A new survey of global app marketing professionals from mobile growth acceleration platform Liftoff offers a detailed look at what it’s like to run mobile marketing campaigns for an app right now—and what marketers see as the key trends ahead in 2023.
Liftoff’s 2022 App Marketer Survey brings together responses from over 500 mobile app marketers from APAC, EMEA, North America, and LATAM on a variety of topics such as the impact of App Tracking Transparency to changes in ad campaign budgets, and in which channels beyond conventional mobile ads they plan to invest.
Respondents were also asked their view on the current state of app marketing, and whether they are optimistic for the future of the space. As we approach the end of 2022, 58 percent said they felt positive or neutral about the industry, vs. 42 percent who’s outlook is more negative. That’s understandable, as app marketing has had a turbulent year with COVID-19 winding down, a tough macroeconomic climate and industry headwinds all combining to make life more difficult for marketers.
However, the view of the future was brighter, with 63 percent of respondents believing that 2023 would be the same or better than 2022, and 88 percent expecting to maintain or exceed their current mobile advertising spend budget.
The impact of greater user privacy protections is a significant issue for app marketers, with 43 percent citing the industry shift toward being more privacy-first as their top challenge of the past year and the biggest obstacle ahead for 2023. While 59 percent of respondents said that changes such as App Tracking Transparency had been good for consumers, 64 percent said this shift has had a negative impact on their UA campaigns, with a lack of available data and an increase in UA costs cited as the biggest issues.
Despite these and other challenges, marketers are planning to spend more in 2023, with 52 percent of respondents saying they plan to increase their overall ad budget, and only 12 percent expecting to reduce it in the coming year.
The survey also showed marketers turning to less trackable channels as a way of augmenting their mobile advertising campaigns. Influencer marketing (53 percent), social media content (52 percent), and investment in building fan communities (30 percent) are all areas where marketers plan to increase their ad spend in 2023.
“We set out to explore the current state of our industry, and app marketers from around the world have told us they are split on what the future holds, with positivity for the future tempered by a series of challenges—some technical, and some down to global economic trends”, said Dennis Mink, chief marketing officer at Liftoff, in a news release. “The good news is that the marketers we spoke to aren’t downbeat. Rather, our survey shows them becoming more adaptive and rising to the challenges ahead.”
Download the full report here.
The 2022 App Marketer Survey is based on a survey of 500+ app marketing professionals based in APAC, EMEA, North America, and LATAM. The survey was conducted in September 2022, and responses were received from app marketers holding a variety of roles, in companies with an average of 10 to 249 employees, specializing in both gaming and non-gaming apps.
