Industry News & Events
If 2024 was the Year of Mobile, 2025 could well be the Year of In-App Advertising. As app developers continue to innovate, unlocking new ways to keep users engaged, apps now monopolize consumer time and attention. A healthy and growing app ecosystem has finally captured the attention of brands, who are seizing the opportunity to engage consumers in-app.
And that sets the stage for AppLovin’s Predictions, highlighting the trends and innovations shaping the industry. Here’s what you can expect in 2025:
Rafael Vivas, VP of Sales, eCommerce, foresees AI transforming how brands connect with consumers. By anticipating user needs, D2C brands will be able to deliver personalized, high-ROI campaigns that engage smarter and faster. AI tools will empower marketers to predict trends, optimize ad spend, and meet customers precisely when and where they want to engage.
Paul Kennedy, VP of eCommerce, sees in-app advertising becoming increasingly significant for retail brands. “In 2025, we’ll see e-commerce fully embrace advertising in mobile apps as a central performance channel. Retail brands will begin to expand their reach beyond traditional display and social media channels to find high-intent shoppers at enormous scale. They’ll then be empowered to drive significant top-line revenue growth in a way that’s both accessible and performance-based.”
Daniel Tchernahovsky, VP of Global Business Development, predicts that advancements in technology will enable deeper user segmentation and more personalized experiences. “The goal of a game has always been to make the players feel that the game was designed just for them. We are now at a point where advancement in technology – on the UA/ad monetization side, as well as on the game development side – allows for this. As hybrid approaches become more foundational to game development, we will see more and more sophistication in segmentation of users, engaging players and non-payers into different experiences in the game.”
Tchernahovsky further anticipates non-gaming apps in health, wellness, and productivity capitalizing on the success of gaming apps by adopting gamification to boost user retention. “Non-gaming apps in health, wellness, and productivity will continue to adopt gaming mechanics to increase user retention and engagement, creating mutual growth opportunities for both sectors.”
Katie Jansen, Chief Marketing Officer, highlights the challenge of ad fatigue in a world saturated with ads. “Ad sales are booming on social media and podcast networks. While that’s good news for the industry, it comes with challenges: Consumers are being bombarded with ads – up to 5,000 a day across all media, by some estimates. For brands, that’s a call to action. They’ll need to keep their content fresh to stay relevant and engage audiences. The key will be regularly switching up creative strategies to keep users engaged and prevent them from tuning out. We’re seeing this, for example, in the increasing use of gamification and interactivity.
“Doing this at scale will be a massive challenge,” Jansen continues. “Brands that win will be the ones that figure out how to create diverse, engaging content without burning out their teams. AI will be a big help here, allowing brands to scale creative production efficiently. We’re already seeing some platforms incorporate AI to help advertisers automate creative diversification, but we’ll see how well those new tools work. Many advertisers may choose to keep this function in-house or with their agencies instead.”
Tchernahovsky additionally foresees a growing trend of blending web and app experiences. “More and more partners are exploring the web as part of the user experience for their apps. Initially, this was used primarily in the subscription world, where developers would move the onboarding experience to the web, but it is expanding more broadly across app categories. Whether as a way to engage loyal users with a web store or to drive new interactions via pure web-based approaches, I expect there to be a lot of development in this area.”
Rafael Vivas also notes a shift in consumer shopping behavior. “By 2025, we’ll see a complete democratization of how people shop. It’s no longer just about going to a physical store or relying on major platforms. Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are rising, and they’ll continue to thrive as new tools make it easier than ever for consumers to discover, engage, and purchase across different touchpoints. The seamless purchase funnels available now – especially in mobile apps – will give D2C brands a chance to stand out in ways we haven’t seen before.”
With AI once again leading the way, 2025 promises to be another year of growth and change, driven by the continued growth of the app industry and the corresponding evolution of consumer behaviors. At AppLovin, we continue to be excited and optimistic about the future and our place in it.
