AppLovin One Year Later: From E-commerce Experiment to Established Channel
Enia Xhakaj
Data Scientist
,
Fairing
The 2.7x Factor That Changes Everything
Last December, we published AppLovin's E-Commerce Revolution: A New Era of Customer Acquisition documenting AppLovin's explosive entry into e-commerce advertising. The post-purchase survey data revealed something remarkable: mobile game ads had suddenly become a legitimate customer acquisition channel for DTC brands.
Now, with nearly a year of additional data, we can answer the critical question every performance marketer has been asking: Was AppLovin's e-commerce breakthrough a fleeting experiment, or has it evolved into a sustainable acquisition channel?
The answer is unequivocal. Mobile game attribution has stabilized at levels 2.7x higher than pre-AppLovin baseline, proving this isn't just another ad platform gold rush, it's a fundamental shift in the e-commerce acquisition landscape.
Our post-purchase survey data from October 2024 through September 2025 tells a story of maturation. After the initial surge we documented last year, game-attributed responses have settled into a remarkably consistent range of 0.8-1.2% of total survey mentions.
While this average may seem modest, it masks enormous variation across brands. The distribution is extraordinarily wide—many brands see minimal game attribution, while top investors in the channel report 30-70% of their post-purchase survey responses attributed to gaming platforms. These heavy investors, who've committed significantly to channels like AppLovin, demonstrate that the 0.8-1.2% market average reflects current adoption levels rather than any inherent channel ceiling.
This stabilization is actually more impressive than continued explosive growth would have been. It demonstrates that:
Brands have found their optimal spend levels on the platform
The channel has proven repeatable and predictable
AppLovin's algorithm has successfully adapted from gaming to e-commerce optimization
Food & Drug's Dominant 1.9% Share
Not all e-commerce categories are created equal in the AppLovin ecosystem. Our analysis of game-attributed responses from June through September 2025 reveals a clear hierarchy of performance:
The Dominant Leader: Food & Drug (1.9%) This category's outsized performance validates what savvy performance marketers suspected: consumable products with lower AOVs and high repeat purchase rates are perfectly suited for AppLovin's instant-gratification gaming environment. These brands can afford aggressive testing and rapid scaling when they find profitable unit economics.
The Strong Second Tier: Health & Beauty (1.0%) and Consumer Electronics (0.8%) Health & Beauty's strong showing aligns with AppLovin's female-skewed 25-45 demographic that we identified in our original analysis. But Consumer Electronics' surprising performance suggests the platform's appeal has broadened significantly beyond initial demographic assumptions.
The Emerging Opportunities: Sporting Goods (0.75%) and Apparel (0.45%) These categories show moderate adoption, with significant headroom for growth. The relatively lower performance in apparel is particularly intriguing given the demographic fit, this likely indicates these verticals are still in early testing phases with substantial upside potential.
The Attribution Challenge: Why 87% of Mobile Game Conversions Go Unmeasured
Perhaps the most critical insight from our 2025 analysis is the massive attribution gap facing mobile game advertising. Our data reveals that only 13% of mobile game-driven conversions receive proper last-click attribution, with 74% being misattributed to other channels and another 13% generating no attribution data at all.
This finding has profound implications:
Your AppLovin campaigns are likely performing 7-8x better than your attribution platform suggests
Post-purchase surveys become essential for understanding true channel performance
Brands relying solely on last-click attribution are leaving money on the table by under-investing in mobile games
This attribution blindness explains why sophisticated brands with robust attribution survey programs were first to capitalize on AppLovin's e-commerce opportunity - they could see what pure last-click attribution missed.
Three Strategic Imperatives for 2026
Based on our year-over-year analysis, here are the key actions for e-commerce brands:
1. Implement Survey-Based Attribution Immediately
If you're not running post-purchase surveys, you're flying blind on up to 87% of your mobile game advertising impact. The brands winning with AppLovin are those that can see beyond last-click attribution.
2. Start with Your Category's Success Profile
Food, Drug, Health & Beauty brands: You should already be testing aggressively
Electronics and Sporting Goods: The data supports immediate testing with strong potential
Apparel and Home Goods: Early days but showing promise and a perfect time to establish first-mover advantage
Automotive and Office: Focus your budget elsewhere unless you have a unique angle
3. Plan for Scale, Not Just Testing
The stabilization at 2.7x pre-AppLovin levels means this is no longer an experimental channel. Brands should be building dedicated creative strategies, separate budget allocations, and specialized teams for mobile game advertising.
The Bottom Line: From Revolution to Institution
A year ago, we called AppLovin's entry into e-commerce a "revolution." Today, that revolution has become an institution. The channel has proven its staying power, defined its sweet spots, and exposed the attribution challenges that keep many brands from fully capitalizing on its potential.
The brands that will win in 2026 aren't those waiting for perfect attribution, they're the ones using post-purchase surveys to see the full picture and scaling aggressively into what has become one of e-commerce's most undervalued channels.
The data is clear: Mobile game advertising isn't just here to stay - it's still dramatically underutilized by brands that can't see past their last-click attribution. The question isn't whether you should be testing AppLovin. It's whether you have the measurement infrastructure to see its true impact when you do.
Want to uncover your hidden attribution gaps? Get started today with Fairing.
