Author: John Koetsier

John Koetsier is a journalist and analyst. He's a senior contributor at Forbes and hosts our Growth Masterminds podcast as well as the TechFirst podcast. At Singular, he serves as VP, Insights.

Hello Gemini! Singular now supports Gemini as well as ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Visual Studio Copilot

Hello Gemini! Singular’s MCP integration now supports Google’s Gemini so you can talk to your data via yet another LLM.

If AI is eating marketing, Singular’s making sure you get a seat at the dinner table. 

And … that you get some good munchies.

By which we mean, of course, accurate, clean, and trustworthy data straight from the most accurate possible source: your own data in our databases and dashboards.

This week Gemini CLI joined ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and Visual Studio Copilot as part of our growing set of LLM integrations. So you can now talk to your Singular data directly through Gemini, asking natural-language questions and getting instant, AI-powered answers: no SQL, no dashboards, no building queries, no waiting on your BI team.

Just you, your voice, and your data.

So … what can you ask Gemini?

Just connect Gemini-CLI and you can ask pretty much anything you want:

  • What are my top performing campaigns?
  • What creatives are working on TikTok?
  • Show me a chart of installs by geo over the last 90 days.
  • What CPI trends are you seeing month-over-month by ad network?
  • Where should I be spending more?
  • Where should I be spending less?
  • And much, much more …

Gemini will instantly give you insights, tables, and visualizations, all generated from your very own Singular data.

  • Gemini brings the brain
  • Singular brings the data
  • You get the insights

Even better, we don’t just support Gemini. There are now so many options for which AI engine you’d like to plug into your growth data …

Gemini’s got company

Gemini joins a growing list of LLMs that Singular supports, thanks to our standard, private, and safe MCP integrations.

So far, they include:

  • Claude by Anthropic
    Singular was the first MMP to enable direct access to your data via an LLM when we released support for Claude in June.
  • ChatGPT by OpenAI
    ChatGPT followed Claude, which makes sense because Anthropic invented the MCP integration protocol that all the LLMs are now using.
  • Cursor by Anysphere
    We didn’t really announce it, because it’s pretty geeky, but if your devs want to play with code, AI, and data, Cursor is a really good way.
  • Visual Studio Copilot (GitHub Copilot)
    We didn’t really announce this one, so I’m slapping my own wrist here again, but the reason was the same: it’s super geeky for developers who want to build cool stuff with their data (and AI).
  • ChatGPT – Developer Mode
    This is still in beta, but yeah, developers like options. So this is available too …
  • NEW: Gemini CLI
    Right now, Gemini supports MCP integrations to Gemini-CLI, which is the Gemini-CLI desktop app. The browser-based Gemini doesn’t support MCP integrations just yet, but we’ll connect it as soon as it does.

And yes, more are on the way … including super-cool agentic AI engines that will support even more advanced use cases and complex jobs.

OK … how do you connect Gemini?

Short version: get all the details from our Singular MCP doc in our Help Center.

Slightly longer version:

  • Install the Gemini CLI app
  • Configure Gemini to use Singular MCP
  • Run Gemini in your terminal app
  • Authenticate with your Singular account when prompted
  • Give Gemini the right permissions

When all that’s done (and yeah, get the exact details from the Help Center) you can easily ask Gemini for any of the data you want. Take a look here to see what people are commonly using our MCP LLM integrations for.

MCP LLM integrations

Worried about LLM hallucinations?

So are we.

Good, clear, accurate data is critical to what we do, because it’s critical to what you do.

That’s why we’ve invested heavily in ensuring that hallucinations are as rare as possible when you use the Singular MCP. We literally have a 7-step approach to forcing any LLM accessing your Singular data to do its best work, simply, strictly, observably … without making stuff up.

This makes bad data extremely rare. 

That said: you still need to be aware, and ensure that Gemini’s answers — or answers from any LLM you connect to your Singular data — pass the sniff test.

Not a Singular client yet? Can’t access this Gemini goodness?

Well, let’s fix that.

You can start for free, and you can also book a product demo to get a sneak peek under the engine that powers growth from some of the best and biggest brands on the planet.

All it takes is a click.

See you soon!

Singular rated best mobile measurement partner by 1,864 marketers

Singular has once again been rated the best mobile measurement partner by marketers: 1,864 of them, as a matter of fact. That’s consistent with our rating as best MMP in summer 2024 and tops again earlier this year.

It’s getting to be a bit of a habit, and for that we thank you!

The Fall 2025 G2 report comparing Singular, Adjust, AppsFlyer, Branch, and Kochava confirms what our customers already know: Singular is tops in virtually all major categories.

best mobile measurement partner

Best mobile measurement partner across 41 categories

G2’s newest report compares MMPs across 41 key dimensions. In 32 of them, Singular is the clear individual leader across all MMPs. In 6, we’re tied with AppsFlyer for the lead, and in 3, we’re tied with Adjust. 

In other words, across 41 different ways of measuring who is the best mobile measurement partner, the message from marketers who actually use the software could not be more clear.

If we look at the big 3 in MMPs, here’s what the data says:

Singular on top Singular tied with AppsFlyer Singular tied with Adjust

Ease of Admin
Ease of Setup
Ease of Use
Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
Likelihood to Recommend
Meets Requirements
Quality of Support
Avg. ROI (months)
Digital Analytics
Manual IP Blocking
Adaptive Learning
Analytics Dashboard
Autonomous Task Execution
Cross-channel insights
Cross-platform attribution
Cross-system Integration
Custom Dashboards
Data Segmentation
Decision Making
Fraud Detection
Natural Language Interaction
Post-Fraud Attribution
Proactive Assistance
Retention Metrics
Uninstall Metrics
Validation Rules
Attribution
Conversions
Custom Event Tracking
Dashboard
Geolocation
User Segmentation

 Product Direction (% positive)
Data Sharing and Exporting
Device/OS Targeting
Rules
Threat Detection
Attribution Windows		 Avg. Go Live Time (months)
Automated IP Blocking
Cross-Campaign Blocking

Still tops at the most important things

Some standouts if you check the full report on G2 …

  • Time to ROI
    Singular takes almost 7 months to show ROI: about half the time compared to others. This is huge for customers needing quick payoffs.
  • Quality of support
    Support is consistently a major pain point in the SaaS world. Singular invests the resources to ensure we get it right: 7 percentage points higher than AppsFlyer, and 22 percentage points higher than Branch.
  • Product direction
    This metric measures where customers think we’re going, and it’s critical in adtech right now. So much is changing with AI, data sources, and high-ROI ad partners. We’re adapting quickly. We’re skating to where the puck is going to be … and that’s huge for customers.
  • Good partner
    We don’t want to be just a tool or a vendor. We want to invest in your success, and so the fact that we’re highest rated in being a good partner is hugely satisfying.

And, of course, there’s much more.

Critical NEW areas for best mobile measurement partners to rank in

Work is changing. Marketing is changing.

Everything is changing.

If you look closely at that super-long list of areas where Singular leads all by itself, there’s 3 super-interesting categories that you might want to pay special attention to. They’re kinda new.

  1. Adaptive Learning
  2. Autonomous Task Execution
  3. Natural Language Interaction

Like the rest, these aren’t just checkboxes on a feature list. Unlike the rest, they represent the future of how work will be done … both in general and by marketers.

People and AI are working together to turn raw data into real business growth.

Adaptive Learning means your measurement platform isn’t static. As fraud patterns change, as creative effectiveness shifts, as new channels emerge, your marketing data platform adjusts automatically. 

Singular’s platform sees the data, learns, and shares the insights. Think Creative IQ finding not just which creative leads to higher ROI, but what patterns, images, hooks, and categories of creative are most effective.

That means you learn faster. You adjust quicker than your competition.

And you win more frequently.

Autonomous Task Execution takes this further. Instead of simply surfacing data, Singular is automating work. Think detecting anomalies or flagging underperforming campaigns. That means you have a digital angel watching over your marketing campaigns, helping to ensure you win the battle for attention, engagement, and monetization. And that frees marketers to focus on strategy while the system takes care of execution.

Finally, Natural Language Interaction puts the power of data into everyone’s hands. It lets you talk to your data, not just run reports or build queries. The best mobile measurement partner makes insights accessible.

That’s why we were the first MMP to integrate with LLMs, starting with Claude, adding ChatGPT, and now Google’s Gemini. (Because we use an industry-standard MCP integration model, additional LLMs are relatively easy to implement.)

And that means instead of waiting for analysts or wrestling with dashboards, marketers can simply ask: “Which campaigns are driving the best ROI right now?” and get an immediate, accurate answer. Essentially, you can talk to your data, democratizing access to insights and accelerating decision-making.

Learn faster, decide faster, act faster … it all adds up to growing faster.

Together, these capabilities ensure marketers always have the best data in the shortest time and can make the smartest decisions to grow the fastest. It’s not about AI replacing marketers: it’s about AI working alongside you, removing friction, and amplifying possibilities.

Another thing: data access, flexibility, and new data sources

If all your competitors have the same data that you do, how can you differentiate? How can you win?

That’s why we’ve also invested in newer, faster, cheaper, and more flexible ways for you to access all the data you want to feed into your own BI system that gives you more insight.

