How smarter mobile ads are beating big-budget campaigns: Report

As AI accelerates the production of ad variations at scale, it’s no longer the volume of creative that matters—but the substance. According to AppsFlyer’s latest 'State of Creative Optimisation' report, the ads that stand out in today’s crowded mobile landscape aren’t necessarily the flashiest or most expensive, but those that align with real human motivation—whether it’s challenge, trust, connection or curiosity.

Based on an analysis of 1.1 million video creatives across 1,300 apps and $2.4 billion in spend, the report unpacks why storytelling, simplicity and relatability are emerging as the true levers of performance across verticals like gaming, finance, dating and creative tools.

Topline findings include:

• Influencers outperform film stars
  For mobile audiences, online creators and TV personalities are more effective than traditional movie stars. Adam Smart, director of product, gaming at AppsFlyer, explains: “The answer has to do with platforms and the users of those platforms. Both TikTok and YouTube are very popular ad sources in gaming—users of those platforms probably know and care about Ryan Trahan or MrBeast far more than conventional celebs.” Sports stars also show strong potential when tied to major events like the IPL or World Cup. “Having a cricketer advertise your product during the Indian IPL generates incredible traction,” adds Smart.
   
• Tutorials beat testimonials
  Within user-generated content, tutorial-style videos or reviews consistently outperform testimonials in both attention and retention metrics. Despite this, testimonials still dominate spend in most categories.
   
• Narrative storytelling is underutilised
  Ads with clear narrative arcs or emotional twists account for just 6% of social and search spend—but deliver some of the highest retention results. Storytelling remains an underexploited opportunity in mobile creative.
   

• Creative mix differs by app category
  There are notable differences in how app categories approach creative optimisation. Gaming apps tend to double down on high-performing ads—the top 2% of creatives account for 53% of spend. By contrast, non-gaming apps (spanning finance, dating, and creative tools) show a more diversified spread, with the top 2% making up only 43% of spend. This suggests a broader audience strategy and more risk-averse creative planning.

Despite varying motivations and formats across app categories, a common trend emerges: The most heavily funded creative strategies often fall short of delivering the strongest results. The report finds that in several verticals—gaming, finance, dating, and creative tools—alternative approaches such as emotionally resonant storytelling, tutorial-driven content, and community-focused hooks routinely outperform more traditional, big-budget tactics.

Here’s how that plays out across categories:

Gaming: Powered by challenge-driven motivations

Gaming apps are an enormous category covering everything from casual games to multiplayer RPGs that command a dedicated fanbase. Traditionally synonymous with scale and high-intensity performance marketing, gaming is seeing creative success shift toward more emotionally resonant narratives. The narratives that ads are built around tap into three motivations: excitement, completion and challenge.

In the hypercasual genre, failure-to-success stories are particularly effective. These narratives, where users initially fail before overcoming a challenge, generated 78% higher install rates (IPM) than pure success stories, despite receiving 40% less budget.

Challenge-driven motivations delivered 2.5 times higher retention after a week—a measure that evaluates the quality of users acquired by a particular creative—than excitement-led content on social and search, and 2.2 times higher on ad networks. Gamers clearly prefer an invitation to engage rather than mere spectacle.

In mid-core games, social motivators like community and competition remain vastly underutilised, accounting for less than 10% of spend on social platforms, despite delivering the highest day 7 retention (24.5%).

Celebrity endorsements continue to be misaligned: Movie stars receive the lion’s share of budget, but it’s TV personalities and online content creators who drive superior engagement and loyalty.

Smart says, “Playables are a large differentiator when it comes to gaming: having an element of gameplay for the user to engage with generally yields better results than video alone.”

Finance: Simplicity, trust, and education drive performance

Simplification as a theme works best for finance apps since consumers are wary of making mistakes—particularly when dealing with areas like crypto and stocks. Narratives that simplify complex products tend to generate a high level of installs and retention. There is thus a hidden opportunity in pushing for tutorial-style content over testimonials. While testimonials account for 88% of spend, tutorial-style content outperforms them in day 7 retention by 37%.

Another underutilised approach is social proof-based hooks. They feature trending content, testimonials, or community participation and constitute just 5% of spend in social and search and yet drive the highest day 7 retention at 21%. The creatives tap into the fear of missing out with lines such as “90% of users hit their goal in 30 days—can you?”

Instant gratification appeals—such as “get cashback instantly”—perform well on DSPs, but their long-term value remains mixed.

Dating: Emotional depth beats casual play

In the highly competitive dating app landscape, no single approach dominates. However, it is becoming clear that problem-solution hooks, which currently command a lion’s share of budgets at 28%, deliver only average performance on IPM (0.8%) and retention (13.6%). Appeals of this sort include “break the ice in three easy steps” or “meet the right match without endless swiping”.

Creatives tied to serious relationship motivations outperformed casual themes by 15% in day 7 retention. Ads that promised long-term connection—such as “ready for something real?”—inspired stronger loyalty than those targeting short-term fun.

Curiosity and sensory-driven hooks, such as “Guess who swiped right?” or immersive date visuals, delivered the highest IPM on social platforms.

As with other verticals, UGC is dominated by testimonials, but tutorials yield better retention outcomes—highlighting the value of onboarding and guided experience. Additionally, female-led celebrity endorsements delivered 60% stronger IPM than male counterparts, despite being significantly underrepresented in budget allocation.

Authenticity is more important than novelty in photo, video, and gen AI

In the fast-evolving gen AI and creative tools space, utility and authenticity are increasingly more effective than visual gimmickry. UGC testimonials, particularly those in first-person perspective, delivered 36% higher day 7 retention, reinforcing the power of relatable narratives.

Motivations tied to time-saving and ease of use—such as “edit your video in seconds”—drove consistent performance across acquisition and engagement metrics. Meanwhile, customisation, despite being the most funded motivation (45% of spend), underperformed on both fronts.

Across categories, the report demonstrates that effective creative is about more than different copy or minor adjustments to visuals. It’s about aligning emotional resonance with platform dynamics and user motivations. Marketers are beginning to shift away from a one-size-fits-all model and toward storytelling tailored to category, channel and audience psychology.

Asked for his advice on best practices, Smart says, “Be creative, know your audience, understand their likes and dislikes. You need to stimulate emotion in some way, shape or form, to stand out in order to get noticed over other ads. Test, test, test—A/B test everything! You never know where the next ‘hero’ creative will come from.”