AI saturates mobile gaming marketing channels and increases the cost of standing out

AI has dramatically increased the speed and volume with which games and marketing assets reach the market.

AppsFlyer, the Modern Marketing Cloud, has released the “State of Gaming for Marketers 2026” report, an in-depth analysis of how artificial intelligence (AI), large-scale creativity, and increased ad spend have transformed marketing in the mobile gaming sector.

In 2025, AI-driven production coincided with a sharp increase in ad spend on iOS and Android. Creative output multiplied rapidly across all spend levels, with top gaming advertisers producing between 2,400 and 2,600 creative variants per quarter, representing a year-over-year increase of 25-30%. This expansion intensified competition in paid user acquisition channels. The share of paid installs increased by 10% year-over-year on both iOS and Android, while ad impressions rose by 20%, indicating a significant increase in the number of ads competing for the same player segment. To manage the increasing volume and fragmentation of marketing, AI-powered tools have become commonplace in workflows. Nearly half (46%) of AI assistant queries were for reporting and performance analytics, reflecting the need for faster insights as data volume grows.

“AI has dramatically increased the speed and volume at which games and marketing assets reach the market,” says Adam Smart, Director of Gaming Product at AppsFlyer. “The result is not a shortage of creative, but an overabundance. As ad spend and creative expand faster than gamers’ attention spans, marketing success hinges on how effectively teams can measure, interpret, and act on an ever-increasing volume of fragmented signals.”

These are the key findings of the report:

– Global spending on game app user acquisition (UA) reached $25 billion in 2025. Total spending grew 3.8% year-over-year, with almost half going to the US, despite budgets declining 5% year-over-year in that market. Growth shifted to emerging regions such as Turkey (+29%) and India (+19%).

– Spain reflected a broader trend in Western Europe in 2025, with greater acquisition efficiency and more selective expansion across platforms.

– Publishers based in China captured 35% of global game user acquisition spending outside of China. Their share grew 22% year-over-year, with the strongest gains on Android and in competitive Western markets, including the US, UK, Germany, and France.

– AI continues to be used primarily to manage marketing scale, not strategy. 46% of inquiries to AI assistants focus on performance reports and breakdowns. Teams use them to keep up with the increasing volume of data, rather than to replace decision-making. However, in some sectors, they are already being used for more complex tasks and requests.

– iOS advertisers expanded their media mix to gain more reach. They increased their media sources by up to 15% year-over-year, reflecting the growing fragmentation and the need to diversify beyond the main channels.

Source: www.marketingdirecto.com