January by the Numbers: How App Behavior and Ad Spend Shifted in Early 2026

We’re giving you January by the numbers, so let’s start off with a big one: 12 billion. That’s the cumulative amount, roughly, that advertisers spent wooing you in the first month of both 2025 and 2026. But while overall ad budgets remained within the same threshold year to year, there were category-level shifts bubbling below the surface. Said categories (such as Shopping, Health and Wellness, and Financial Services) consistently rank among the largest advertisers year-round — but January often reveals subtle reshuffling in budget allocation. Those marginal shifts can signal where brands see emerging opportunity, and where they see risk. 

Category Breakdown: January 2026 Advertising Spend

In the world of ad and mobile app data, January typically over indexes on categories such as wellness and personal finance — things that  can support common New Year’s resolutions like getting to the gym or saving money. This is reflected in January 2026’s top six advertising categories by spend, and their relative share of the pie:

While the top six categories accounted for ~69% of total spend in both 2025 and 2026, the distribution and rankings within the group shifted year over year.

January’s Reset Effect: Where Ad Budgets Concentrate Early in the Year 

While each month brings its own patterns in ad spend, January is a uniquely revealing moment, as advertisers collectively reset budgets and signal early priorities for the year ahead. One clear example is Health and Wellness. This category was the third-highest spender in every month of 2025 outside of January, when it shot up to second place. Its share of January spend is also a calendar outlier: Health and Wellness accounts for around 10.5% of spend February through December. But in that first month of the year it's able to capture more, making up ~12% of spend in both January 2025 and 2026. The onset of Q1 presents crucial growth opportunities for offerings linked to physical or mental health.

Another illustrative category is Shopping — the highest spending category virtually every month. However the share changes here, too. In December 2025, for example, a key gifting month, 21% of ad dollars went to Shopping. In January 2026? 17%. These sorts of patterns tell us about recurring annual peaks and downturns. But to see the longer-term trajectory of spending patterns, we’ll compare Januarys of years past to this most recent one. 

Gaming is Up, Dining Loses Out: How Category Spend Evolved From 2025 to 2026

While individual categories follow distinct seasonal rhythms throughout the year, comparing January year-over-year allows us to see how advertisers recalibrated priorities at the start of 2026 within an otherwise familiar category mix. 

To start, you’ll notice that around one in every ten ad dollars spent in January 2026 went to promoting Financial Services brands — a category that has been climbing the charts for several years now. In January 2024 Financial Services was the fifth largest spender, before jumping to fourth place in 2025. Now, we see them overtaking Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) by a small but notable margin to claim third. That’s a Bronze medal, in Olympic terms. Consequently, CPG is now the fourth-highest January spender, having lost its podium spot.

Next year’s shuffle will be revealing as to whether this trend is ongoing or only a temporary dethroning. Nevertheless, Financial Service’s continued ascent suggests advertiser confidence in consumer financial engagement. Top brands within this category include TurboTax, Progressive, and Capital One.  

Food and Dining was pushed out of the top six this year, replaced by Gaming, whose year-over-year (YoY) January spend jumped 42% —  making it the fastest-growing category of this group. This growth stands out against a broader backdrop of relatively modest reallocation. It’s equally worth noting that CPG and Food and Dining, two categories that rely to some extent on the discretionary spending available to consumers, have both dipped in the rankings.

Did Higher Ad Spend Translate to App Performance?

With Gaming emerging as a January growth leader, the next question is whether or not high ad spend translated to concrete increases in mobile acquisition and engagement. While downloads only increased by 2% YoY (around 21 million new installs), revenue jumped 5% (approximately $185M added). And most significantly, revenue per download (RPD) increased 8% — going from $2.92 in 2025, to $3.14 in 2026. So while acquisition does seem to be plateauing to some extent, in part due to a mature market,  game publishers are getting more bang for their buck. RPD also grew faster than either downloads or revenue for the Health and Fitness category, climbing 6% to reach $3.39 in January 2026. This all supports the insight articulated in State of Mobile 2026: as new downloads slow, monetization tactics become more sophisticated, allowing developers to capitalize on existing users in new ways. 

January may be just one month of activity, but the shifts shown here represent a snapshot of advertiser sentiment and priorities heading into the new year, highlighting the categories that are making gains, and those that are lagging. To see how dynamics like these are expected to shape the coming year, check out our 2026 Predictions Report.