The data was collected from January 2021 to December 2022. 38B installs were counted; 18.6k thousand apps with not less than 10k quarter installs participated; $13.9B of spend was considered.
General numbers
- $26.7B was spent on mobile gaming ads in 2022. The US market is the first with $12.2B of spend. Japan is second with about $2B spent.
- Android downloads increased by 8% worldwide. iOS downloads dropped by 5%.
- In the US Android downloads increased by 19%; iOS downloads decreased by 1%.
- An average CPI on iOS increased by 88% when comparing Q1 2022 with Q4 2022 and reached $3.75.
- IAP dropped by 7% in H2 2022 compared to H1 2022. iOS payments declined by 13% (-1% YoY); Android – by 6% (-14% YoY). The decline is caused by the revenue drop of RPG and casino games.
World trends
- The speed of iOS downloads declining in 2022 slowed down, but the trend is still negative. Android downloads growth is slowing too.
- Casino (+17% YoY) and RPG (+11%) downloads grew on iOS in 2022. On Android casino games were 48% more popular – it’s the fastest-growing genre on the platform overcoming the hypercasual games 3x times. Users from India, Brazil, and Turkey drove such dramatic growth.
- The number of paid downloads on Android increased by 16% YoY. In spite of difficulties, iOS paid downloads increased by 10%. However, it’s important to note that iOS paid downloads have been declining throughout 2022.
- A lot of countries in Southeast Asia showed an overall growth in downloads. China (-30%), Russia (-30%), Mexico (-31%) – are the largest losers by downloads on iOS. Russian Android downloads also decreased by 27%.
- Match games (19%), hypercasual games (14%), and RPGs (11%) are responsible for almost half of the ad budget worldwide.
- Ad monetization has been decreasing throughout 2022.
- The impact of self-owned marketing instruments (push notifications; in-app messages; cross-promo) increased by 16% on iOS and 34% on Android.
Trends by genre
- Hypercasual – CPI is decreasing; the number of downloads from India increased by 32% in 2022.
- Match – CPI is growing on both iOS ($5.74 in Q4 2022) and Android ($1.45 in Q4 2022); China dropped by 41% in downloads on iOS.
- Casino – CPI on iOS reached $11.45 in Q4 2022; ad revenues declined by 33% on iOS and 29% on Android; downloads in the US are growing.
- RPG – downloads in the US grew by 90% YoY on iOS and 41% YoY on Android; despite such a growth – IAP and ad monetization declined; however ad spending on games of this genre is increasing.
- Simulation – paid downloads on Android increased by 33%; IAP revenue is declining on both iOS and Android; in the US downloads dropped by 28% on Android but grew by 1% on iOS.
- Puzzle – Android ad spending increased by 52% and iOS ad spending increased by 37%; CPI on iOS dropped to $3, on Android – contrary – it grew up to $3; CPI in India is less than $0.1.
General conclusions
- Hybrid monetization is the key.
- AppsFlyer is positive that the right usage of SKAN 4.0 will help to work more efficiently on the iOS market.
- The US is being the main market, but AppsFlyer suggests paying attention to growing markets like Indonesia, India, or Vietnam.
- Remarketing on Android is still working.
- The right thing to do is to scale your own marketing channels.
- Mobile games are turning more to community marketing. Players are reading Twitter, chatting in Discord, watching Twitch. And, of course, discussing their favorite games.
