Linky Al emphasizes the diversity and strengths of these characters in its ad creatives.
For example, in one ad, the video adopts a live-action drama format where a woman catches her boyfriend chatting with an “AI girlfriend” on the app.
The man nervously explains himself, drawing viewers in through the dramatic tension. Unexpectedly, the woman reveals she also wants an AI companion, leading to a showcase of the app’s features, with a focus on the variety of available AI characters, and concluding with a call to action for users to download and try it out.
（Source: AppGrowing）
