Mobile app growth and revenue to remain strong in 2021

Making predictions for mobile advertising in 2021 is challenging, given how much the industry has changed in 2020 and the uncertainty ahead. Lockdowns and social distancing in 2020 accelerated the rise of digital, allowing many mobile apps to increase downloads and revenue. 

Even if the COVID-19 crisis comes to an end in 2021, mobile app growth and revenue will remain strong, as scores of people across the globe who started using mobile apps more in 2020 will continue using them in 2021. In-app purchasing may rise even further as global economies begin to recover from the pandemic. The increased popularity of mobile apps in 2020 has increased the understanding among brands that this channel should be at the forefront of their presence, driving an increase in in-app marketing.

However, as more people start going back to work in-person and other sources of entertainment open up, apps may face increased challenges in retaining users and finding new users. The savviest app marketers will turn to tactics like remarketing, incrementality testing, and app clips attribution to stand out and drive continued success. 

Mobile app growth

App marketers’ 2021 challenges will be compounded by the expected release of the ATT framework in iOS 14, which will affect the measurement in particular. There are several significant unknowns yet to be clarified, but what is clear is that the changes will echo across measurement, media cost, media mix, remarketing, and machine learning-driven ad platforms. In the absence of IDFA, more focus will be placed on various other forms of measurement, especially aggregated measurement, in addition to incrementality, probabilistic modeling, and web-to-app attribution models. 

Ultimately, change drives innovation, and in 2021 measurement will adapt to a new privacy-centric reality that diminishes the unsavory elements of personalized advertising while maintaining the more favorable elements, to allow data-driven performance marketing to continue to thrive."

About Mar Brandt

Mar Brandt is a Senior Vice President and Head of Sales at AppsFlyer. Mar has over 20 years of leadership experience in the digital marketing space, driving deep client relationships, and expanding revenues through her knowledge of marketing and business development. Mar brings her enterprise sales expertise in building and transforming teams to drive growth. Throughout her career, marked by numerous accolades and awards, she’s helped define and shape sales strategies. Prior to her role at AppsFlyer, she held leadership roles at Sitecore and Experian Marketing Services, using her exceptional leadership skills to elevate and scale their sales organization.