Advertisers and agencies are shifting budgets to independent mobile partners, choosing transparency over the reach of “walled garden” tech giants.

Nearly two-thirds (63.9%) of marketers at brands and agencies said they reallocated mobile advertising budgets from walled garden giants to independent partners in the past 12 months, according to a new survey conducted by EMARKETER in collaboration with Datum Intelligence.

The independents are gaining share in a market that is still expanding.

• US in-app mobile ad spend is expected to grow 12.0% in 2026 and reach $235.10 billion next year, per EMARKETER’s forecast.

Continuing the shift

Marketers plan to continue shifting to independent partners in future quarters, the EMARKETER/Datum Intelligence survey found.

Some 73.5% of marketers expect their organization’s allocation to independents to increase over the next three years, per the study.

And a quarter (25.9%) expect their organizations to increase budgets for independent channels “significantly,” EMARKETER and Datum Intelligence found.

Roughly half (49.4%) of those surveyed plan to increase in-app mobile budgets 5 to 10 percentage points over the next 12 months.

Valuing transparency

Price transparency and supply-path transparency were among the top priorities respondents cited when evaluating independent partners, per the EMARKETER/Datum Intelligence study.

After targeting and data, which 53.0% of marketers cited, pricing transparency ranked second (45.8%), and supply-path transparency ranked fourth (29.5%).

“Transparency is a big draw for marketers,” said Yory Wurmser, EMARKETER’s principal analyst, advertising, media, and technology. “As walled gardens have increased the size and power of their automated optimization platforms, a lot of marketers are seeking more control and transparency, and they’re finding it in independent channels. The added control also lets them target specific audiences that the walled gardens may not reach.”

Driving net-new incremental spending

A substantial segment of marketers who have visibility into supply-path, pricing, and ROI have increased their budgets with net-new dollars, the EMARKETER/Datum Intelligence survey found.

A full 42.2% of respondents who increased budgets on an overperforming channel said the new investment came from net-new incremental budgets.

Another 46.4% of marketers surveyed said they reallocated the increased budget from other channels.

Transparency is what independents are selling, and the budget commitments show marketers are buying: 73.5% expect to raise their allocation over the next three years.

Read the full report.

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