The mobile app marketing landscape is shifting from traffic-driven growth to value-driven strategies. As acquisition costs rise and privacy regulations limit targeting and attribution, advertisers are rethinking how to achieve sustainable growth. Non-gaming apps have emerged as the primary growth engine, while retargeting is becoming essential for maximizing user lifetime value.

The global AI app market intensified in March 2026, with ChatGPT approaching 1 billion MAU and reinforcing its leadership. While AI assistants continue to dominate user scale, content creation apps—especially video generation—are rapidly emerging as key growth and monetization drivers. The market is becoming more diversified, with rising demand for creative tools, entertainment, and vertical AI use cases such as plant recognition and health tracking. Meanwhile, both leading and mid-tier apps are finding new growth opportunities through product differentiation and scenario-based innovation, signaling a shift toward more segmented and competitive dynamics.

The global mobile gaming market is entering a phase of structural divergence, with downloads declining while revenue continues to grow. As new game releases surge and competition intensifies, traditional user acquisition strategies are losing effectiveness.