Q3 2025 Digital Market Index: Mobile Market Booms, Shopping Sees Declines

Despite economic headwinds, Q3 2025 was one of strong performance across the mobile app and digital advertising ecosystem. While the reverberating impact of tariffs put a damper on certain major categories, others were able to persevere and achieve growth — even in the face of rising costs. Total in-app purchase (IAP) revenue climbed to $43.2B this past quarter, marking an 11% increase compared to Q3 ‘24. Downloads achieved positive growth as well, albeit at a much slower rate of 0.8%. Non-gaming apps displayed continued dominance, expanding their lead over the gaming sector; however, gaming apps also had much reason to celebrate, as the industry posted its second-highest quarterly revenue since the inception of the App Store. 

Our Q3 2025 Digital Market Index report takes a granular look at the last quarter’s performance across top markets, categories, apps, and games — before diving into an analysis of the digital advertising realm, and finishing off strong with key insights on retail media. 

Strong Revenue, Healthy Downloads: Christmas Came Early for Games and Apps Alike 

Revenue from non-gaming apps went up 21% year-over-year (YoY), with nearly every major category showing improvement — including Generative AI, which skyrocketed sixfold to reach nearly $1.5B. Although they were outperformed by apps, gaming companies also saw impressive revenue numbers, with the category’s nearly record-breaking quarter. Despite a comparatively meager YoY growth rate of only 2.5%, gaming revenue climbed to $20.9B, only slightly below non-gaming apps’ $22.3B. 

Both of the major app stores held their own this quarter, with iOS and Google Play each boasting double digit IAP revenue growth (10% and 14.5%, respectively). Non-gaming apps on iOS monetized disproportionately well compared to those on Google Play, accounting for 72% of non-game IAP revenue across both stores. Nevertheless, Google Play is growing at a faster rate than iOS, showing its potential for further wins in the future. 

Climbing the Charts: ChatGPT Continues Its Path to World Domination 

ChatGPT has had a generational run since its release in 2022, and the wins just keep coming. The record-breaking LLM currently ranks number two worldwide by IAP revenue (having risen two spots in the rankings quarter-over-quarter). It sits right behind kingpin TikTok, which has so far managed to retain its number one spot. Just a year ago, ChatGPT ranked sixteenth — showing incredibly strong growth as it charts its path to the top. Can it become the highest-grossing app in the world? Only time will tell (and it still has a ways to go before it supersedes TikTok), but its current trajectory suggests it’s definitely possible. 

Looking at the United States only, ChatGPT is number three by revenue, with the top two spots held by TikTok and YouTube. But in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Spain, and Turkey, it ranks number one. When it comes to the downloads charts, the top five apps have remained the same QoQ: ChatGPT, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Google Gemini, another GenAI favorite, is the 6th most downloaded — having climbed a stunning 12 spots from Q2 to Q3 of 2025.  

Tariffs Impact Advertisers Across Verticals — With Some Surprising Trickle-Down Effects 

The digital advertising industry’s performance was a mixed bag in Q3. But first, the good news: total US ad spend rose 12% when compared to the same period last year, with impressions also up a solid 8%. The country was nonetheless beat out by top-performers South Korea (+20% YoY), Brazil (+18%), and France (+18%). 

Taking a closer look at the channel mix, social networks still account for the majority (72%) of US ad spend, led by Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, which alone capture nearly half (47%) of all spend. OTT is the leading non-social platform, with 13% of Q3 ad dollars funneled towards the video-friendly channel. However, certain verticals felt the impacts of the new tariff regime more than others. 

The Shopping category continued its decline (-1.8% QoQ), consistent with the drops seen across the first three quarters of 2025. This dip has been compounded by Chinese retailers SHEIN and Temu pulling back spend in response to rising costs. However, both outlets staged a strategic comeback and boosted their budgets by over 100% in Q3 2025. This may have helped soften the overall blow to the category. On the brighter side of things, Gaming was perhaps the least impacted by economic concerns, exhibiting 28% QoQ growth. 

Interestingly, there was one category that seems to have benefited from the tariffs: auto insurance. The new impositions had a snowball effect on the industry: higher vehicle prices caused higher auto insurance rates, which forced consumers into a game of musical chairs as they hunted for better deals at competitor brands. To take advantage of this situation, Liberty Mutual and Geico both multiplied their ad spend in Q3 2025, ramping up budgets by 205 and 316%, respectively. 

Our Q3 2025 Digital Market Index report covers all of this and more, training a careful lens on a landscape that is constantly in flux. Inside, you’ll find exclusive insights on:

🇺🇲 Top Markets -The US generates more IAP revenue than the next five markets combined, while Japan was the only market among the top 20 by IAP revenue to see a YoY decline.

🎥 Top Categories - Media & Entertainment leads mobile revenue, with Software apps also driving significant growth. 

📲 Top Apps - ChatGPT has quickly flown up the top charts, ranking #2 by IAP revenue in Q3 2025, just behind TikTok — it ranked #16 only a year ago.

👑 Top Games - "Kings" were a popular theme among the top games by IAP revenue, including two new entrants to the top 10 this quarter: Clash Royale and Kingshot. 

💰 Digital Advertising - Digital ad spend in the US reached $36 billion in Q3 2025 with 4 trillion impressions, and a strong YoY growth of 12% in spend and 8% in impressions.

🛍️ Retail Media - Retail media ad impressions in the US climbed 7% YoY to 72 billion across top retailers like Walmart and Target. 

Click here to view the report.