AppsFlyer’s State of Creative Optimization 2025

If you think cranking out thousands of creatives is enough to win in 2025, you are right. The latest State of Creative Optimization 2025 by AppsFlyer report makes one thing clear – churning out more ads won’t save you if they all feel the same. The mobile marketing winners are those who mix it up, test new angles, and truly understand what makes users tick, as I wrote in my creative bible.

So volume: yes. Creative depth: also yes. Now kiss!

This comprehensive deep dive will explore the report’s key findings – from creative trends and KPIs to emotional hooks, platform strategies, AI’s impact, and the rise of celebrity and UGC (user-generated content) in ads – all through an engaging, slightly casual lens. (Spoiler: I was surprised by a few of these myself!)

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The mobile advertising arena in 2025 is both a numbers game and a strategy game. Yes, marketers are producing more ad creatives than ever, but the smart money is on those who diversify and optimize, not just spam out volume. Let’s set the stage with a few headline stats and trends:

• Top creatives still dominate – but less than before: In Q1 2025, the top 2% of ad creatives (the big “winners”) still pulled in about half of total ad spend. In gaming apps, the top 2% of creatives drove 53% of spend, whereas in non-gaming apps, it was 43%. That 10-point gap hints at a shift: non-gaming marketers are relying a bit less on one-hit wonders and spreading their budgets across more ads. In fact, both gaming and non-gaming saw a ~3-4% drop in top-creatives’ share since last year, signaling a move toward broader creative distribution. Marketers aren’t abandoning their winners, but they are definitely diversifying to fight creative fatigue and find new winners. As the report puts it, “the trend is clear: creative depth is inching forward”.

• Creative output is skyrocketing (especially for non-gaming): To no one’s surprise, the volume of ads keeps growing. Non-gaming apps spending $7M+ per quarter now produce an average of 2,365 creative variations each quarter – an 18% year-over-year increase. Interestingly, that growth rate is 80% faster than gaming apps of a similar scale. (Yes, even though gaming giants still crank out more total creatives – about 2,743 per quarter on average – non-gaming marketers are rapidly catching up.) This reflects a fundamental difference in approach: big gaming studios often double down on a few proven ads for quick impact, while non-gaming advertisers tend to test more widely, iterating on creatives to sustain engagement in the long term.
  • The result? Everyone is creating more ads, but the ones winning in 2025 are those experimenting with different concepts and niche targeting, not just brute force volume.

• Beyond installs – quality matters: The report doesn’t just count impressions and installs; it also measures Day 7 retention (how many users stick around a week after install) and looks at IPM (Installs per Mille), essentially how efficiently an ad drives installs from impressions. This is crucial. An ad that grabs tons of installs means nothing if those users quit the app in a day. In 2025, marketers live and die by a mix of reach and retention and ROAS. ROAS FTW! One striking insight: a creative can have a low share of spend but still be a rockstar – if it resonates deeply with a niche high-value audience, yielding high conversion (IPM) and strong retention. That means a smaller ad that speaks to the right people can outperform a big-budget broad ad.

In short, 2025’s overview shows an arms race in creative production, but also a maturing mindset about what success looks like. Marketers are learning to measure what matters and hedge their bets with a portfolio of creatives. More ads, yes – but more variety in theme, style, and targeting. Simply put: creative variety (backed by smart KPIs) is trumping sheer volume.

Emotional Hooks and Motivations Driving Performance

Let’s talk about the heart of creatives – the emotional and psychological triggers that make people click Install. Understanding why an ad works is just as important as the metrics. The top-performing ads aren’t magic; they tap into real human motivations and emotions. Here are the standout themes:

