New data from Mintegral highlights three significant trends influencing mobile growth into late 2025: the widespread adoption of AI applications, the rise of short-form drama content from the Asia-Pacific region, and the growing importance of third-party Android app stores as cost-effective channels for user acquisition.
The analysis presents evidence of a decisive move towards mainstream AI functionality within consumer apps. Data shared by Mintegral reveals that in 2024, the consumer AI app category reached 1.5 billion downloads and generated USD $1.3 billion in revenue. A breakdown within the sector shows that AI chatbots experienced 119% year-on-year growth, while AI art generators continued to expand at 21% year-on-year.
Mintegral's figures also indicate that 16 generative-AI applications surpassed USD $10 million in in-app purchases, with 25 apps recording more than 10 million downloads. This trend demonstrates a consumer willingness to pay for AI-infused utility, creativity, and productivity enhancements.
Commenting on this transition, Mintegral stated: "AI is no longer a novelty; it's a durable consumer habit. Developers building pragmatic AI features around pain points (productivity, finance, PDF/chat, community) are winning traction, and advertisers are finding conversion-ready audiences at scale."
Short-form drama scaling globally
Beyond AI, the report highlights the expansion of short-form drama apps originating in APAC. These applications, focused on episodic short video content, have seen growth rates of between 50% and 200% quarter-on-quarter since the third quarter of 2023. The monetisation model for these apps is largely advertising based, with approximately 90% of revenue from ads and the remaining 10% from in-app purchases, subscriptions, and token top-ups.
Indonesia is identified as the largest market for downloads, contributing 39% of the share. Other major markets include Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, and Japan/Korea, indicating cross-regional popularity and a broad-based appeal that extends beyond their APAC origins.
What it means for editors: A new mobile entertainment category born in APAC is exporting globally, and advertisers are meeting audiences where they binge micro-episodes. Rewarded video entry points like daily check-ins, unlocking new episodes, and task rewards are standard, giving performance marketers clear levers to balance reach and retention.
Third-party Android stores as emerging channels
The report further identifies third-party Android stores as an untapped channel for user growth. Stores such as those offered by Xiaomi, Amazon, Samsung, Oppo/Vivo, Huawei, and various Eastern European providers are becoming notable for offering less competitive, and therefore lower-cost, inventory pools.
Mintegral's data shows that access to these stores - via self-serve dashboards and SDK integrations - allows performance advertisers to scale with consistently lower costs per install (CPI) and competitive growth rates. Case studies involving the Amazon store demonstrate US CPI rates as low as USD $0.26-0.42 with daily new installs ranging from 2,000 to 5,000, dependent on the app's genre and the applied bidding approach.
Mintegral commented: "Marketers don't need to be 'small fish' fighting in red-ocean auctions. Third-party stores are expanding reach and smoothing supply shocks, especially for gaming, utilities, entertainment, and emerging short-drama publishers."
Practical guidance for advertisers
Recommendations provided by Mintegral include shifting to return on ad spend (ROAS)-aligned bidding models across various outcomes, such as registrations and seven-day retention, rather than focusing on less impactful vanity metrics. Advertisers are encouraged to consider strategies such as Target ROAS, Hybrid ROAS, IAA ROAS, or Target CPE for optimisation aligned with measurable results and revenue generation.
The company also advises marketing teams to use creative automation techniques, including dynamic creative optimisation, large-scale creative analysis, and playable ads. This approach aims to ensure campaigns adapt effectively in rapidly evolving categories like short-form drama and AI-powered apps.
Mintegral suggests a more diversified distribution strategy, stating. "Add third-party stores to the media plan to unlock cheaper, incremental scale, then whitelist high-performing verticals and sub-channels." This, according to the report, can help to manage acquisition costs and reach emerging audiences.
Mintegral's platform data
Mintegral describes its platform as supporting over 100,000 apps worldwide, handling more than 300 billion ad requests and delivering 1.2 billion impressions each day. The key verticals served include gaming, utilities, entertainment, finance, and education, reflecting the broad scope of its data and insights.
The report suggests that the confluence of these three trends - AI app mainstreaming, surging short-drama content, and expanded Android distribution - is likely to remain influential throughout late 2025, informing strategies for developers and advertisers alike.
