Sensor Tower: mobile app spend reaches $43.6bn in Q2 2026, up 5.3% YoY

August 31, 2026 · sostav.ru

Sensor Tower's Digital Market Index for the second quarter of 2026 puts global in-app and in-game spending on the App Store and Google Play at $43.6 billion, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Subscription apps, AI tools and utilities drove the increase, while game revenue fell 4.5% to $19.2 billion. The App Store held the larger share of total spend, and Google Play's revenue grew nearly 10% year over year. The US remained the top market by spending, the UK grew 14% in in-app purchases, and China rose 10% to $5.7 billion. India led new installs with 251 million added over the year, and Russia ranked among the fastest-growing markets for downloads. Generative AI apps grew faster than any other non-gaming category, with ChatGPT holding around 60% of the segment's global revenue as Claude, Grok and Gemini expanded their share.

In-app ad inventory is expanding fastest inside AI apps, utilities and subscription services, the categories now pulling installs and usage away from games. Campaign planners buying mobile inventory gain a wider set of high-engagement placements outside gaming environments, particularly in markets like the UK, China and India where growth outpaces the US. Attribution across these fragmented app categories becomes harder as spending spreads beyond a handful of gaming publishers, making cross-app measurement a bigger priority for teams tracking mobile ad performance.