The old era is over. Since 2025, the global mobile-ad landscape has undergone a structural shift. Under AI-driven algorithms, major ad platforms have moved from "tag matching" to "content understanding". The traditional two-tower model is now passé, replaced by interactive towers that semantically match audiences likely to perform interactive actions — in this context, creative becomes the new targeting. Source：《Hierarchical Structured Neural Network: Efficient Retrieval Scaling for Large Scale Recommendation》 The Strategic Shift: AI vs. AI Marketers now face a critical choice: continue inefficiently scaling volume, or adopt strategy-level AI tools to respond to algorithmic change and build reusable formulas. AppGrowing and Youdao Ads released AI vs. AI: Global Mobile Games & Apps Trends 2026 to help marketers answer:   […]

In 2019, Leyi launched the SLG game "West Game," set in the American Westward Expansion era. With its differentiated theme and mature operations, the game quickly attracted a large number of users. As of now, the game has accumulated approximately 27 million downloads and generated over 1.4 billion yuan in revenue. However, since "West Game," Leyi seems to have hit a growth bottleneck. Despite the company's ongoing high-frequency testing of various SLG new games, it has failed to find a product capable of succeeding "West Game" and taking on the company’s revenue banner. Recently, AppGrowing observed that Leyi has launched the sequel to the "West Game" IP, "West Game II," which officially entered public beta on September 21. The data […]

Here is an analysis of the global non-gaming App user acquisition marketing trends for November 2025, based on ad data from 50 countries/regions and 28 global media platforms, according to AppGrowing's report. In November 2025, tool apps continued to account for the largest share of active advertisers among global applications, with the highest proportion of new advertisers as well, rising further to 25.39%. Beyond tools, categories with over 10% share of newly advertised apps include life, Health & Fitness, Entertainment, Educational. The top three categories for ad volume perspective were shopping and entertainment. Among them, the overall advertising volume for tools apps has increased compared to October, showing a month-over-month growth of 49.15%, rising to third place in the current […]

The following analysis of mobile games marketing trends for November 2025 is based on advertising data from AppGrowing across 50 countries and regions, and 28 global media platforms. In the ranking of overseas mobile game advertising by category, casino, casual, and puzzle games occupy the top three spots. Among new app releases, casino games maintain the lead, accounting for 46.26%. Casual games come second, with over 30.00% of new app releases. Notably, although the overall number of arcade game ads is relatively small, new arcade apps constitute 19.11%, ranking third. The top three in advertising volume are puzzle, casual, and role-playing games. However, when considering creative material count after de-duplication, casino games surpass role-playing titles. In terms of Ad Creative […]

In recent years, South Korea's influence in the global anime-style games market has gradually increased, with several high-performing titles emerging, such as "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE" and "Limbus Company." Among them, SmileGate's "Epic Seven" stands out particularly, as it has remained at the top of the Korean Google Play IAP charts since its launch in 2018, according to data from AppGrowing. Source:AppGrowing Last month , SmileGate's new title "Chaos Zero Nightmare", launched in multiple regions worldwide.On its launch day, the game topped the iOS free charts in multiple countries including the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. Within just ten days of release, "Chaos Zero Nightmare" is expected to generate over $10.95 million in revenue. Source:AppGrowing Game producer mentioned in a […]

Here is an analysis of the global non-gaming App user acquisition marketing trends for October 2025, based on ad data from 50 countries/regions and 28 global media platforms, according to AppGrowing's report. In October 2025, tool apps continued to account for the largest share of active advertisers among global applications, with the highest proportion of new advertisers as well, rising further to 27.55%. Beyond tools, categories with over 10% share of newly advertised apps include life, Health & Fitness, Food & Drink, Entertainment, Educational. The top three categories for ad volume perspective were Shopping, Entertainment, and Books & Reference. Short-drama app continued its growth trend in October after an uptick in ad volume in September. In contrast, the volume of […]

"Foreign players are learning Song Dynasty history through the game." Since its global launch on November 7, NetEase's MMORPG "Sword of Justice" has generated trending discussions across major social media platforms worldwide. In the game, players explore the Hongqiao Bridge in Bianjing, experiencing the scenery of 'Qingming Shanghe Tu'. Through interactive storylines, they also engage with classical Chinese poetry. This international release has successfully introduced traditional Chinese cultural elements and aesthetic values to global gaming audiences. From the very first day of launch, the game dominated charts in multiple countries, topping the free sections of App Store and Google Play in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and other nations.   01. Light Character Progression + Heavy Social Interaction As a highly culturally […]

On July 10, 斗羅大陸：獵魂世界, an MMO adapted from the popular Chinese web novel Soul Land（斗罗大陆）, officially launched in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Malaysia. Following its debut, the game quickly broke into the top 10 on Taiwan’s iOS grossing chart. This article analyzes its advertising strategy based on data from AppGrowing. Advertising Overview According to AppGrowing, 斗羅大陸：獵魂世界 launched a total of 13,014 ad creatives, spanning 8 regions and 11 ad platforms. The majority of ads—approximately 82%—were in In-Feed format, followed by Rewarded Video, which accounted for around 8%. In terms of creative formats, images made up 19%, while videos accounted for over 45%, with standard video formats comprising 77% of all video content, and vertical video contributing around 32%. Ad […]

MARVEL Mystic Mayhem, a new superhero IP mobile title co-developed by NetEase and Marvel, officially opened pre-registration across multiple global markets at the end of May. With its full launch expected by late June, the game has already ramped up a large-scale user acquisition campaign. Drawing on data from AppGrowing, this article analyzes the game's advertising strategy in the lead-up to release. Advertising Overview According to AppGrowing, MARVEL Mystic Mayhem has launched a total of 3,336 ad creatives, spanning 29 countries and 8 ad platforms. The vast majority of placements—over 95%—have been in-feed ads, followed by rewarded video, which accounts for roughly 3% of placements. In terms of ad formats, videos dominate with over 68% share, including standard video (67%) […]

Here is an analysis of the global non-gaming App user acquisition marketing trends for May 2025, based on ad data from 50 countries/regions and 28 global media platforms, according to AppGrowing's report. In May 2025, the global non-gaming app advertising landscape continued the trends observed last month. Tool apps remained the dominant category in terms of total active ad campaigns, with new entries accounting for a record-high 16.06%. Meanwhile, entertainment apps saw a surge in total ad impressions, overtaking shopping apps to claim the top spot. However, when measured by the number of unique creatives, shopping apps still led by a wide margin. 01.Top Non-gaming App Developers & Apps According to AppGrowing, this month's ranking of top global advertisers saw a […]