Not sure where to invest your UA budget in 2026?
Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.
We’ve asked industry experts to give us their predictions for 2026, based on what they experience every day.
Below, you’ll find a list of the hottest mobile advertising trends that all marketers should know about in the year to come.
Let’s dive right in!
1. Reward-Based Ads & Loyalty Platforms
In Playtika’s 2024 Annual Report, we read:
The mobile games giant admittedly reports that 50% of its users came from what they call “incentivized marketing”, that is, offerwalls.
Playtika isn’t the only mobile gaming company to take advantage of rewarded advertising.
This ad format – be it offerwalls or rewarded video ads – is becoming more and more popular, because it often removes the negative sentiment caused by forced ads and turns them into a choice and a reward.
According to Alexander Ruban, Mobile Gaming Marketing Executive who worked for companies like Product Madness, Wargaming, and Pixonic, rewarded UA will continue to expand in 2026, with more studios adopting it as a core part of their discovery strategy.
The Managing Director for Korea at MAF, Josh Jang, confirms this as well.
He shares that advertisers have already started shifting their budget away from DSPs toward reward-based networks, for two main reasons:
- Higher trust and lower fraud risk.
- Significantly higher eCPMs.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that other ad formats will disappear, but that opt-in advertising will play a more important role alongside interstitials and banners.
And it’s not only mobile games embracing this trend.
Survey apps, fintech products, travel apps, and other verticals are increasingly adopting rewarded advertising to boost engagement and retention.
In some regions, the format is evolving even further.
As Tetsu Watanabe, Head of Japan at MAF, explains, gamified loyalty systems – where users earn tiers like bronze, silver, or gold and unlock bigger payouts or exclusive bonuses – are booming right now. These mechanics could soon make their way directly into rewarded UA, enhancing user motivation and long-term participation.
This take by Pablo Perez, Senior Marketing Research Manager at Google, captures the essence of this shift: in an age where long-term goals don’t seem so unattainable, rewarding users for smaller milestones is where you succeed.
However, there’s also a side effect to this growth, and that is increased competition.
Alexander Ruban thinks that, with more games allocating budget to rewarded ads, the cost of reaching the same audiences rises. Engagement numbers look strong, but in order to capture genuine product intent, developers should double down on improving quality and onboarding flow.
2. More Focus on Retention and Quality Users
This isn’t a new trend in mobile advertising, but it’s still relevant today.
While in the past, the goal for advertisers was mainly to lower their CPIs, now they’re more focused on retaining users.
Unfortunately, it’s no longer realistic to expect to acquire a large number of quality users at a low cost. So, game marketers are changing their priorities.
After completing the initial creative tests with acceptable KPIs, the advertisers’ next goal is to optimize campaigns for long-term profitability.
To achieve this, they pay special attention to metrics like retention, LTV, and ROAS.
Retention insights provide a valuable snapshot into user behavior, guiding strategies for increasing LTV and ROAS. These so-called “profitability metrics” are key indicators of users’ long-term value and the return on the advertising budget.
What’s even more interesting is that we are seeing a shift from D7 and D30 retention to even longer periods, like D60 and D90.
These metrics have become the guiding stars for UA managers who want to reach quality users, and we believe that this trend will persist in the years to come.
3. AI Personalization with a Human Touch
The use of AI in mobile advertising is nothing new, but we’re seeing these technologies getting smarter and smarter every day.
So, it’s likely that in 2026, advertisers will be able to rely on AI algorithms to target their users more precisely.
What does this mean in practice?
For example, with the help of machine learning, advertisers may be able to optimize when and where the ads appear based on the user behavior or common patterns, to show ads at the best moment for each player.
This hyper-personalization could lead to a different ad experience for each user, helping advertisers maximize their ROI.
However, according to Alexander Ruban, brands should rely on AI for speed and iteration, but they still need a human touch for defining style, tone and identity.
He believes that AI-generated content, which in the last year has flooded the industry, has made the audience grow even more tired of ads.
That is why the companies that will stand out will be the ones that rely on human creativity again, where AI is part of the creative process and not the final product.
4. User Choice & CPA Campaigns
AI-driven targeting isn’t the only shift happening.
According to Kevin Woodford, CEO of Woodford Consulting, mobile advertising will also be increasingly driven by user choice.
As AI improves, he believes CPA campaigns will become one of the most reliable ways for advertisers to ensure their budgets reach real users who take meaningful actions inside an app.
This aligns with the broader shift toward quality users and long-term profitability rather than cheap installs.
Together, AI personalization and user-choice ad formats point toward a future where ads feel more relevant, more rewarding, and far more effective.
5. Video Ads Will Surpass Search Ads
According to eMarketer, in 2026, mobile video ads will account for around 40% of all mobile ad spend, while search ads will be slightly lower, 38%.
While the difference isn’t much, it’s still a great indicator of something that has shifted: people engage with video more than web pages, and advertisers are adapting.
There are different types of video ads, but UGC ads are surely among the most popular.
And the reason is simple: since they are created and posted by regular creators, they are perceived as more authentic.
On top of that, they often don’t feel like ads, as they seamlessly blend into the platform the viewer is using.
By definition, UGC ads are completely organic. However, in practice, there are many paid collaborations where studios pay content creators to act as real players and make videos about their games.
How effective are these ads? According to AppSamurai, UGC ads have 4x higher CTRs and a 50% lower CPC than standard ad creatives.
6. More Playable Interstitials
As we mentioned in a previous paragraph, interstitials and banners are still going strong.
However, we’re seeing a rise in what are called “playable ads”.
Playable ads are interstitials to every extent, but they allow players to interact with the ad and try the game they’re advertising.
For example, within the duration of the ad, you may be able to solve a quiz puzzle or play a mini-level.
Interactivity is what makes these ads stand out.
It’s true that playable ads are still forced ads, but they make the experience less unpleasant.
And this shows.
In fact, according to IAB, around 1 in 5 consumers will engage with this ad format and spend time with the brands advertised.
Mobile Game Advertising Trends in 2026: Final Words
2026 sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
These are the top mobile game advertising trends we expect to make waves in the year to come. Since the mobile industry is constantly evolving, we’re excited to see which new trends will be added to the list throughout the year.
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