Market (Mobile)·Updated Apr 8, 2026 by Mintegral
AI-focused applications experienced massive 2025 growth, led by Perplexity (+3,613%), ChatGPT (+1,340%), and Character AI (+918%).
Short Drama apps like RapidTV (+498%) and Kuku TV (+45k%) are driving explosive revenue, with North American rewarded video eCPMs for this category reaching up to 11.8x.
Android leads in global download volume, particularly in Utilities (79%) and Life Services (58%), while iOS captures the majority of revenue in Finance & Business (56%) and Life Services (57%).
User acquisition competition is intensifying, evidenced by a 50% increase in Target ROAS spending and a 57% rise in Target CPE spending, particularly within Utilities and Entertainment.
Cost-per-install (CPI) premiums remain high for transactional users, reaching 3x for E-Commerce on Android and 4.6x for Finance & Business on iOS.
In-app advertising (IAA) is the dominant monetization model for Education, Utilities, and Entertainment, with video formats outperforming banner ads by 128–165x in eCPM.
Market saturation is increasing as the number of apps in Life Services and Finance & Business grew by 42% and 43.5% respectively throughout 2025.
AI-focused applications experienced massive 2025 growth, led by Perplexity (+3,613%), ChatGPT (+1,340%), and Character AI (+918%).
Short Drama apps like RapidTV (+498%) and Kuku TV (+45k%) are driving explosive revenue, with North American rewarded video eCPMs for this category reaching up to 11.8x.
Android leads in global download volume, particularly in Utilities (79%) and Life Services (58%), while iOS captures the majority of revenue in Finance & Business (56%) and Life Services (57%).
User acquisition competition is intensifying, evidenced by a 50% increase in Target ROAS spending and a 57% rise in Target CPE spending, particularly within Utilities and Entertainment.
Cost-per-install (CPI) premiums remain high for transactional users, reaching 3x for E-Commerce on Android and 4.6x for Finance & Business on iOS.
In-app advertising (IAA) is the dominant monetization model for Education, Utilities, and Entertainment, with video formats outperforming banner ads by 128–165x in eCPM.
Market saturation is increasing as the number of apps in Life Services and Finance & Business grew by 42% and 43.5% respectively throughout 2025.