The mobile landscape and market continues to develop, with monetization, generative AI and shifts in attention changing how consumers interact with apps and content. While social media and AI apps continue to dominate the landscape, short drama apps were a breakout category in 2025, with time spent growing 5.78 billion hours year over year, according to Sensor Tower data.
In terms of downloads, the short drama app category saw the second highest growth, increasing by 1.66 billion downloads YoY. Apps focused around micro and short dramas, such as ReelShort, saw a 115% YoY revenue increase and an in-app revenue of $2.98 billion, giving the category the third-highest revenue growth for 2025. The upswing could be attributed to a successful monetization strategy, according to Sensor Tower reports.
“Having a strategy of just trying to gain a bunch of users very quickly…It doesn't really work unless you have the follow through with the retention and the monetization pieces as well,” said Johnathan Briskman, director, market insights at Sensor Tower.
Sensor Tower’s “State of Mobile 2026” report includes data from the firm’s Mobile App Insights platform, iOS App Store and Google Play downloads and revenue estimates from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2025, and other metrics.
The in-app revenue surge
Across industries, in-app revenue has surged as consumers increasingly turn to mobile platforms for goods and services. Social media saw in-app revenue grow 17% YoY, reaching $12.9 billion in 2025, while over-the-top streaming platforms such as Netflix saw a 5% YoY growth, equating to a revenue of $11.6 billion.
Some categories have significantly outperformed others, delivering triple-digit YoY growth. Generative artificial intelligence and AI assistants saw an in-app revenue of $4.33 billion, a 254% increase from the year prior, with ChatGPT leading the category.
However, not all of the 20 categories measured in the report saw growth in 2025. Books and comics, with Audible leading the category, saw an in-app revenue of $4.2 billion, down 1% YoY. Livestreaming apps dropped 9%, with 2025 in-app revenue totaling $899 million.
“It's good to see where consumers' money is going,” said Briskman. “Consumers are more comfortable spending their time, which we already knew, but also now spending their money on mobile devices.”
The battle for attention
The average person spent over 600 hours on mobile applications in 2025, equating to 5.3 trillion hours, up 3.8% YoY. However, while the time spent on devices is growing, platforms and apps have to increasingly fight for consumer attention. The average person uses 34 different apps a month, up 5.4% YoY.
Time spent on social media grew 108 billion hours globally in 2025, far outpacing other categories. Generative AI and AI assistants ranked second with 30.3 billion hours growth. However, while social media led time growth, it did not lead in revenue growth. AI apps saw revenue grow $3.1 billion globally in 2025, while social media saw growth of just $1.92 billion.
Downloads of social media apps saw a decline in 2025, amounting to a decrease of 663 million downloads YoY. AI apps, on the other hand, saw downloads grow by 1.78 billion YoY.
Revenue from in-app purchases reached $167 billion globally in 2025, a 10.6% year-over-year growth, according to the report. Categories that saw the biggest revenue gains include generative AI and AI assistants at $3.1 billion and social media at $1.92 billion. Not only are consumers spending more money on mobile platforms, they are also spending more time, with the average time spent on devices reaching 3.6 hours per day, up 1.1% from the year prior.
“The mobile market has matured quite a bit. I'd say over the past few years, we've reached a point where gaining new users is harder than ever…a lot of consumers already have a lot of their favorite apps they need, and so it's just getting increasingly hard to break through,” said Briskman.