• Instant Gratification – the power of “quick wins”: We live in a want-it-now world, and successful ads know it. Nowhere is this clearer than in Finance apps. Ads that promise fast, tangible rewards (think slogans like “Get cash back in minutes” or “Invest now, see gains tomorrow”) are killing it. These Instant Gratification hooks received roughly double the ad spend on programmatic channels (DSPs) vs. social channels, and for good reason – on DSPs, they delivered 17% better Day 7 retention. In plain English, when finance ads said “we’ll satisfy you immediately,” not only did lots of people install, but those users stuck around longer. The desire for quick benefits is a huge motivator. (And if I’m honest, who doesn’t like instant rewards? 😅.)
• Meaningful Connections – serious beats casual: It turns out appealing to deeper motivations can pay off, big time. A highlight from the Dating apps data: creatives that targeted people looking for a “serious relationship” outperformed casual dating hooks by 15% higher Day 7 retention. Users brought in with “find your soulmate” messaging stayed in the app longer than those lured by more casual “find a fun fling” vibes. What’s crazy is the serious relationship angle got less budget and fewer creatives, yet still produced better quality users. It seems that in 2025, honesty and depth in your message (“we’ll help you find real love”) can foster trust and longevity. Emotional payoff beats short-term intrigue in this case. Just check our latest creative trends episode to see what else works well:
• The curious case of Success vs. Failure: Failing is more intriguing than succeeding. Many mobile game ads use mini “stories” to hook players. For Casual game ads on social media and search, it’s “Pure Failure” stories that outperformed “Pure Success”, with a whopping 65% higher install rate (IPM). Meanwhile, on ad networks, the classic “success” scenarios still drove 33% higher IPM.

This means if you’re advertising a game on Facebook or TikTok, showing a character epically failing (and thus challenging the viewer, “Can you do better?”) might hook more users than showing an easy win.

Personally, I was shocked to see failure stories outperform success ONLY on social channels since we see the FAIL scenario almost all the time and all the UA channels!

• FOMO and Social Proof – the herd instinct: Speaking of FOMO, humans are social creatures. Some of 2025’s best ads leverage that with Social Proof hooks – basically, “Everyone’s doing this, don’t miss out.” Think of ads that showcase viral trends or user achievements (“1 million people already joined”, “See how users are hitting their goals”). These strike a solid balance, often yielding strong conversion AND good retention by tapping our fear of missing out​. If an ad can convince you that people like you are loving this app, you’re more likely to install and hang around. It’s validation and bandwagon effect rolled into one, and it works.
• Storytelling and Emotional “Twists”: Amid the quick-hit ads, a few marketers are playing the long game with storytelling. Story-driven creatives – ones that have a little narrative arc, maybe a surprising twist or emotional journey – are criminally underused (only about 6% of social/search ad budgets go to them), but they deliver the highest Day 7 retention at 8.4%. That’s huge.

A compelling story in an ad can resonate so deeply that users who install stick with the app longer, presumably because the ad sets better expectations or builds a stronger connection. It’s an opportunity area for creative marketers: if you can tell even a short, gripping story in your ad (maybe a 30-second saga of a user’s transformation, a mystery, a relatable failure-to-success journey), you might not get the cheapest installs, but the users you do get are gold.

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As a creative strategist, this stat makes me want to pitch more narrative-driven experiments to clients – it’s the kind of thing that feels right intuitively, and now we have data to back it up. Oh, wait, I’ve already been doing this for a while!

Bottom line: Emotions and motivations are the currency of 2025’s top ads. Whether it’s greed (quick gains), love (find “the one”), pride (I can beat this challenge), or FOMO (others are in on it), the best creatives hit a nerve. The old trick of just showing features or generic benefits is fading – if you can trigger a genuine feeling, you can trigger an install and loyalty.

How AI Is Transforming Creative Optimization (and Why Human Insights Still Matter)

We can’t discuss creative trends in 2025 without addressing the elephant (or rather, the robot) in the room: Artificial Intelligence. From generative AI tools that can create dozens of ad variants in minutes to machine learning models analyzing performance, AI is now deeply embedded in creative optimization. The report paints an exciting picture of what AI is doing – and also a reality check on where humans remain irreplaceable.

AI has turbocharged the creative process – more ads, faster insights – and it’s a game-changer for sure. But the heart and soul of an ad that truly connects? That still comes from us humans. Use AI to work smarter and scale faster, but keep your hands on the wheel when it comes to the creative vision.