I’m talking about Extract, a super-modern, super-capable, and still super-simple ELT platform that top game publishers like SciPlay are using to feed even more relevant market, app, and customer data into their systems. 

We call it Extract.

And while there’s not an ELT or ETL category in G2 right now for best mobile measurement platform, you can see the power of great data movement in the Ease of Admin, Ease of Use, and Ease of Setup categories. The Digital Analytics and Custom Dashboards metrics are relevant here too, as are measures around Cross-system Integration.

More relevant data from app stores and other sources makes your marketing decisions better.

We don’t take being the best mobile measurement platform lightly

Thank you to all of our customers for these amazing ratings.

We don’t take them lightly. Nor do we intend to sit on our laurels.

It’s not just about coming out on top on a G2 report or outperforming competitors on feature checklists. It’s about the trust our customers place in us to deliver accurate, actionable data every single day. The reality is that thousands of marketers are making million-dollar decisions on the insights we provide, and that responsibility drives us to keep innovating, keep listening, and keep raising the bar. 

Being the best today means working harder to stay the best tomorrow.

As you know better than anyone, measurement isn’t static: it’s evolving with privacy changes, new channels, new data accessibility from ad networks, and the rise of AI.

So we have our work cut out for us. Thank you for your trust and partnership.

25 essential mobile app marketing strategies and insights for 2025

Mobile app marketing isn’t the same game we played just a few years ago. Privacy got stricter, but platforms now provide more data. AI is eating half of our jobs … but also giving us 3 more. Campaigns that might have run for months or weeks now live for weeks if not days. 

And somehow, in spite of all the chaos, UA marketers are still finding smarter, more flexible, and more sustainable ways to grow.

The playbook isn’t what it used to be.

Nothing is.

But here are 25 tips and strategies that actually work now, mostly straight from in-depth conversations with smart marketers like you on the Growth Masterminds podcast, and data-driven reports and guides that we’ve recently published. For more details on the tip or strategy, follow the link to the full story, study, or Growth Masterminds episode with the insights.

Enjoy!

1. Diversify mobile app marketing ad spend beyond big platforms

If you’re still running the bulk of your UA through Google and Meta, you’re limiting your upside. 

Our recent app growth insights report with Moloco shows that independent and regional ad networks are delivering outsized returns for marketers who are willing to test outside traditionally safe channels. 

Diversification reduces risk, of course, but it also uncovers new audiences and geos that your competitors aren’t touching. In 2025, there are more viable partners than ever … and the marketers who expand beyond the big 2 are the ones uncovering fresh growth: critical for successful mobile app marketing.

2. Use the ROI Index and ROI Quadrant to pick partners

Picking an ad partner to test isn’t guesswork anymore. 

Or dependent on which ad network schmoozed you at a recent conference.

The Singular ROI Index 2025 lays out which platforms deliver value and which ones burn budget. Our ROI Quadrant makes the trade-offs crystal clear: some networks scale with high costs, some look cheap but return little, and some deliver the holy grail of growth at low cost. 

Using these tools lets you prioritize where to test while avoiding ad networks that deliver only vanity metrics. Your mileage will always vary, so this is not an infallible cure-all … but it is a smart and time-saving strategy to get going.

3. Leverage generative AI tools in creative

Umm … Captain Obvious here.

You already know that creative has always been the most important lever in all performance marketing, including mobile app marketing. Now it’s also the most AI-driven. Generative AI platforms are helping marketers brainstorm, storyboard, and automatically generate new creative variations at scale. That means you can test 10X more ideas, creative, and hooks in the same timeframe. 

The perhaps non-Captain-Obvious point is that you can now use AI to get deep insight into which creatives are working — all the way down to ROI — and also WHY some creatives are working. That’s thanks to Creative IQ from Singular.

The marketers winning this year aren’t just dabbling with AI … they’re using it as an always-on creative partner.

4. Pick your analytics tools carefully

Analytics is both your growth x-ray and measuring stick, but not every tool is right for every job. 

The best teams in 2025 are using layered stacks: product analytics with live ops capabilities for retention, attribution platforms for UA efficiency, and creative analytics for optimizing ad spend. Too often, teams fall into the trap of expecting one tool to do it all and then miss opportunities because their visibility is limited. 

Even smarter teams are now using tools like Extract to get App Store data like crashes, ratings, reviews, revenue, on-store CTR and conversion data, and more, and mixing into their marketing BI to get super-fast insights into growth changes.

Building the right analytics mix is a competitive advantage that lets you spot winners faster and cut losers before they waste your budget.

5. Watch quarterly spending and vertical shifts

Markets aren’t static. 

Our Quarterly Trends Report from Q2 2025 showed that verticals like entertainment and productivity were booming while shopping apps are facing macro headwinds, including tariffs. Our latest QTR shows different trends with different risks and upsides.

If you’re not paying attention to market shifts in mobile app marketing, you’ll keep spending where ROI is declining, or consumer attention is waning. 

Smart marketers reallocate spend quickly, shifting dollars from weakening verticals into the ones gaining momentum. And while you can’t just instantly change your signature apps’ verticals, you can use recent credible information to adjust your marketing and product strategies.

6. Retargeting and re-engagement multiply ROI

Acquisition is expensive, but re-engagement makes it profitable. 

Retargeting campaigns, whether paid or owned media like push notifications and email, turn churn into renewed revenue. The smartest marketers are blending both: using paid channels for high-value reactivations and owned media for cheap wins at scale. 

The result is not just better retention but stronger lifetime value across the board. Without re-engagement, you’re letting your most valuable users slip away.

7. Segment smarter and use behavior triggers for better mobile app marketing

One-size-fits-all retargeting is dead. 

Blasting every lapsed user with the same message just annoys people and hurts performance. 

Successful retargeting is behavior-driven: segmenting users by engagement level, spend, and churn risk, then triggering outreach based on actual behavior. Timing matters, too: retargeting a day-2 churned user is a different game than winning back a 6-month dormant subscriber. 

The difference is massive ROI uplift versus wasted impressions.

8. Blend organic ASO and paid UA at launch

There’s (almost) no such thing as a purely organic hit anymore. That’s why mobile app marketing is a thing.

The path to millions of users and massive monetization almost always involves paid campaigns in addition to ASO, SEO, and — increasingly — AIEO or GEO. 

App store optimization builds the foundation, ensuring visibility and conversion, while paid UA provides the fuel to climb charts and boost organics. Together, they form a growth loop that compounds: better ASO improves paid performance, and more installs from paid drives stronger ASO. Ignore one, and you’ll stunt your launch.

9. Test incrementality at scale

Just because you bought an install doesn’t mean you won that user, player, or customer. 

Incrementality testing is how marketers know that campaigns are driving true net-new growth … as opposed to just cannibalizing organics and other channels. 

Increasingly, incrementality isn’t optional in mobile app marketing. The top growth teams are running tests continuously, boosting spend only for ad partners that prove incremental value. It’s the only way to be sure you’re not just paying for users you would have gotten anyway.

10. Take advantage of web2app

More and more iOS marketers are shifting spend to web-to-app campaigns. 

Why? 

Because web-based landing pages give you more control, better tracking, and more opportunities to collect first-party data before the install. They also let you craft journeys that match your funnel, not Apple’s. 

If you’re still only running in-app campaigns, you’re missing one of the biggest UA shifts of 2025.

11. Accept higher costs … and make them worth it

Yes, media costs are rising. CPMs are up, CPIs are higher, and inventory is more competitive. 

But smarter analytics and stronger creative can make those higher costs worthwhile. Today the goal isn’t cheap installs .. it’s profitable users. Marketers who accept the new cost reality and focus on increasing LTV are still hitting impressive ROI.

And that’s how you scale UA today.

12. Prioritize creative intelligence

Creative is the one lever you still fully own in mobile app marketing. 

(Correction: mostly. Most platforms are building more generative AI ad options. You’ll likely have options, however, about how much you lean into them.)

Platforms are automating bidding and targeting, but they can’t totally replace great hooks, compelling visuals, and high-performing narratives. 

Marketers using AI-driven creative analytics are learning faster, testing more variations, and finding winners sooner. The more you invest in creative intelligence, the more leverage you’ll get from every dollar of UA spend.

13. Make retention a key part of you mobile app marketing strategy

Retention isn’t just a KPI. It’s a key growth driver. 

Apps with high day-30 and day-90 retention rates can afford higher CPIs, scale faster, and outlast competitors. In 2025, the best-performing apps are those that build retention into the product roadmap and marketing strategy. 

The math is simple: keeping users is cheaper than replacing them.

14. Double down on first-party and zero-party data

Privacy rules mean third-party identifiers are scarce. 

That makes the data you own — behavioral, transactional, or even survey-based — more valuable than ever. And zero-party data, like a food-delivery customer telling you they are vegan, is gold for segmentation and personalization. 

The marketers building deep data foundations now will have the edge for years to come.

15. Fragmentation is bad. Fragmentation is good.

SKAN, GAID, modeled attribution, IDFV … the measurement ecosystem is fractured. 

Winning teams don’t wait for a single perfect solution. Instead, they build systems to triangulate across multiple signals and evolve when APIs or rules change. 

Doing that right can make today a golden age of marketing measurement in mobile app marketing, with deeper and broader insights than when you have every IDFA you wanted.

