As growth diversifies across regions, app marketing success requires balancing scale with user quality, engagement and retention

Leading measurement and analytics company Adjust today released The Mobile App Growth Report: 2025 Edition, finding that, despite ongoing privacy changes and rising costs, the global mobile app economy is experiencing stable growth in 2025, led by emerging markets and gaming apps. App installs and sessions increased by 11% and by 10% year-over-year (YoY), respectively, in the first half of the year, as marketers adapted by leveraging AI, personalized targeting and focusing on retention.

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“The challenge for marketers today isn’t a lack of data; it’s knowing which signals matter most,” said Tiahn Wetzler, director of content and insights at Adjust. “With engagement and retention just as critical as install volume and cost efficiency, Adjust has released a Growth Score as a benchmark that provides the clarity marketers need to prioritize investments, capture opportunities and sustain growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.”

For its 2025 report, Adjust analyzed over 5,000 leading apps globally to identify where and how the mobile app economy is expanding — and where the most potential for user acquisition can be explored. Adjust’s Growth Score is built on four weighted inputs (installs, inverse CPI, sessions per user per day and retention), balancing scale, efficiency and quality.

The global average score for 2025 was 29.2, which can be used as a single benchmark to understand the performance of all regions, countries, verticals and combinations thereof. Using regional and country scores, Adjust has also built a growth map that summarizes the scores.

APAC and LATAM emerging as top growth regions

Adjust’s growth map highlights show:

• APAC led the pack regionally, with an overall Growth Score of 45, underscoring scale, low acquisition costs in many markets and high engagement. India (49) and Indonesia (43.1) fueled growth in both gaming and non-gaming, combining massive install volumes with cost efficiency.
• LATAM was No. 4 regionally with a Growth Score of 30.5. Argentina (34.9) drove strong growth, just behind Indonesia at the country level, with cost-efficient acquisition.
• In MENAT (33.3), Türkiye (31) and Saudi Arabia (26.4) emerged as top markets.
• Europe (32.4) remains a resilient region, with strong retention and monetization. Nordic countries like Finland and Denmark (both 29.1) scored higher than larger economies like France (26.6) and the U.K. (26.3) – highlighting that smaller markets can offer high value in specific niches, compared to larger markets that may provide greater reach but less efficiency.
• North America (27.3), while seeing slower expansion, remained a high-value retention market, with growth driven less by new users and more by ARPU (average revenue per user) optimization and advanced monetization models.

Gaming cemented its role as the anchor vertical worldwide

By sector, gaming apps continue to dominate with the highest Growth Score (45.8), led by the hyper casual and hybrid casual genres, with card and music games also posting high scores. Regional contrasts are sharp: India led globally with a Growth Score of 52.2, Europe’s Nordics outperformed larger markets, LATAM mapped rapid growth in Argentina and Colombia, and Türkiye anchored MENAT. Outside gaming, marketplace & classifieds (40.8), news & magazines (36.4) and banking apps (33.6) stood out.

To further explore regions, countries and verticals with the highest growth potential, download The Mobile App Growth Report: 2025 Edition here.

About Adjust

Adjust, an AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) company, is trusted by marketers around the world to measure and grow their apps across platforms. Adjust works with companies at every stage of the app marketing journey, from fast-growing digital brands to brick-and-mortar companies launching their first apps. Adjust's powerful measurement and AI-powered analytics solutions provide visibility and insights, while deep linking and engagement solutions help to drive ROI.

SOURCE: Adjust

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With engagement and retention just as critical as install volume and cost efficiency, Adjust has released a Growth Score as a benchmark that provides the clarity marketers need to prioritize investments, capture opportunities and sustain growth.