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Game developers, martech platforms, and agencies are increasingly trying to convince advertisers that consumers playing mobile games are worth reaching.

Digital gaming has become one of the most popular activities in the world, thanks mainly to the proliferation of smartphones and free mobile games. Here is our worldwide forecast for total gamers, with breakouts by region and for 13 countries.

Scopely鈥檚 $3.5 billion acquisition of Niantic鈥檚 games division strengthens its position in mobile gaming. Pok茅mon Go鈥檚 live-service model opens new revenue streams through in-game advertising, branded integrations, and sponsorships.

Mobile-first gaming leads the charge into 2025: Smartphones and portable consoles are reshaping gaming as enhanced hardware makes premium mobile games a competitive force.

The move could improve mobile gaming appeal but risks confusing users with fragmented offerings.

Microsoft is taking advantage of Google鈥檚 antitrust ruling, enhancing its own mobile gaming strategy while increasing options for consumers.

Mobile game marketing platform Admazing shared key insights on how it helped PepsiCo brands transform their advertising. A PepsiCo study found that advertising within mobile games boosted ad awareness/recall to 21.9%, compared to the average 5.5%. PC games also hold notable potential.

Up until that point, the company owned over 200 free-to-play mobile games that served as valuable data sources for AppLovin鈥檚 ad tech ecosystem. (We forecast US mobile game ad revenues will reach $7.96 billion by the end of this year.) By analyzing in-game behavior, the company offers advertisers precise user segmentation and targeting鈥攕omething that consumers increasingly see as less obtrusive.

Our take: Video and mobile games present a unique opportunity for advertising, but marketers may have the best ROI with open-world and story-driven games since that audience is most influenced by ads. Partnerships with those games would be a helpful path forward. Dive deeper: Read our Worldwide Digital Gamers Forecast 2025.

Capitalizing on mobile: While Hollywood has been vocal in its opposition to AI, a TV producer expanding into the world of games seems like a natural shift, combining the creativity of TV shows with the ubiquity of mobile gaming.

Additionally, seeing as how casual/mobile games are the least impacted by ads, marketers can adjust their expectations or strategies for that channel. Related 蘑菇AV reports:. Worldwide Digital Gamers Forecast 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required). US Teen Digital Habits 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required).

The company already has a wide variety of indie mobile games, but Tascan didn鈥檛 include those in Netflix鈥檚 plans. 鈥淲e will continue supporting some of them, but I feel that indie gamers are not really coming to Netflix to find indie games,鈥� he said. What we can expect: By 2027, nearly 75% of Gen Z will play digital games in some form. Netflix needs big hits that will appeal to that demographic.

The momentum follows Microsoft鈥檚 Activision Blizzard acquisition, which has started to pay dividends in recurring gamer engagement and mobile gaming revenue. While the growth isn鈥檛 flashy, it鈥檚 a welcome change from prior quarters where the gaming business plateaued. Gaming also is getting its own Copilot, described as a personalized assistant providing in-game support and coaching.

By the numbers:. 14% of consumers find new brands and products via ads in video games and mobile games. The average gamer spends $18.60 per month on in-game purchases and $15.07 on gaming accessories. In 2024, only 9% of global gamers bought a physical game every month, down from 12% in 2019.

Mobile gaming is the largest category for video game revenues; it is forecasted to generate $118 billion in 2025, with mobile consistently outpacing console and desktop/laptop revenues through 2028. Mobile also leads for daily gaming time, with mobile gaming minutes steadily increasing while desktop/laptop and connected TV lag behind.

Divesting also reduces potential conflicts of interest with gaming publishers, making AppLovin鈥檚 ad platform more appealing to a broader range of mobile game advertisers. Our take: This shift highlights AppLovin鈥檚 focus on AI-driven advertising, a high-growth area; the company鈥檚 ad revenues soared 73% in Q4.