In 2025, agility and breadth of data sources are your best hedge against fragmentation.

16. Track vertical-specific growth patterns

It’s shocking, I know, but not every app category behaves the same. 

Our latest study of over 2,000 apps shows that consumer apps are surging while games are stabilizing. More and more consumer dollars are pouring into apps, and apps are becoming the monetization kinds of mobile … which games owned for the better part of a decade.

Smart marketers are adjusting UA strategies based on vertical dynamics instead of following industry-wide averages. 

Where you spend your UA dollars needs to change when consumer behavior changes. Being open to new partners and new channels is critical for successful mobile app marketing.

17. CTRs are broken on iOS

Click-through rates on iOS gaming ads have ballooned to absurd levels … over 100% in some cases. 

Why? 

Because how ad networks use SKOverlay blurs the line between impressions and clicks, with lightweight App Store views popping up mid-ad. 

The result: CTR is no longer a clean performance metric. That means smart marketers treat CTR on iOS almost like impression counts … directionally useful, but not a super-reliable measure of engagement.

18. Add independent and long-tail partners for higher-ROI mobile app marketing

Big networks still matter, but long-tail and regional ad networks are proving to be strong performers.

Smaller platforms can sometimes deliver higher ROI because they focus on niche audiences or regions the big guys ignore. 

Adding them to your mobile app marketing mix diversifies your risk and can unlock unexpected growth. In fact, some of the biggest ROI wins in our ROI Index came from outside the usual suspects.

19. Also, more ad partners = better ROI

Our research shows that advertisers using six or more ad networks consistently outperform those who rely on fewer. 

The benefits are clear: higher ROI, lower CPIs, and in many verticals, even stronger retention. It’s not always easy to scale partner relationships, but the payoff is massive, and MMPs like Singular help.

Diversification isn’t just about geos or platforms … it’s about your ad network mix too.

20. Waterfalls are dead, and mediation is UA

AppLovin MAX killed waterfalls in mid-2025, replacing them with real-time bidding.

That means you no longer control who buys your inventory and at what order: everyone bids simultaneously. While this simplifies operations, it also ties monetization directly to UA: your mediation partner influences both ad revenue and user acquisition opportunities. 

Choosing mediation is no longer just a monetization decision; it’s a growth strategy. The good news is that increasing competition from multiple partners is giving you options.

21. Keep optimizing around ATT and SKAN

Years after ATT, SKAdNetwork is still a dominant framework for iOS attribution. 

No, it’s not perfect and never will be. But … it’s a core part of the iOS measurement playing field. The marketers who understand it, embrace it, and use it as part of their measurement mix are miles ahead of those still waiting for an easier solution.

Good news: Singular’s a big Easy button for SKAN.

So you can get the benefits without doing all the hard yards yourself.

22. Move faster on creative and UA cycles

The half-life of a good creative is shorter than ever. Campaigns that once ran profitably for months now burn out in weeks. The best UA teams are running shorter test cycles, pivoting quickly, and feeding AI tools with new creative constantly. Slow iteration means falling behind.

(Source: Scaling mobile UA strategy)

23. CTV is now a performance channel

TV used to be a brand marketer’s playground. Just like old-fashioned linear TV.

But not anymore. 

With video-level targeting powered by AI, you can now match creative to content with precision: think fitness apps advertising on American Gladiator reruns or fishing gear companies showing up during bass tournaments. 

Campaigns using this strategy have seen up to 5X lifts in brand favorability, and yes, that matters for performance. 

CTV in 2025 is not just awareness: it’s a top-of-funnel rocket booster for app growth.

24. Use web2app journeys for control and margin

Owning your funnel is owning your destiny. 

Web2app journeys let you collect first-party data, personalize onboarding, and bypass some app store friction. They also give you more control over attribution. 

In 2025, the best marketers are designing these flows as carefully as in-app experiences. This is especially powerful for subscription apps, because you can both segment your new potential customers and pre-customize your in-app experience … along with accepting payment outside the App Store or Google Play to maximize your revenue and profitability.

25. AI is redefining performance marketing roles

When Meta says you’ll soon be able to “just give us money and an objective,” you know things are shifting. 

AI is automating campaign setup, targeting, bidding, and creative production. That doesn’t make UA managers irrelevant, but it will force you to evolve. Now performance marketers are becoming AI strategists: setting goals, feeding systems with creative direction, and interpreting modeled outputs to guide growth.

Wrapping up: fast, flexible, AI-infused marketing

Mobile app marketing in 2025 is faster, more flexible, and more automated than ever. 

Privacy walls are still high, costs are increasing, and diversification is essential. But the flip side is a new golden age of opportunity: smarter analytics, powerful AI, new monetization models, and more partners than ever to work with.

Marketers thriving in this environment aren’t clinging to the old playbook. They’re experimenting constantly, diversifying spend, leveraging AI, and staying brutally flexible.

That’s how you win right now.



Retargeting strategy that works: talking to Self’s Paul Kovalski

Churn isn’t always a no. Sometimes it’s not now or maybe an I’m not sure … or just a “sorry, got distracted by a cute cat on TikTok.” So building a retargeting strategy that works is critical.

I recently chatted with Self’s Paul Kovalski about retargeting.

He’s a veteran mobile marketer who’s driven $250 million in revenue via paid media, and he also hosts the Efficient Spend podcast. He knows a thing or two about retargeting strategy.

Hit play and keep scrolling:

Retargeting strategy: rocket fuel for growth

Kovalski has led growth at food and adtech and financial companies, and his current role is head of paid media and creative at Self, a credit-building company in the financial space.

Retargeting strategy is rocket fuel for growth, including for fintech. 

In our new mobile app retargeting guide we lay out retargeting tips and mechanics across multiple verticals. Fintech is harder than most: money is emotional, consumer trust takes time, and customer acquisition cycles are long. But getting it right means you’ve built a structured revenue machine for consistent incremental growth.

mobile app retargeting guide

As you can see in the full guide, getting your retargeting strategy right can result in massive growth:

  • 2X revenue
  • 10X engagement
  • 70% lower CPC
  • 30% higher ROAS
  • 150% more conversions

That’s why retargeting well is rocket fuel for your growth engine.

In this post I’ll focus on Paul Kovalski’s tips, so it’ll be most relevant to other fintechs, but if you run growth for different verticals you’ll find some valuable take-aways as well.

(And, of course, you can get the full guide right now to get all the tips for multiple verticals.)

Retargeting strategy principle #1: owned before paid

Kovalski has a simple rule: if you can re-engage a lapsed user, player, or customer for free, do that first. (Conserving cash is smart!) So email, push and in-app notifications, and SMS are your first lines of re-engagement. 

They’re super cheap.

They’re super fast.

And they’re super personal. 

Only after you’ve exhausted those levers do you need to layer on paid retargeting.

This obviously matters for fintech because people see something, they consider it, they compare it to other things, and they Google or ChatGPT it. They don’t always click apply on the first visit. But I’m guessing fintech is not unique in that respect: retail is often similar, especially for larger purposes, and even installs of hypercasual games need some marketer follow-up and messaging.

The good news; owned channels let you meet people where they left off. You have context on what they did and didn’t do. And, when you run campaign elements on owned channels, you’re not bidding against 14 different payday lenders and neobanks.

(Insert your own examples there for whatever vertical you’re in.)

Quick sequence to try

Looking for a quick start? 

We have a full quick-start guide in the full report, but here are 4 things to set up right off the bat:

  1. D0–D1: didn’t finish set-up
    Try an ease-of-use push notification: “You’re 2 minutes from finishing setup,” and provide a Singular deep link to the exact step
  2. D3: finished set-up but haven’t come back
    Try an educational email: “What happens to your credit score if you do X?” Education is often better than a hard sell, Kovalski says..
  3. D7: haven’t deposited funds or taken next steps
    Send a value-focused SMS if you’re compliant and they’re opted-in: “Start saving money on your loans right now.”
  4. D10+: don’t show significant, consistent engagement that would lead to monetization
    Try some paid retargeting for people who haven’t responded. Use some fresh creative and a high-trust value proposition.

Retargeting strategy north star: incrementality or it doesn’t matter

Retargeting dashboards often look amazing. Great eye candy. Everyone’s happy.

But the tough question is: did you cause the conversion or just take credit when it happened?

Incrementality is the KPI, not just CPA or ROAS. That means your retargeting strategy should include some geo-lift or holdout tests when audiences are big enough (or other means of measuring incrementality). And you’ll need to have some patience and let those tests run long enough so that your results reach statistical significance. 

Track cohort LTV lift versus a clean holdout. 

Retargeting often boosts conversion rates up to 150% and retention by high double digits, but you want to be sure it’s incremental and not cannibalized organic.

Also: watch the hidden retargeting trap.

If you’re running automated user acquisition campaigns via Meta Advantage+ or Google’s PMax, for example, you might already be retargeting without knowing it. Self audit: sometimes you’ll find a startling share of your acquisition budget is actually hitting existing users, players, or customers.

Try to use exclusions on UA-focused campaigns (recent visitors, app users, signed-up but unfunded, etc.), and separate out your campaign reporting by acquisition and retargeting.

Want the full playbook?

Our full report covers vertical-specific playbooks (gaming, retail, travel), iOS/Android specifics post-ATT, timing charts, partner POVs, and a quick-start checklist. 