Celebrity and UGC Creative Trends

Finally, let’s dive into two hot trends in creative production: leveraging celebrities and harnessing UGC (user-generated content). Both tap into very different aspects of consumer psychology – one relies on star power and familiarity, while the other relies on authenticity and relatability. The 2025 report dishes some fascinating data on how these strategies are playing out:

• Star Power: Does celebrity creative still pay off? Marketers have long loved using celebrities in ads – whether it’s a famous athlete in a game ad or a pop star promoting a music app. In 2025, celeb endorsements are still alive and well, but their effectiveness is a mixed bag. For example, in Mid-core Gaming (think strategy or RPG mobile games), it turns out not all celebs are equal. Ads featuring TV personalities delivered double the IPM (installs per thousand impressions) of ads featuring movie stars, and music artists led to the best user retention. Yet, despite TV and music celebs driving better results, a whopping 80%+ of the “celebrity ad spend” in that category was still going to big movie stars.

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• Influencers vs. Traditional Celebs (the Non-Gaming story): For non-gaming apps, the dynamic is also intriguing. Popular musicians and actors can certainly draw eyeballs – an ad saying “New from [Famous Pop Star]…” will get attention – but the report shows they often bring weaker install rates and lower retention. On the flip side, social media influencers (let’s say a YouTuber or TikTok creator known in a specific niche) tend to have lower IPM (they don’t cause a stampede of instant installs), but the users they do bring in stick around longer. Why? Likely because an influencer’s audience trusts them; if they promote an app, their fans are genuinely interested and thus more likely to become loyal users. I’ve seen this in campaigns I’ve run – an influencer integration might not “go viral” in installs, but the ROI in quality users can quietly beat the splashy celeb campaign. Also, because of the budget! The data basically says: celebrity campaigns need to be chosen wisely.
• UGC Creatives: Authenticity at scale. Enter UGC – User-Generated Content style ads. These are ads designed to look and feel like content real users or influencers would post. Think demo videos, unboxing reactions, testimonial selfies, how-to tutorials, etc., often filmed in a lo-fi, “hey, I just grabbed my phone and recorded this” style. In 2025, UGC isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a proven strategy. One segment of the report showed that UGC ads in the form of tutorials or app reviews had 45% higher IPM and a 17% higher Day 7 retention than more polished testimonial ads That’s huge – it means these casual, helpful walkthroughs (“Here’s how I use this app to do X…”) not only attract more installs per impression, but also those users stick around better. For example, an ad where someone says, “Check out how I edited this photo in 5 seconds using App Y” with a screen recording can outperform a slick, studio-produced ad that showcases the same app’s features. It’s the magic of authenticity: viewers feel like they’re getting genuine, helpful info, not a sales pitch.
• Not all UGC is created equal: Before you hand a camera to literally anyone, a note of caution. The report also found that some UGC approaches can flop if done poorly. In one case, tutorial/review style UGC content showed 36% lower retention compared to user testimonials. Why might that be? Perhaps the tutorials were too generic or didn’t set accurate expectations, leading users to churn. Or we just don’t need to see another video of “Hey, let me tell you how to play this game” or “This is the best game ever”. Or maybe some UGC just isn’t engaging enough to keep attention after install. The key insight is that authentic doesn’t mean sloppy.

• Also, there’s a balance between being genuine and still highlighting your app’s value. If it’s just a user goofing around without showcasing why the app is awesome, you won’t get the results you want. So, UGC works wonders when done right – plan it, even script it lightly, but make it feel natural.

• Blending Celebs and UGC: One cool trend is that some campaigns are combining these approaches, for instance, getting micro-celebrities or influencers to create content in their style about the app, essentially blending celebrity and user-generated content (UGC). Or having a famous figure appear in a “casual” setting, like a home video-style ad, using the product. These hybrids can yield the reach of a celeb with the relatability of UGC. The underlying theme? Authenticity sells. Whether it’s a trusted influencer or a real user story, audiences in 2025 are drawn to what feels unscripted and honest. Even when using a big-name celebrity, framing it as a genuine endorsement or experience (rather than a blatant ad) can boost effectiveness.

