Brief:

• Gaming apps will boost their spending on app install ads 40% to $30.9 billion this year from 2019 as the mobile gaming market and competition surge. Ad spending will keep growing to $39.4 billion next year and to $48.5 billion by 2022, per a forecast that mobile attribution and marketing analytics firm AppsFlyer shared with Mobile Marketer.
• The Asia Pacific region will remain the biggest market for app install advertising at $16.9 billion this year, though its growth of 32% from 2019 will be the slowest among major regions. Ad growth will be highest in Latin America at 67% to $500 million, followed by a 57% gain to $5.8 billion in the Europe Middle East Asia (EMEA) region and 45% increase to $7.7 billion in North America.
• Casual gaming is the most popular category of gaming apps in the U.S., with more than half of non-organic installs. The cost to acquire a casual gamer in the U.S. is more than $1.50 each, the highest in the world, per AppsFlyer.

Insight:

AppsFlyer's forecast indicates that game developers will continue to pump billions of dollars into their app install promotions as they aim to stand out in a crowded field. Consumer spending on mobile games is forecast to jump 25% to $100 billion this year from last year, researcher App Annie said in a separate forecast, pushing app developers to boost their marketing budgets as mobile devices broaden the appeal of gaming among people who traditionally were less likely to play video games on consoles or personal computers. "Hyper casual" games that are easy to play — and that depend on advertising revenue — will help to expand the audience for mobile games, according to AppsFlyer. That growth will give mobile marketers more possibilities to reach audiences through their smartphones.

Game developers also are improving the ways they display ads in games, making them more seamless for gamers. That improved user experience (UX) likely will urge more mobile marketers to place ads in mobile games. In-app ad revenue is growing 26% a year, more than four times faster than the 6.2% increase for in-app purchases, per IDC data cited by AppsFlyer. As game developers create more ways to monetize their content, they're likely to boost their marketing budgets.

The growth of high-speed 5G cellular networks will likely help to support the growth in mobile gaming by delivering richer content and more social gaming experiences. Expanded, content-rich features likely will support a "play anywhere" capacity that broadens the potential audience for mobile games. When combined with cloud computing technology that handles data processing, 5G connectivity will give players the ability to jump into ongoing multiplayer games from anywhere, AppsFlyer predicted.