Get it here, for free, today.

Because “no” can become “not now” can become “OK.” And that’s when your retargeting strategy pays off bigtime in higher conversions, retention, and monetization.

Top PC games right now from 5 different perspectives

What are the top PC games right now?

Globally, almost a billion gamers boot up an actual PC to play a game on a machine with a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse. They are the hard core of the perhaps 3.6 billion players across mobile, console, and PC, but they also play on their phones, and they probably have consoles too.

PC gaming remains huge, and it’s actually growing faster right now than mobile gaming, which is already about as universal as gaming gets. Top categories include Shooter, Action, RPGs, and Battle Royale, but there are also Strategy, Simulation, and Adventure games. 

And yeah, just like mobile, PC gaming has its own Casual games genre too.

But what are the top PC games? We’re going to answer that question today from 5 different angles:

  1. Top PC games by concurrent players
  2. Top PC games by monthly active users
  3. Top PC games by revenue
  4. Top PC games by store rankings
  5. Top PC games by user ratings

Ultimately, the best PC game for you is the game you love to play. But these different perspectives will give you a different view of the overall PC gaming ecosystem, and maybe suggest some alternatives. And, if you’re a games publisher that’s looking for new niches and games to make, perhaps the contrasts will suggest some options or ideas.

And by the way:

If you make games, we help you measure your success. Singular offers PC and Console attribution and analytics … plus cross-device attribution, which is getting more and more important, and web attribution. And if you’re expanding into CTV ads, we’ve got you covered there too. Add it all up, and Singular gives your growth engineers a big red Easy button. Which is kinda fun … think of it as our game for you.

Top PC games by peak concurrent players

Looking at top PC games by peak concurrent players is a pretty unique lens on the games industry.

This isn’t just about how many people own or occasionally play a game, but how many are actively engaged at the same time. And, let’s be honest, it’s usually about games that have managed to capture a massive chunk of gamer interest, usually right at launch time.

It’s a cool if not totally enduring signal highlighting where players are spending their time, and it illuminates both enduring blockbusters and surprising breakout hits.

We’re gonna use Steam for our concurrent players rankings. If we go by any random point in time, the rankings are seemingly random. But since they’re based on who might be online on a given day or time period, they actually reveal which are the top PC games for people in different time zones as people get out of school or off work and start playing.

For instance, right now, that list is:

  1. Counter-Strike 2
  2. Dota2
  3. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
  4. Hollow Knight: Silksong
  5. Borderlands 4
  6. Path of Exile 2
  7. Rust
  8. Bongo Cat
  9. Grand Theft Auto V Legacy
  10. Delta Force

But that will change quickly based on when you check.

A better option: top concurrent players. This is usually achieved by big games with big release budgets, or viral hits. 

For 2025, here’s what we have for top PC games by concurrent player count:

  1. Black Myth: Wukong
    1.4 million concurrent players
  2. Monster Hunter Wilds
    1,307,967 concurrent players
  3. Marvel Rivals
    644,269 concurrent players
  4. Hollow Knight: Silksong
    535,000 concurrent players
  5. Borderlands 4
    207,479 concurrent players

Marvel continues to be able to drive success, thanks to its super-strong IP, while Black Myth: Wukong shows China’s size and weight in the PC gaming space. And long-awaited indie games like Hollow Knight: Silksong can still hit the top charts.

Top PC games by monthly active users

In a lot of ways MAU is a better metric to find the top PC games than peak concurrent users. 

Ranking games by monthly active users shifts the lens from momentary spikes to sustained engagement. These are games that keep players coming back week after week, building loyal communities and reliable revenue streams. 

This view often highlights live-service titles, competitive ecosystems, and social experiences that focus on player retention rather than just hype. It’s valuable for understanding long-term staying power and gauging which titles are cultural fixtures rather than fleeting trends.

There’s good data on this thanks to Newzoo, and it’s as recent as August 2025:

  1. Counterstrike (2 and GO)
  2. Minecraft
  3. ROBLOX
  4. Battlefield 6
  5. Fortnite
  6. PEAK (Aggro Crab)
  7. League of Legends
  8. The Sims 4
  9. Dota 2
  10. Valorant
  11. Battlefield 2042
  12. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
  13. Call of Duty (all the versions: MW2, MW3, WZ, BO6)
  14. Overwatch (1 & 2)
  15. HELLDIVERS 2

Evergreen games dominate long-term play: we see Counter-Strike, Minecraft, and Roblox still at the top. They have massive gamer communities that have been playing for years if not decades. 

We also see Fortnite, PUBG, Valorant, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, showing that competitive multiplayer games with regular content updates create super-sticky long-term engagement.

Top PC games by revenue

Playing is 1 thing. 

Paying is another.

So even though it can be biased to games that attract the kinds of gamers who just buy their way to the top, it’s relevant to a top PC games conversation.

Here we see gaming’s financial heavyweights. Revenue rankings not only show where the money is flowing but which business models are thriving. And, they show which franchises dominate financially even if they don’t always top the charts for players online.

Newzoo’s a good source for this data too:

  1. Fortnite
  2. EA Sports Madden NFL 26
  3. Counter-Strike (2 and GO)
  4. HELLDIVERS 2
  5. Call of Duty (all the versions: MW2, MW3, WZ, BO6)
  6. Mafia: The Old Country
  7. Ready or Not
  8. World of Warcraft
  9. ROBLOX
  10. Minecraft
  11. EA Sports FC 25
  12. League of Legends
  13. Valorant
  14. Marvel Rivals
  15. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

As we can see, free-to-play monetization is king, even in PC gaming. Fortnite leading revenue despite being free shows the power of cosmetics, battle passes, and microtransactions. And the fact that F2P games like Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, League of Legends, and Valorant rank shows it’s not just Fortnite.

Sports games continue to be cash cows, and the new NFL season won’t hurt here.

And guess what: premium single-player games are still a thing. Games like Mafia: The Old Country and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater making the revenue list showcases that narrative-driven games can still make bank.

Top PC games by store rankings

Every filter we’re using to look at top PC games offers a slightly different perspective. Store rankings offer a window into what’s trending at the point of purchase. 

Platforms like Steam or Epic list global top sellers and most-played titles, so we can get a quick snapshot of which games are climbing in popularity, either through major launches, discounts, or viral buzz. 

This is particularly valuable for spotting momentum shifts and identifying breakout hits early, because they often surge on the charts before showing up in longer-term engagement metrics or revenue data.

Steam and Epic are good ways to get at this kind of data, so we’ll check both.

Rank Steam Epic
1 Borderlands 4 Borderlands 4
2 Counter-Strike 2 Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced
3 Dune: Awakening Cyberpunk 2077
4 Hollow Knight: Silksong Red Dead Redemption 2
5 HELLDIVERS 2 EA Sports FC 26
6 No, I’m not a Human Alan Wake 2
7 Path of Exile 2 Spider-Man 2
8 Shape of Dreams Ready or Not
9 Dying Light: The Beast Hogwarts Legacy
10 Marvel Rivals Dead by Daylight

This is a super-cool if limited window on what’s hot in PC gaming because we can see that while Steam prioritizes new and niche content, Epic focuses a bit more on established premium games.

On Steam we see new games like Borderlands 4, Dune: Awakening, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and we also see experimental indies like No, I’m not a Human and  Shape of Dreams. On epic we see AAA blockbusters like GTA V Enhanced, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Spider-Man 2.

Steam users might be more willing to try something new, but Epic’s history of free weekly games may have trained its audience to expect high-quality established titles … and that might have made them more likely to focus on buying premium games later on.

Top PC games by user ratings

Finally, I wanted to look at top PC games by user ratings because, in a way, that’s the ultimate yardstick, right?

This is how we can bring in the voice of players themselves, highlighting quality and satisfaction rather than just raw numbers. That means we can also surface old well-loved classics and sweet indie favorites. They might never dominate revenue or player counts … but they can still earn some love, some time, and fairly deep loyalty.

Because … aren’t games about fun?

Steam has some pretty good data for this (as does SteamDB) so let’s go by those sources …

  1. Stardew Valley
  2. Portal 2
  3. Terraria
  4. People Playground
  5. Left 4 Dead 2
  6. Portal
  7. Half-Life: Alyx
  8. RimWorld
  9. Euro Truck Simulator 2
  10. Slay the Spire

So … what are really the best PC games based on all of those listings?

OK, this is a tough one. 

What if we combine all those rankings and lenses and pick top PC games from all those different perspectives? 7 games really stand out.

Here’s what we get:

  1. Counter-Strike 2 (and GO)
    1. High in concurrent players (millions at peak)
    2. Top 1–2 in MAU (Newzoo)
    3. Strong revenue (skins + passes)
    4. Always near the top of Steam store rankings
  2. Minecraft
    1. Top 2 in MAU globally
    2. Huge revenue across platforms (premium + marketplace)
    3. Not a concurrency monster on Steam (lots of play outside Steam), but consistently evergreen
  3. Roblox
    1. Top 5 in MAU
    2. Strong revenue (UGC monetization, in-game currency)
    3. A massive cross-platform community, still a PC powerhouse
  4. Fortnite
    1. Top 5 in MAU
    2. Top revenue leader (despite free-to-play)
    3. Always high in Epic store rankings
    4. Huge cultural impact (concerts, collabs)
  5. Dota 2
    1. Always high in concurrent players (hundreds of thousands live)
    2. Top 10 in MAU
    3. Strong esports ecosystem, sticky community
  6. League of Legends
    1. High MAU (top 10)
    2. Consistently top grossing globally
    3. Strong competitive scene
  7. Valorant
    1. Top 10 in MAU
    2. Strong revenue performance
    3. Competitive shooter, growing esports footprint

So … are these truly the top PC games right now? 

