AppLovin's ad platform reaches $20bn annual spend, CEO argues mobile gaming ads outpace AI for economic growth

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi spoke at the All-In Summit 2026 about the scale of mobile gaming advertising and its role in economic expansion. The company announced that its platform ad spend has grown 60% year-over-year, reaching approximately $20bn annually.

In January 2025, AppLovin had declared that ad spend on its platform reached $11 billion per year. The latest figure represents significant acceleration for the ad tech company.

Foroughi highlighted the scale of mobile gaming's audience, stating: "What people don't realise is just how big the mobile gaming universe has become. You've got over a billion people a day playing mobile casual games. These are all adults, heads of households, and the scale of the opportunity is just humongous." He estimated that as AppLovin is not the only player in the market, total annual advertising across the mobile games ecosystem reaches around $50bn.

The CEO positioned mobile advertising as a stronger economic driver than large language models. While acknowledging that LLMs may have greater economic value, he argued that advertising represents "a very profitable implementation of a deep learning model." He contended that shifting from Google search to chatbots wouldn't significantly impact economic expansion, whereas personalised in-game ads can introduce users to products they weren't previously aware of.

Foroughi described this as creating discovery for consumers. "People love the ads that we show," he stated, pointing to high engagement with mini-game previews and rewarded video ads. Players often watch 30-second ads to earn in-game rewards, creating what Foroughi called "intent" in the advertising dynamic.

He argued that personalised targeting improves this experience. "If you're sitting there in a game and you're watching an ad for 30 seconds to get a free life, you're getting something that has monetary value. Now, if you're doing that, do you want to sit and watch garbage for 30 seconds or do you want to watch something relevant?" he posed.

Foroughi criticised Apple's privacy measures, suggesting they conflict with consumer preferences. He explained that grouping users who opt out of precise targeting results in worse ad experiences, leading to user complaints about irrelevant ads. "So, there is this notion that you need privacy regulation so that technology companies can do exactly what's expected of them. On the other side, consumers do want relevant ads," he said.

Foroughi also discussed AppLovin's operational approach, emphasising a mindset of continuous preparation rather than complacency. "We never think we won. We think, every day we wake up and we're probably going to get screwed right now and we better work hard," he shared. This lean, focused structure, he argued, allows the company to move faster than larger competitors.

The company has navigated significant challenges, including a period in 2022 when it faced low demand and high supply, with stock prices declining daily. AppLovin responded by buying back its own shares during this downturn. More recently, ad revenue has risen substantially and stock performance has improved, though shares remain below their December 2025 peak. The company has also dealt with short-seller reports questioning its business practices.

AppLovin previously acquired game studios as a data strategy, using them to train its first deep learning model before divesting from the games business, selling studios to Tripledot once the model proved successful in the market.