The trend: Time spent with mobile gaming is reaching a plateau at 29 minutes per day, per our forecast, but its high engagement and positive consumer sentiment shows it’s an untapped opportunity for advertisers to make inroads with consumers.

Mobile gaming is a daily habit.

• 70% of US mobile gamers play daily, per Axon and AppLovin—a substantial, recurring, and highly engaged consumer segment.
• It’' is particularly popular among millennials: 33% of consumers ages 25 to 34 and 21% of those ages 35 to 44 play mobile games.

Attitudes toward mobile game ads are positive compared with other media formats.

• 71% of US mobile gamers report a positive ad experience.
• Meanwhile, tolerance for ads on more popular formats like connected TV (CTV) is low. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of US TV viewers said they’d choose an ad-free experience even if it costs more monthly, per Hub Research.

These sentiments make mobile games a valuable channel to reach consumers, yet US mobile gaming ad spending will only total $8.28 billion this year—just 2% of overall US digital ad spending, per our forecast.

Zooming in: The time-spent plateau doesn’t mean interest in mobile games is falling.

North American mobile game installs and session length decreased slightly in 2025 (5% and 2%, respectively), per Adjust, which may seem like consumers are moving away from mobile games. But rather, it suggests that consumers aren’t splitting their mobile gaming attention between multiple titles—meaning game publishers can compete to be one of the sole claimants of that attentive time.

Gen Z gamers are also highly likely to play games alongside other media formats they feel positively about. Nearly half (45%) of US Gen Zers play video games while listening to digital audio like music and podcasts, versus 28% of the total adult population, per a Harris Poll/EMARKETER survey—and consumers trust podcasts 23 times more than other media formats, per iHeartMedia.