Well, sure.

Except if you have a different favorite.

Charts and rankings can show us the industry’s biggest titles. Absolutely. But the more important truth is that your favorite games matter far more — to YOU — than any global leaderboard. Any number of top games like Counter-Strike or Minecraft can dominate on the charts, but the games you keep coming back to are the ones that matter.

At least to you.

So whether it’s a cozy farming sim, a story-driven RPG, or a super-niche ultra-odd indie experiment … go play. Have fun.

Your game might not crack the global top 10, but it defines your memories, your communities, and your sense of fun. Ultimately, any “top PC games” list is just another lens on the industry. Your personal favorites are the ones that actually matter the most.

Need measurement from Singular?

We help you measure your success, wherever you advertise and market your games. That means PC and Console attribution and cross-device attribution and web attribution and much, much more.

Talk to us today.

Inside SciPlay’s ELT strategy: more, more, and more data

What can you learn from SciPlay’s ELT strategy?

Every major app publisher that is serious about growing has a Pokémon Go approach to data: catch them all. Every source. Every kilobyte of information. But most are limiting themselves to ad network data and their own first-party in-app data. 

The reality is that there’s more. Much more.

Accessing it is the key to significantly better insight into your growth levers, competitive positioning, campaign incrementality, and CAC.

And a smart ELT strategy can unlock all of that for you.

Check out my recent conversation with SciPlay’s director of ad product, Gal Karniel:

SciPlay’s ELT strategy

When you market at SciPlay scale, you’re stitching together 20 to 50 data sources across ad networks and app stores … and more.

Karniel says the only way to make that useful is an ELT layer that’s flexible, observable, and built to be customized. That’s why his team adopted Singular’s ELT product, Extract, to ingest hard-to-reach APIs, including Apple’s new App Store APIs, pull parallel datasets to resolve platform limitations (like Meta’s dimension conflicts), and enrich core metrics with contextual metadata. 

The payoff: deeper analysis down to the ad placement level, faster troubleshooting, fewer custom-built data pipelines to maintain, and a clearer line of causality from “what changed” to “what moved performance.”

Much more data…

You desperately need all the data Singular has traditionally supplied from your ad networks: the cost data, the deliverability data, the results data. And you need it all combined. And enriched with your own first-party in-app data.

But there’s more available now with the right ELT strategy.

Think App Store and Google Play performance tracking:

  • Downloads & deletions
    Validate install numbers, monitor churn trends
  • Ratings & reviews
    Surface user sentiment, detect product issues, and feed insights into product/ASO teams
  • Purchases & subscriptions
    Get the most accurate revenue and refund data directly from the stores
  • Crashes & ANRs
    Track app stability issues that impact retention and ratings
  • Engagement data
    Measure user actions in the app store to understand intent
  • Acquisition sources
    Identify where installs come from (search, browse, referrals, territory)

Think social organic data:

  • Page posts engagement
    See which content drives the most organic traction
  • Followers statistics
    Understand organic audience growth and align with paid UA targeting
  • Comments data
    Capture unfiltered feedback and sentiment at scale

There’s app store APIs, ad networks additional data, social data, CDP data, CRM or liveops data, and much more than you can pull in. And think about competitive data: top lists on the App Store and Google Play that you can automatically query and bring down to your BI systems for analysis.

Another key part of SciPlay’s ELT strategy: grabbing multiple datasets from ad networks like Meta because they only expose incompatible dimensions and don’t allow you to pull geo and placement together, for instance. Now you can pull both, and while you can’t join the tables due to the lack of a shared primary key, the additional insight still exposes more opportunities.

The hidden opportunity in app store data

As I mentioned above, most marketers limit their data ingestion to ad networks: Meta, Google, AppLovin, Unity, TikTok, and so on. That gets you spend, clicks, and installs, and you can add revenue for the full monetization picture.

But crucially, it misses the contextual layer of what’s happening in the app stores themselves.

In other words, the entire app ecosystem at large.

That’s 1 of the reasons why SciPlay ingests Apple’s new App Store APIs and Google Play data directly into their warehouse. Now they can correlate campaign performance not just with in-ad metrics, but also with and much bigger picture:

  • App store events
    Featuring, rankings, reviews, updates
  • Metadata shifts
    Creative assets, descriptions, screenshots, categories
  • Market context
    Competitive placement and store algorithm changes

This adds a bigger, broader lens.

Instead of only asking if your advertising campaigns moved the needle on your growth, you can also ask what else happened in the store that might explain this. The result is faster root-cause analysis, fewer false attributions, and a stronger feedback loop between UA, product, and ASO.

Because your app doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Other publishers kick off marketing campaigns. Some apps get featured by Apple or Google. External events like movies, holidays, weather, and sporting events influence consumer behavior.

The right ELT strategy, therefore, helps you see much more.

Why Extract?

A perfectly valid question, of course, is why use Extract for your ELT strategy?

The answer: it’s an optimal solution at an amazing price.

Karniel’s team wasn’t actually hunting for a pure data-funneling tool … they were being pitched bundles and dashboards, and considering whether to build a tool for themselves. Extract’s focus on data movement and easy configurability was the perfect answer.

Extract gets SciPlay the data they want quickly, easily, and at low cost. It doesn’t require huge technical chops to run, so product managers and ops leaders can use it themselves. It offers full end-to-end visibility, and it has industry-best pricing.

(Get more on what Extract can do here.)

Key things to remember as you build your ELT strategy

If you’re serious about growth and looking for all the data sources that will enable your performance marketing team to achieve it quickly and efficiently, great.

Here’s a few key things to keep in mind based on SciPlay’s experience:

  1. Design for parallelism
    When a platform won’t return all the dimensions you want simultaneously, split your data streams and decide per use case which one you need
  2. Don’t stop at ad networks
    App store APIs and contextual signals are underused gold mines … bringing them in-house tightens the loop between UA, ASO, and product
  3. Prioritize context, not just KPIs
    Installs/spend/revenue are necessary but insufficient: add store, market, and creative metadata to interpret install and monetization shifts
  4. Buy flexible, not rigid
    Out-of-the-box is great until it isn’t, so choose tools with configuration and customization options so you can do what you need to do, how you want to do it
  5. Make observability a requirement
    Full logs, timestamps, and run details build organizational trust in your data (and make it easy to debug something when a flow gets interrupted)

Over time, you’ll want even more data sources. The good news is that Extract is continually adding more connectors, so you’ll have more and more simple options to add and further improve your data models.

Much more in the full podcast

As usual, check out the full podcast. There’s much more about SciPlay’s ELT strategy that you’ll find interesting and useful as you boost the signals you’re acquiring.

What you’ll find:

  • How SciPlay manages 20–50 different data sources for marketing
  • How SciPlay balances in-house solutions vs. third-party tools
  • How Extract solved the challenge of Apple’s 50 new App Store APIs
  • How Extract can create parallel datasets for greater depth
  • Why visibility, logs, and transparency matter for trust in data pipelines
  • How Extract simplifies data enrichment pipelines and reduces maintenance
  • How SciPlay built faster access to insights, better targeting, and better data for smarter decisions

And don’t forget to try Extract for free…

 

Mobile App Retargeting Guide: key insights to boosting engagement, retention, & monetization

You know the user acquisition game. You’re pouring more and more water into a bucket with holes that just keep growing, and it’s an expensive proposition. Here’s the deal: you can keep doing the same thing again and again while expecting different results… or you can grab Singular’s brand new Mobile App Retargeting guide and kickstart your growth.

That’s what re-engagement and retargeting do: they bring back users who’ve lapsed, boosting your retention, improving monetization, and making your acquisition dollars work harder.

Get your copy of the guide right now

Mobile app retargeting is insanely critical

It’s no secret: mobile is a hyper-competitive environment.

Every percentage point of lift matters.

That’s precisely why retargeting and re-engagement can deliver dramatic results. We’re talking organic and owned re-engagement methods that don’t cost a dime, and we’re talking paid mobile app retargeting for finding lost users wherever they might go.

The results from the elite marketers we talked to — marketers who lead growth for apps with 100 million users, and marketers who have delivered $200 million in revenue via paid marketing — are nothing short of game-changing.

Think:

  • 2–3X improvements in retention
  • Up to 150% better conversion rates
  • Significant reductions in churn and cart abandonment

You need similar results. And you can get similar results.

That’s precisely why we’ve created the Mobile App Retargeting Guide. It’s a super practical data-driven resource for people like you who want to move all their key metrics, including engagement, retention, and revenue, in the right direction.

Inside the Mobile App Retargeting Guide

We’ve built the report to give you both a strategic overview AND tactical, step-by-step instructions for success. 

And we’ve talked to world-class marketers for insider tips on what’s actually working in the real world.

