AppsFlyer’s State of App Marketing puts 2025 global app marketing spend at $109 billion — $78 billion on user acquisition (up 13% year over year) and $31.3 billion on remarketing (up 37%). The story isn’t the headline number; it’s the mix.
After ATT, iOS is once again carrying UA growth (+35%, while Android was flat at -1%), and remarketing is the fastest-growing line in the entire budget — now 29% of all app marketing spend, up from 25% a year earlier.
Below is what the spend data actually shows, what it means for measurement, and how we’d translate it into budget decisions for a subscription or performance app in 2026.
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How much are apps spending on app marketing in 2025?
Global app marketing spend reached $109 billion in 2025, according to AppsFlyer’s State of App Marketing. It splits into two lines moving in very different directions:
| Spend line | 2025 spend | YoY growth | Notable split |
|---|---|---|---|
| User acquisition | $78B | +13% | iOS +35% · Android −1% |
| — Non-gaming UA | $53B | +18% | Fastest-growing UA segment |
| — Gaming UA | $25B | +3% | Recovering, but slower |
| Remarketing | $31.3B | +37% | iOS +71% · Android +10% |
| Total app marketing | $109B | — | Remarketing now 29% of spend (was 25%) |
Two numbers are worth sitting with. First, total spend is growing but not evenly — almost all of the net-new dollars are flowing into remarketing and iOS UA.
Second, the gap between non-gaming (+18%) and gaming (+3%) user acquisition is the widest it has been in years, which tells you where competitive pressure is building.
Why is remarketing the fastest-growing line in app marketing?
Remarketing spend grew 37% to $31.3 billion — faster than UA — and its share of total spend climbed from 25% to 29%. The clearest signal is on iOS, where remarketing spend jumped 71% year over year.
The logic is post-ATT economics. When acquisition signal is scarcer and CPIs are higher, re-engaging users you already have is the more measurable, more efficient line of spend — you own the first-party data, the audiences are addressable, and the conversion events are closer to revenue.
Teams are shifting budget toward the part of the funnel where measurement still works cleanly.
In practice, a remarketing program that earns this share of budget usually has three things in place: clean first-party event instrumentation (so you can build audiences on real in-app behavior, not just installs), a segmentation model that separates lapsed payers from never-converted free users, and creative built specifically for re-engagement rather than recycled acquisition assets.
Apps that bolt remarketing on without those foundations tend to see the spend but not the efficiency the category-level numbers imply.
Is iOS or Android driving UA growth after ATT?
iOS is. User acquisition spend on iOS surged 35% in 2025 while Android was essentially flat at -1%, per AppsFlyer. After several years of ATT-driven caution, advertisers are leaning back into iOS.
The enabling change is measurement maturity, not a change in the privacy rules. SKAN 4.0’s multiple conversion windows and coarse/fine-grained postbacks, combined with MMP modeled attribution and the growing use of incrementality testing, have restored enough confidence for teams to scale iOS again.
The practical implication for your account: iOS budgets are growing across the market, which means SKAN measurement quality — your conversion-value schema, your postback timing, your modeling — is now the binding constraint on iOS growth, not budget appetite.
If your SKAN setup is coarse, you’ll feel it as an inability to scale profitably even when the budget is available.
What’s happening with non-gaming vs gaming spend?
Non-gaming user acquisition reached $53 billion (+18%), while gaming UA was $25 billion (+3%). Non-gaming is now growing roughly six times faster than gaming.
Subscription apps, fintech, health and wellness, and commerce are pulling more of the UA dollars, which raises auction pressure in exactly the categories where subscription economics already make every install expensive to justify.
For non-gaming advertisers, that means the path to efficiency is less about finding cheaper inventory and more about creative differentiation and tighter measurement — the two levers that move CPI and payback when the auction itself is getting more crowded.
What does AppsFlyer’s data mean for your 2026 budget?
Three things we’d act on at RocketShip HQ:
- Treat remarketing as a first-class line, not a leftover. If it’s growing 37% industry-wide and you have no structured remarketing program, you’re ceding the most efficient post-ATT lever to competitors who do.
- Re-pressure-test iOS. The market-wide iOS pullback is over. The question for your account is whether your SKAN conversion-value schema is good enough to scale iOS profitably — not whether to be there at all.
- Assume the non-gaming auction gets harder. With non-gaming UA growing 18%, creative volume and measurement discipline are how you avoid simply bidding CPIs higher than the next subscription app.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did app marketing spend grow in 2025?
Global app marketing spend reached $109 billion in 2025 — $78 billion in user acquisition (+13% YoY) and $31.3 billion in remarketing (+37% YoY), per AppsFlyer’s State of App Marketing.
Is remarketing or user acquisition growing faster?
Remarketing. It grew 37% year over year versus 13% for user acquisition, and now accounts for 29% of total app marketing spend, up from 25% the prior year.
Why is iOS ad spend growing again after ATT?
iOS UA spend grew 35% in 2025 (vs −1% on Android) as improved SKAN 4.0 postbacks and modeled attribution restored enough measurement confidence for advertisers to scale iOS again.
Is non-gaming or gaming app spend growing faster?
Non-gaming. Non-gaming user acquisition grew 18% to $53 billion in 2025, while gaming UA grew 3% to $25 billion — non-gaming is expanding roughly six times faster.
Source: AppsFlyer — State of App Marketing 2025. Granular per-category CPI and retention benchmarks are in AppsFlyer’s full report.
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