Sensor Tower

Research

118 documents

Documents

Report41 pages

PC/Console Gaming Index: 2025

Steam remains the dominant platform for PC/console gaming, generating approximately 450 million downloads year-to-date, which is nearly four times the volume of PlayStation.
Monetization strategies are platform-specific: 79% of Steam downloads and 83% of PlayStation downloads are premium, while 39% of Xbox downloads are free-to-play, largely driven by Game Pass.
Indie and AA developers drive the majority of the 262 million action-genre downloads, with indie titles accounting for 60% of total downloads on Steam.

Market Analysis PC Console+3

Sensor Tower

Report26 pages

Consumer Banking App Market and Advertising Trends 2025

Global consumer banking app downloads surpassed two billion by June 2025, with quarterly figures now exceeding half a billion.
Emerging markets are driving significant growth through apps like Nubank, Kotak Bank: 811, and BRImo, which facilitate branchless financial services.
Advertising strategies are highly localized, with YouTube capturing 63% of banking app impressions in Japan, while Facebook serves as the primary channel in South Korea and India.

Market Analysis Advertising Mobile+2

Sensor Tower

Report29 pages

Investing and Financial Management App Market and Advertising Trends 2025

Global downloads for investment and crypto trading apps rose 12% in 2025, reaching approximately five billion total downloads.
User demographics are heavily male-skewed, with crypto apps reaching over 90% male users and emerging markets like India and Vietnam reporting only 13–17% female participation.
Market preferences are geographically fragmented: U.S. and Japanese users favor established brokerages, while consumers in India and Southeast Asia prioritize local, mobile-centric platforms.

Market Analysis Market Forecast Advertising+2

Sensor Tower

Report24 pages

1H 2025 Amazon Retail Media: An Inside Look at How Brands Are Showing Up

Amazon Retail Media dominated the market in 1H 2025 with $618 million in ad spend, significantly outpacing Walmart ($236 million) and Chewy ($105 million).
Amazon’s advertiser base is nine times larger than Walmart’s, hosting 9,542 unique advertisers compared to Walmart’s 1,076.
Samsung, Unilever, and L’Oréal were the top spenders in 1H 2025, contributing $7.1 million, $5.7 million, and $5.3 million respectively.

Market Analysis Marketing Advertising+2

Sensor Tower

Report29 pages

State of Mobile 2025: Why Community Wins on Mobile

Reddit-acquired users demonstrate significantly higher lifetime value, with 41% higher Day-1 spend than other social platforms and 159% higher than digital media.
Reddit users exhibit superior long-term retention and engagement, spending 55% more time in-app on Day 1 and 103% more by Day 30 compared to other channels.
Global mobile in-app purchase revenue reached $150 billion in 2024, representing a 13% year-over-year increase, while total usage hit 4.2 trillion hours.

Market Analysis Mobile Marketing+2

Report69 pages

State of Gaming 2026

PC and console platforms are seeing record revenue growth, highlighted by a 32% increase in Steam’s premium segment and the strong market performance of Battlefield 6.
Mobile gaming growth is slowing despite reaching 50 billion downloads in 2025, with hybrid-casual titles now serving as the primary drivers of incremental revenue.
Shooter games on PC and console have reached a download plateau, indicating that new releases are cannibalizing existing player bases rather than expanding the total market.

Market Analysis Monetization Mobile+1

Sensor TowerApr 2026

Report53 pages

Ad Monetization Without Killing Retention

Integrate advertisements as core gameplay design elements rather than external overlays to increase revenue without negatively impacting player retention.
Deploy rewarded video ads during high-stakes moments—such as revives, boosters, or time-limited rewards—to leverage scarcity and urgency for higher conversion rates.
Implement strategic gating for ad triggers based on level progression, total playtime, or specific cooldown periods to minimize player frustration.

Monetization In-Game Advertising Live Ops+2

Sensor TowerApr 2026

Report97 pages

State of Mobile 2026

Non-game apps surpassed games in in-app purchase (IAP) revenue for the first time in 2025, contributing to a total global IAP market of $85.6 billion, a 21% year-over-year increase.
Generative AI and short-form drama are the fastest-growing subgenres, with AI assistants like ChatGPT generating $3.4 billion in 2025 and short-drama apps capturing over 10% of global video-entertainment time.
Roblox solidified its dominance in the gaming web arena, accounting for 74% of all game-publisher site visits in 2025.

Market Analysis Monetization AI

Sensor TowerApr 2026

Report45 pages

Why Chance-Based Mechanics Keep Us Hooked

Monopoly GO! generates $100 million to $125 million in monthly revenue by utilizing a 'saw-tooth' gameplay loop that alternates between resource depletion and sudden, event-driven recovery.
Player engagement is driven by the dopamine release associated with the anticipation of rewards rather than the intrinsic value of the prizes themselves.
Developers manipulate game probabilities to prioritize emotional impact over mathematical fairness, such as limiting low-tier prize outcomes to as little as 13%.

Monetization Player Behavior Game Design+1

Sensor TowerJan 2026

Report57 pages

How to Build an Effective Offer System in Your Game

A tiered pricing ladder ranging from under $1 to $99, which escalates after purchases and regresses during inactivity, allows for precise alignment with individual player spend propensity.
Conversion is driven by repeated exposure, with players typically requiring seven viewings of an offer before completing a purchase.
Strategic implementation of a limited set of offer types can drive conversion rates as high as 96% on login offers and increase repeat-purchase value by approximately 20% through endless offers.

Monetization Live Ops Market Analysis+2

Sensor TowerJan 2026

Report31 pages

State of Digital Advertising India 2026

India’s digital advertising market surpassed $4 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed $5 billion in 2026.
Shopping remains the dominant advertising category, representing 28% of total spend with an 18% year-on-year increase.
Software recorded the highest growth rate among all sectors, surging 84% year-on-year.

Market Analysis Advertising Marketing+1

Sensor TowerJan 2026

Report25 pages

State of African Games 2026

South Africa dominates the African game development sector, accounting for all top-ten selling titles and contributing to a 2% share of global Steam unit sales.
The industry is shifting from volume-driven growth to longer development cycles, evidenced by a decline in annual Steam releases from a peak of 23 in 2023 to 11 in 2025.
There is a significant genre mismatch in the market, as action titles dominate release volume while simulation games achieve the highest median sales at approximately 372,000 units.

Market Analysis Game Development

Sensor TowerJan 2026