Here are the key sections you’ll find inside:

  • Why re-engagement is critical for every app
  • How to deploy retargeting and re-engagement together, combining organic and paid approaches
  • How to get started fast with 11 steps for launching retargeting campaigns
  • What pitfalls waste budget and hurt user experience
  • How to retarget effectively on iOS and Android, even with ATT/SKAN challenges
  • When to retarget across verticals, geos, and events: what’s the right timing
  • What leading apps are doing, with case studies from Ixigo, Self, and Gamelight
  • What works best by vertical, with tailored strategies for gaming, retail, travel, fintech, and more
  • What top adtech experts recommend
mobile app retargeting guide

Insight straight from the people who run retargeting campaigns

We’ve got tons of insight from active user acquisition and re-engagement marketers who are running mobile app retargeting campaigns in the wild.

We also wanted insider info from the people who do it for them: the strategists and thinkers at top ad networks that run dozens, if not hundreds, of mobile app retargeting campaigns concurrently every single day.

So this guide also features original contributions from some of the top companies driving innovation in mobile re-engagement. 

You’ll hear directly from experts at:

  • Adikteev
  • Appier
  • RevX
  • Jampp
  • M&C Saatchi
  • Smadex
  • YouAppi

Each of these partners are sharing data, case studies, and hands-on advice to help you know what’s working in retargeting in 2025, and how you can optimize your own campaigns.

Get the guide today

Whether you’re running a mobile game, a fintech app, or an e-commerce platform, you’ll find strategies and tactics you can implement today. 

From boosting iOS ATT opt-in rates to setting up omnichannel re-engagement sequences, the guide gives you a blueprint to scale sustainably, drive higher ROAS, and win back users who might otherwise be gone for good.

Get the full retargeting guide here

Q3 2025 performance marketing state of the union: CTRs, CTV, creative, incrementality

Ad spend is up, performance marketing results are up, and the channels we used to call experimental are now actually pulling their own weight. That’s the state of the union for performance marketing based on our recent Q3 2025 Quarterly Trends report, plus the insights from multiple partners.

In our recent Q3 2025 State of Mobile Marketing webinar, a cross-section of UA, ASO, analytics, and CTV leaders unpacked what actually changed last quarter … and how to win Q4.

Just need the exec summary in plain English? Your wish is my command:

  • iOS gaming CTRs are inflated by design decisions and format evolution
  • CTV went from maybe-let’s-test-it to part of the toolbox
  • CPIs rose but so did installs (so net efficiency didn’t crater)
  • Rewarded ads keep growing, growing, growing
  • Creative is STILL the highest-leverage knob you can control
  • Incrementality is super sizzling hot

For much, much, more, keep reading, but also please do check out these 2 critical resources:

  1. The webinar itself
  2. The Q3 2025 report it’s based on

OK. These were our panelists, while I moderated:

  • Peter Koczak, head of analytics at YouAppi
  • Joseph Iris, director of ML at Personal.ly
  • Benjamin Waters, VP for APAC at Jampp
  • Simon Thillay, head of ASO and market insights at Apptweak
  • Stephanie Pilon, CMO at Singular

Here’s what we learned …

Performance marketing now: spend is up, money moved global, and UA performance is up

Singular clients boosted their ad spend 45% year over year globally.

That includes outsized growth not including the usual suspects in the U.S. and China. APAC, LATAM, and parts of Europe saw the biggest jumps. There’s still investment in the biggest gaming and mobile app markets, but there’s also some performance marketing budget reallocation to geos with higher marginal returns and lower competitive density. 

Expect this to persist through Q4 as marketers chase cheaper reach and play the “global English + device/language” game to find high-value users outside expensive metros.

Why it matters: If you haven’t built creative and onboarding that travel well across languages and price bands — or specific creative and offers for the growing geos —  you’re leaving arbitrage on the table.

Check the full report for all the details on where spend is increasing.

Most marketers’ UA performance is a bit better right now than in previous quarters:

  • 44% say UA performance has slightly improved
  • 9% says UA performance has significantly improved
  • 11% say UA performance has declined

CTR is up too, but clicks have a new meaning in performance marketing

As we shared recently, CTR is way up on iOS gaming, specifically.

iOS gaming CTR exploded, driving a 38.6% global jump. But this isn’t a sudden surge in ad quality or targeting or consumer behavior. It’s playable ad UX and format evolution: overlays, end cards, and very small click-to-X-out buttons.

And it’s an SDK arms race to capture attribution. 

Two important implications:

  1. Optimization signals are shifting
    CTR is less predictive of down-funnel outcomes on iOS interstitial/video inventory. Optimize to IPM and revenue proxies, not clicks.
  2. Definitions — or implications — are changing
    When CTR approaches absurdity (think 100% click-through rates, which we are seeing in some cases) audit what counts as a click for you. Check how engaged views are fired, and how SKOverlay behaves in your inventory, and consider thinking about CTR on iOS gaming ads more like impressions.

We’re not saying clicks are the new impressions … but … if you’re doing performance marketing, you need to reconsider what clicks actually mean for you, at least on iOS in the gaming verticals.

CPIs jumped but so did installs … so efficiency held up

Finance and gaming saw the steepest CPI increases, but installs also rose. 

That suggests better targeting and creative rather than competition or price increases. On iOS, CPMs jumped even more than CPIs, which is actually good news for publishers monetizing via ads.

As long as your LTVs hold up, CPI increases are annoying but not fatal.

What to do:

  1. Check LTV frequently
    Keep your LTV math fresh and cohort-based; don’t pause just because price tags went up if paybacks still pencil.
  2. Try new ad partners
    Rebalance spend to partners and/or placements where IPM is improving, using incrementality testing to validate true lift.

Capital efficiency matters when CPIs jump, because you can get fewer growth cycles (spend, earn, re-spend) from a given war chest. Prioritize ad partners with quicker ROAS.

CTV is graduating from maybe-let’s-test-it to another tool in the performance marketing toolbox

Jampp saw the number of CTV campaigns jump 56%: a big increase in just 1 quarter. 

That shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who’s watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, or Apple TV+ … free and ad-supported streaming channels are now ubiquitous.

  • In May of this year, CTV accounted for 44.8% of all TV viewing time in the U.S., exceeding the combined total of broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%) for the first time ever
  • In June 2025, streaming commanded 46% of total TV viewership, while cable was 23.4% and broadcast just 18.5%
  • July, Roku-powered streaming alone accounted for 21.4% of U.S. TV viewing, versus 18.4% for broadcast TV

Importantly, CTV is being run as a performance marketing channel, not brand. It’s integrated with Singular as a measurement partner, optimized for mobile KPIs, and orchestrated alongside ASA and social. 

The good news: CTV is still way less crowded than mobile ads, especially in social apps. It adds incremental reach, and — a unique benefit — can influence multiple users per household.

While about 30% of marketers attending the webinar were using CTV, another 45% were planning to soon.

“CTV isn’t just a branding channel anymore,” says Benjamin Waters. “Budgets have more than doubled … it’s becoming a must-have performance channel.”

How to incorporate CTV in your UA campaigns:

  1. Part of the journey
    Treat CTV as assist + acquisition: use view-through windows thoughtfully and don’t over-credit.
  2. Get the creative right
    Creative fit matters: use short narrative, show an immediate value prop, and “what happens next” explicit to drive installs.
  3. Test targeting
    Test video-level and contextual targeting where available to reduce audience waste.

Rewarded ads: growing, but marketers need to manage quality and abuse

Rewarded networks are scaling because a meaningful slice of users see them as a getting a free rebate on the gaming they’d do anyways.

That’s great.

And some of those users monetize well, which is good for performance marketing using rewarded networks.

But, our panelists noted, it does increase the need for fraud controls, payout calibration, and down-funnel guardrails like quality thresholds before rewards escalate. Perhaps that’s why there’s still some caution when it comes to using rewarded ad networks.

Most marketers aren’t yet using rewarded ad networks, but they’re planning to:

  • 41.7%: Not yet, but planning to
  • 25.0%: No, and no plans to 
  • 16.7%: We’re testing now
  • 13.9%: Yes, they’re a top performer
  • 2.8%: Tested and didn’t work

15% of marketers told us rewarded networks are a top performer for them, while another 16.7% are testing them now. A plurality, however — 41.7% — say they don’t use rewarded ad networks yet, but they are planning to.

So there’s likely more growth for rewarded ad networks in the future.

Most underrated performance marketing levers: incrementality and creative

Most marketers can’t out-toggle the rising tide of platform automation, but they can still out-learn competitors. 

Two levers consistently matter:

Incrementality as a habit, not a project. In other words, always be testing some level of incrementality. Also test whether each of your ad networks is incremental to your overall growth goals.

How? Design always-on PSA/ghost bids, geo-splits, or audience-exclusion tests to measure true lift. Then use creative as the compounding asset: systematically test hooks, formats, and language.

And don’t forget to mirror winning ad narratives on your App Store/Google Play listings to achieve message match and raise tap-through and conversion.

This is a massive miss by most mobile marketers:

“We look at how many times you refreshed your creative gathering on the app store last year,” says AppTweak’s Simon Thillay. “And the numbers are single digits almost every time.”

That will not cut it.