To wrap this section up: Creative trends are shifting towards trust and authenticity. Celebrities can still pull weight, but brands are learning to choose them based on fit and impact, not just fame. And every day, users – through UGC content – have become some of the most powerful “creatives” a marketing team can have. It’s a year where a TikTok dance or a YouTube review can drive more installs than a Super Bowl-style commercial. As a creative, I find that super exciting (and a little humbling)!

But we also live in a world where Dream Games might have just launched the biggest celebrity campaign ever!

📊 Key Findings & KPIs:

• The top 2% of gaming creatives capture 53% of spend, yet creative diversification is growing to combat fatigue.
• Creative output surged: Gaming apps spending $7M+ average 2,743 creatives/quarter, Non-Gaming grew 18% YoY.
• Hooks that work:
  • Casual Games: Pure Failure endings drive +65% IPM on Social & Search.
  • Hypercasual: Failure-to-Success arcs deliver +78% IPM, yet are underfunded.
  • Mid-core: Community-driven motivations yield the highest D7 retention (24.5%) but receive only 8% of spend.

🎯 Creative Trends & Motivations Driving Performance:

1. AI-Powered creative scaling: AI enables rapid creative production but measurement is the new bottleneck.
2. Motivation Matters: Understanding user emotions—Excitement, Challenge, Community—leads to stronger IPM and retention.
3. Platform-Specific Strategies: Ad Networks favor Success narratives; Social & Search reward Failure arcs.
4. Celebrity use is misaligned: TV personalities & Music artists outperform Movie stars in both IPM and retention.
5. UGC is Gold: Gameplay reviews beat Testimonials in IPM by 88% on Ad Networks.

🛠️ What To Do in 2025 – How to Succeed:

Step 1: Embrace Creative Diversity

• Scale winners, but invest in variety to prevent fatigue and explore new audience segments.
• Mix motivational hooks (e.g., Challenge + Community) for both acquisition & retention.

Step 2: Match Creative to Platform

• On Ad Networks, show Success stories and straightforward gameplay.
• On Social, use Failure or Humorous Skits for scroll-stopping impact.

Step 3: Maximize AI Efficiency

• Use AI to generate, test, and optimize creatives—speed is critical, but insights drive wins.

Step 4: Go Niche, Scale Smart

• Low SoC creatives with high retention/IPM are worth scaling, even if niche.

Step 5: Rethink Celebrity Strategy (if you are big enough to have the budget)

• Allocate more budget to TV personalities and Influencers who double IPM vs. movie stars.

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Key Takeaways:

1. Creative depth is as important as quantity: Don’t put all your budget on one or two ads. Spreading your spend across a variety of creatives (with different themes and appeals) can improve longevity and help you find new winning angles.
2. Emotions drive action (and retention): The best-performing ads zero in on motivations – whether it’s instant gratification, aspiration, fear of missing out, or deep desires. Tap into what your users care about (save time, get rich, find love, etc.) and you’ll not only get installs, you’ll get loyal users
3. Match the creative to the platform: Facebook, TikTok, Google, ad networks – each plays by different rules. Customize your creatives for the channel. A tactic that kills on a gaming ad network might flop on Instagram, and vice versa. There’s no one-size-fits-all in creative, so tailor your message and style to where it’s shown.
4. AI + human insight = creative winners: AI is an incredible accelerator for creative testing and learning. Use it to generate ideas and parse performance data, but keep human creativity at the helm. The magic happens when machine intelligence informs human ingenuity, not replaces it.
5. Authenticity trumps hype: In 2025, audiences have finely tuned BS-meters (not only thanks to the Brutally Honest newsletter). Flashy celeb endorsements can fall flat if they don’t feel real. Meanwhile, a genuine user story or an influencer’s honest take can drive quality growth. Make authenticity your north star – whether you’re using Hollywood stars or TikTok teens, ensure the creative comes across as credible and relatable.

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