The Year Mobile Advertising Reigns Supreme
Mobile advertising has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of digital marketing strategies – and 2025 is shaping up to be the year it claims a main position in brand advertisers' strategy book.
This shift is driven by several factors, from increased ad spending by major players and evolving consumer habits to technological advancements that make in-app advertising more measurable, engaging, and precise. As the open web continues to decline and agencies double-down on mobile investments, it's clear that brands need to pivot and capture the tremendous opportunities within this channel.
Here’s a look at why it’s the perfect time to focus on mobile.
Decline of the Open Web
The decline of the open web is a key factor here. With advancements in AI-driven search tools, like Google's Gemini, traditional web experiences are becoming less dominant. This is largely because Gemini provides direct answers to a user's query, eliminating the need to visit other websites.
As other AI platforms evolve in a similar way and gain market traction, web traffic will further decline. In fact, research from Gartner finds organic search volume could reduce by 25% through 2026, due to the influence of AI chatbots and virtual agents. It’s more clear than ever that the open web has dwindling ROI for most brand and advertiser campaign needs. For brands and advertisers that rely on the web as their main channel, it's time to consider diversifying your approach.
Agencies Leaning into In-App Advertising
Additionally, agency holding companies are amplifying their investments in mobile apps. Remember, agencies and brands don't necessarily think about if they’re buying web or app inventory – they think about results.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that most web-based strategies are becoming more challenging and costly to hit goals. The deprecation of third-party cookies and evolving privacy regulations make it harder for advertisers to track and target audiences effectively. Because of this, brands are forced to rely on less granular data, making it harder and more expensive to personalize their engagements. Mobile really is the answer here.
In-app ensures brands and advertisers have access to highly addressable, brand safe, and viewable supply, spanning across in-app content. The channel provides audience segments via first-party data and your advertising partners’ exclusive partnerships. Optimizations are also easy based on historical and real-time campaign data. Whats more, each ad unit can be incredibly personalized based on today’s in-app creative options.
One other reason agencies are moving in this direction is simplified collaborations. By granting vendor-approved status to select mobile ad tech firms like MobileFuse, agencies are streamlining the integration of mobile advertising solutions into their clients' campaigns. This not only facilitates smoother collaboration but also ensures advertisers have access to trusted, effective mobile platforms.
Advanced Cross-Screen Capabilities and Audience Precision
Historically, one of mobile's challenges was the inability to track user behavior and ad performance – those days are long gone. New advancements in measurement, tracking, engagement, creative ad formats, and brand safety transformed the mobile and in-app advertising categories into a primary avenue for ad spend.
Just consider the advancement of cross-screen audience engagement. Unlike web-based advertising, which is largely reliant on the dwindling availability of cookies, in-app ads utilize mobile advertising IDs (MAIDS) and alternative IDs (alt IDs) to recognize users across different devices. This means an ad campaign can start on a mobile app, reinforce messaging on a tablet, and drive conversion via a connected TV – all while maintaining a unified user experience.
A Booming Category
When you couple all these factors together, it makes sense that the US mobile advertising market is projected to expand by over $15 billion this year. Another important point is made by a report from eMarketer; it found consumers spend almost 90% of their mobile device time in apps, versus the web. Brands need to meet consumers where they are – just as agencies and brands leaned into CTV and audio in recent years, now is the perfect time to pivot toward in-app to capture valuable attention.
It's evident that mobile advertising is no longer a secondary consideration – it's a key category reshaping the digital landscape in 2025. With increased spending from industry leaders, heightened agency support, and significant technological advancements, mobile has transitioned from a supplementary option to a critical channel that meets campaign goals. Brands that invest in this dynamic and rapidly evolving space will be well-positioned to capture attention and drive performance for campaigns.