Q4 is coming: here’s how to win

Q4 is almost upon us. 

Most marketers are focusing on scaling UA profitably, while about 15% are focused on each of 3 different priorities: re-engagement, creative strategy, and AI adoption.

We asked all of our panelists how to win in Q4 performance marketing: preparation, execution, and “Q5” … the lull after the insanity.

Now in preparation for the holidays:

  • Creative
    Get your creative right and lock your creative system so you’re not wasting time and money during crazy season
  • Channels
    Stand up your CTV-to-mobile solution with clean view-through settings and clear assist logic (Singular can help: here’s our CTV measurement product, plus our web attribution solution)
  • Partners
    Expand your supply: add networks/partners where IPM is rising and you have measurement coverage.

During the peak:

  • Optimization
    Shorten your feedback cycles and send budget to what’s winning daily
  • Safety
    Safe-guard your ROAS goals by isolating high-LTV geos/segments in their own campaigns with stricter thresholds
  • Flexibility
    Keep a small extra bit of budget for opportunistic spikes (inventory, placements, or contextual wins)

After the holidays … in “Q5:”

  • Attack
    Millions of people have new devices in their hands. It’s a good time to win them over
  • Retarget
    Deploy some win-back and cross-sell campaigns with softer post-holiday CPIs/CPMs

Finally, if you have any spare cycles to add/fix/check anything right now before the holidays, work on these key items:

  1. Re-check your KPIs on iOS playable … de-weight CTR and up-weight IPM and purchase-adjacent events
  2. Start incrementality testing: there’s some super-simple ways to begin
  3. Refresh your CPPs to mirror your top-performing ad narratives
  4. Pilot CTV if you haven’t AND IF YOU HAVE TIME before the holidays
  5. Instrument rewarded campaigns for quality (re-check eligibility gates, see if you’re getting diminishing returns, implement fraud screens)

So much more in the full webinar

As you’d expect, there’s a ton more in the full webinar. 

Here’s just a brief overview:

  • 04:48 Quarterly Trends Report Highlights
  • 08:12 User Acquisition Market
  • 10:22 Ad Spend and Performance
  • 13:15 Click-Through Rates
  • 19:52 Installs Per Thousand Impressions (IPM)
  • 22:15 Cost Per Install (CPI)
  • 26:19 Rewarded Ads
  • 29:11 High CPI Verticals
  • 33:33 Creative Strategies for High CPI Verticals
  • 34:19 The Importance of App Store Page Optimization
  • 35:45 Exploring CTV and Its Impact
  • 40:37 Custom Product Pages: Underutilized Potential
  • 44:41 Display Ads: Old but Gold
  • 46:46 Q4 Marketing Priorities and Strategies
  • 56:33 Q&A Session: Expert Insights

Here’s how to watch it on-demand, for free, right now …

The top on-demand apps right now

What are the top on-demand apps right now?

On-demand apps are hot. Super hot, in fact. When we want something, we apparently want it RIGHT NOW. And we seem to want a lot.

Just 1 small example: what industry grossed $185 billion in 2023 but is ballooning to a staggering $771 billion in 2032? If you guessed the on-demand economy … you’re actually wrong. It’s actually just 1 part of the on-demand economy: transportation. The entire on-demand space is so much bigger: instant food, instant alcohol, grocery delivery, transportation across a city, or transportation across a nation. A date for dinner tonight … a dogwalker for Max, a massage for you, flowers for mom, and someone helpful to mow the lawn or vacuum the carpets.

The on-demand economy is pretty much anything you want, almost instantly available.

But what are the top on-demand apps globally?

Finding the top on-demand apps: 12 key categories

On-demand companies put their apps in dozens of different categories. To combine them, I analyzed 3,300 of the most downloaded apps worldwide across categories like Shopping and Lifestyle and Health & Fitness.

170 of those 3,300 apps fit a reasonably strict definition of on-demand apps: services people can book, order, or activate pretty much instantly. Then I ranked them by recent global downloads and daily active usage, and grouped them into logical categories:

  1. Ride-hailing & taxis
    Summon a driver instantly, often with pooled or premium options
  2. Micromobility (scooters & bikes)
    Shared bikes and scooters for short urban trips
  3. Food delivery
    Meals from restaurants delivered to your door
  4. Grocery delivery
    Fresh groceries and essentials, often in under an hour
  5. Pharmacy & medicine delivery
    OTC and prescription drugs, sometimes linked with telehealth
  6. Courier & errands (same-day)
    P2P delivery of parcels, documents, or errands
  7. Travel ticketing (flights, trains, bus)
    Book transportation instantly, with e-tickets
  8. Accommodation (hotels & rentals)
    Hotels and short-term rentals like Airbnb
  9. Car rental & carsharing
    Temporary vehicle access without long-term commitments
  10. Home & local services
    On-demand cleaners, movers, handypeople
  11. Telemedicine & medical booking
    Book virtual or in-person care
  12. Roadside assistance
    Get towed, jump-started, or refueled on demand

That provides the data for a global ranking of top on-demand apps. Note: this won’t provide details on which are the overall biggest. This methodology prioritizes those apps that are fastest-growing right now. It’ll certainly capture most — probably all — of the biggest. But a few might slip through the cracks here and there.

But you probably want more than just global rankings. After all, on-demand apps are super-local. You need regional rankings to know what’s best for you, where you are.

So I also enriched the data with regional information, revealing which services dominate in India, China, Southeast Asia, North America, and beyond. 

First, let’s look at the key categories …

Global leaders: top on-demand apps

Here are the top on-demand apps globally in each on-demand sector, by recent download velocity:

Ride-hailing & taxis

Ride-hailing is still a massive growth machine. Regional players dominate outside North America: Bolt in Europe, Ola in India, and inDrive in Russia/CIS. 

  • Uber (U.S.)
  • Bolt (Estonia)
  • inDrive (U.S./CIS focus)
  • Maxim (India/Russia)
  • Ola (India)
  • Careem (Middle East, Uber-owned)
  • FREE NOW (Europe)
  • Yandex Go (Russia/CIS)

Micromobility (scooters & bikes)

Micromobility is still largely concentrated in Europe and North America. Lime is the most global, while TIER and Voi dominate in Europe. Growth is steady but constrained by regulation and weather seasonality: not every city is L.A. or Lisbon, with pretty much year-round good weather.

  • Lime (U.S.)
  • Bird (U.S.)
  • TIER (Germany)
  • Voi (Sweden)
  • Spin (U.S.)
  • Dott (Europe)
  • Nextbike (Europe)

Food delivery

This is one of the most fragmented categories globally, which makes sense because food preferences differ, and while all on-demand apps deliver locally, cooking and fast delivery before food cools is especially hyper-local. 

U.S. apps dominate at home, Indian services are thriving, and China is massive with Meituan and Ele.me.

Get way more details about top food delivery apps here …

  • Uber Eats (U.S.)
  • DoorDash (U.S.)
  • Swiggy (India)
  • Zomato (India)
  • Meituan (China)
  • Ele.me (China)
  • Deliveroo (U.K.)
  • Just Eat / SkipTheDishes (Europe/Canada)
  • Glovo (Europe)
  • Wolt (Finland)

Grocery delivery

“Quick commerce” is still hot, but sustainability is a question mark. China’s scale dwarfs most, while India shows fierce local competition.

  • Instacart (U.S.)
  • Getir (Turkey, Europe expansion)
  • Blinkit (India)
  • Dingdong Maicai (China)
  • JioMart (India)
  • BigBasket (India)
  • Zepto (India)
  • Flink (Germany)
  • Gorillas (Germany, now part of Getir)

Pharmacy & medicine delivery

India dominates in medicine delivery, partly due to fragmented offline pharmacy markets and high demand for affordable care.

  • PharmEasy (India)
  • NetMeds (India)
  • Apollo 24|7 (India)
  • 1mg (India)
  • Practo (pharmacy arm) (India)
  • Alodokter / Halodoc (Indonesia, health + pharmacy)

Courier & same-day errands

For obvious reasons, same-day logistics are highly regional. Interestingly, they serve both consumers and SMEs. China’s players are highly scaled, while Middle Eastern and Indian startups are carving out their own niches.

  • Lalamove (China/global)
  • SF Express (China)
  • Mrsool (Middle East)
  • Dunzo (India)
  • Borzo (ex-Delivery Club) (Russia/India/SEA)
  • Postmates (U.S., now Uber-owned)
  • PickMe (Sri Lanka)

Travel ticketing

China’s Trip.com is global, while Skyscanner is strong in Europe and has inroads in North America. India is emerging with ixigo and MakeMyTrip.

  • Trip.com / Ctrip (China)
  • Skyscanner (U.K.)
  • ixigo (India)
  • MakeMyTrip (India)
  • Omio (Europe)
  • Cleartrip (India)
  • Trainline (U.K./Europe)
  • Hopper (U.S./Canada)

Accommodation

Airbnb and Booking.com are still the top global competitors, but Agoda and OYO are significant regional powerhouses.

  • Airbnb (U.S.)
  • Booking.com (Europe)
  • Agoda (Southeast Asia)
  • OYO (India)
  • Expedia (U.S.)
  • Hotels.com (U.S., Expedia-owned)
  • Tripadvisor (U.S.)
  • Trivago (North America, Europe, Expedia-owned)

Carsharing

This is still a niche in on-demand apps compared to ride-hailing, but carsharing is growing as consumers look for flexible car access without ownership.

  • Turo (U.S.)
  • Getaround (U.S./Europe)
  • Zipcar (U.S.)
  • ShareNow (Europe)
  • Sixt (Europe)
  • Hertz (U.S./Global)
  • Avis/Budget (U.S./Global)

Home services

India leads with Urban Company, while the U.S. has multiple well-funded platforms.

  • Urban Company (India)
  • TaskRabbit (U.S.)
  • Thumbtack (U.S.)
  • Angi (HomeAdvisor) (U.S.)
  • Handy (U.S.)
  • Airtasker (Australia)
  • Helpling (Germany)

Telemedicine

Telemedicine reflects local healthcare systems: fragmented, regulated, and highly regional.

  • Doctolib (Europe)
  • Practo (India)
  • Halodoc (Indonesia)
  • Zocdoc (U.S.)
  • Amwell (U.S.)
  • K Health (U.S.)
  • Alodokter (Indonesia)

Roadside assistance

This is a smaller on-demand category but — of course — it’s critical when you need it. Roadside apps tend to be tied to insurance companies or auto clubs and are highly local due to service network requirements.

    • AAA Mobile (U.S.)
    • Allstate Roadside (U.S.)
    • Nationwide Roadside (U.S.)
    • Blink Roadside (India, niche)
    • GEICO Mobile (roadside features) (U.S.)

Regional leaders

Top on-demand apps are always local. Even if they’re global apps, they need local boots on the ground to compete and deliver. That’s why while Uber, Airbnb, and Booking.com are global names, most markets are defined by local champions.

      • China: closed ecosystem but huge scale
        • Dingdong Maicai
        • Didi
        • Ele.me
        • Meituan
        • Trip.com
      • Europe: highly competitive and fragmented
        • Bolt
        • FreeNow
        • Glovo
        • Wolt
      • India: dominant in medicine, food, services
        • Blinkit
        • Ola
        • PharmEasy
        • Swiggy
        • Urban Company
        • Zomato
      • Latin America: regional giants in delivery and groceries
        • Cornershop
        • iFood
        • Rappi
      • Middle East & North Africa: ride-hailing and delivery are tightly integrated
        • Careem
        • HungerStation
        • Mrsool
        • Talabat
      • North America: fewer players, but very high scale
        • DoorDash
        • Instacart
        • Turo
        • Uber
      • Russia/CIS: deeply entrenched local tech firms
        • inDrive
        • Yandex Eats
        • Yandex Go
      • Southeast Asia: budding superapps for ride-hailing, food, and payments
        • Gojek
        • Grab

Top on-demand apps: key themes

A few things are apparent when we see all this data …

No global monopoly

As we can see, there’s no global monopoly. Except for a few giants (Uber, Airbnb, Booking), on-demand is strongly regional. Regulation, culture, and logistics make global scale hard, although we do see the giants buying up local top on-demand apps to compete in new regions.

Superapps are winning

Superapps are winning in a number of regions.. Grab, Gojek, Meituan, Careem, and others combine multiple on-demand services into one ecosystem. While this is less the case in the United States, we also see Uber adding services like shopping, delivery, and transit tickets to its app … so maybe it’s coming.

India is massive in on-demand

India is the growth engine here. India loves on-demand services, and virtually every on-demand category has Indian leaders in the top 15 globally.

China is massive but very China-focused

China is massive but closed. With Meituan, Didi, and Trip.com, China runs parallel ecosystems that rarely expand abroad.

The U.S. has global visibility

Top U.S. on-demand companies still lead in global visibility. Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Airbnb are household names almost everywhere.

Health is huge and growing

Health and medicine are the next frontier. Telemedicine and pharmacy delivery are seeing explosive growth, especially in India and Southeast Asia.

Wrapping up: top on-demand apps

The world has fundamentally changed.

On-demand apps aren’t just a convenience … they’re becoming core infrastructure. These apps are now core to how billions live their daily lives, and that’s only going to accelerate as delivery gets faster and cheaper via drones, delivery robots, and self-driving vehicles. 

The next phase?

Expect more consolidation into superapps, which we’re finally starting to see in the U.S. and Europe. Plus, expect more integration of AI and automation (drones and robots!).

It’s a brave new on-demand world.

What 2,000 apps reveal about media mix, ROAS, and app growth

You’re starting a new app. You want to advertise it. You go grab yourself an ad account at Meta and Google, and maybe Apple Ads. But did you just do something that will actually hinder your app growth journey?

Look, I get it.

No-one ever got fired for choosing IBM, they said back in the 1970s.

And today, if you’re looking for massive app growth, you’re going to use Meta, which has incredible data and targeting. You’re going to use Google, which has immense reach. And you’re probably going to use Apple Ads, if iOS matters to you, because it’s so freakishly effective.

There’s a reason these giants are always leaders in the Singular ROI Index.

But … there’s a but. Think about it:

  1. Independent apps now match TikTok + Instagram in user reach with more than 2 billion DAU
    (there’s a whole ecosystem in those indies)
  2. 88% of app growth ad spend remains locked in Google and Meta
    (but so many app growth marketers don’t see it)
  3. Diversifying ad spend beyond the big walled gardens delivers up to 214% ROAS lift
    (those who do … win)

If you’re just spending on the big platforms, the math doesn’t math. It doesn’t make sense.

Something needs to change.

That’s what we looked at in a recent data-driven report with Moloco and SensorTower. We focused mostly on consumer apps as opposed to games, and we saw that the consumer app economy is booming. Last year IAP and subscription revenues surged 25% to hit $70.5 billion, meaning consumer apps are on track to overtake gaming revenue for the first time in history. 

app growth 2024 vs 2023

Entertainment — think streaming media — and productivity and photo/video apps have driven the lion’s share of the increase, with a massive $7.31 billion in combined incremental revenue growth.

But while user engagement has diversified and monetization has exploded, most app growth strategies haven’t updated to match the new reality. Almost 90% of consumer app ad spend is still locked to just 2 platforms: Google and Meta.

The data says that’s a bad budgeting decision.

App growth explosion when you diversify ad spend

To build this report with Moloco and SensorTower, we conducted a meta-analysis of over 2,000 apps. 

The goal: compare apps that concentrate 80%+ of their ad spend on Google and Meta with those that diversify across other channels, including the independent app ecosystem.

The results were pretty clear: an average 48% lift in Day 30 ROAS across all verticals. Some verticals were much higher:

  • 116% lift for consumer apps
  • 214% lift for shopping apps
  • 159% lift for health & fitness
  • 143% lift for education

Interestingly, when games allocate their ad spend, they send 35% to the wider app ecosystem, while still funneling about 30% to each of Google and Meta. Consumer apps, however, send only 34% as much of their overall spend to independent apps. In other words, they over-index on the big platforms.

And according to this data, that’s costing them billions of dollars.

It’s a clear signal that consumer app growth is accelerating in the Independent App Ecosystem. That’s where sustainable, measurable scale is coming from.
– Stephanie Pilon, CMO, Singular

The conclusion is pretty obvious: channel diversification is essential, not just for reach but for relevance and context. And many conversions are now coming from unexpected app categories: shopping users converting in games, travel bookers being found in productivity apps, and finance users clicking on ads in weather or news apps.

There’s easy and there’s effective

There’s a reason the walled gardens do so well. They have mass behavioral data on billions of humans. That’s hard to beat.

But here’s the deal: you pay for that. You pay bigtime.

Winning the app growth battle includes achieving a CPI that’s less than LTV, CAC that’s less than customer lifetime value. When you pay more upfront for new users, subscribers, or customers, you need to make more on the backend.

Plus it slows down your cash recycling time — invest in UA, recoup in monetization, re-invest in UA — thanks to the larger sums on both sides of the equation. 

And that slows your overall growth rate.

App growth via diversification

Most app marketers keep the number of their ad partners low. Maybe 70% use fewer than 6 ad partners.

app growth number of ad partners

It makes sense, from a perspective: 

  • Fewer relationships to manage
  • Fewer dashboards to learn
  • Fewer hassles

Also, if you’ve got to spend money training ad networks on new campaigns and creative, there’s potentially more waste across more ad networks.

But using 6 or more ad networks has some major positive impact:

  • Higher ROI
  • Lower CPI
  • Similar retention for games
  • Better retention for consumer apps … in fact 74% better

In some verticals the difference is startling: almost a 3X jump in ROI for on-demand verticals like ride-hailing, delivery, and food.

So what do you do?

Well, get an MMP if you don’t have 1 yet.

With an MMP, managing more ad partners is vastly simplified: a single trustworthy dashboard, simple onboarding, integrated reporting. There’s value, frankly, even if you just use 1 ad network. But that value expands exponentially as you grow your channel diversity and ad partnerships.

High-value users don’t stay in one kind of app. 

Online shoppers and e-commerce users over-index on news and casino games. Fintech users often engage with travel and sports apps.

So with an MMP you can scale ad partners easier. And, with a diversified user acquisition strategy you can get those high-value users and customers in multiple places. You can get them cheaper, too. And once you get them, they are more valuable. 

Which, really, is what the app growth game is all about. 

Check out the full report right here …