AppsFlyer Performance Index 17: Top 5 Takeaways

AppsFlyer’s 17th Performance Index offers valuable insights into the incentivized ad space, highlighting a strong year for rewarded providers. Here are my top 5 takeaways for gaming UA:

1. Rewarded channels continue to gain importance for gaming UA

• iOS

  • 2023 : No rewarded channel made the top 12 global platforms by install volume.

  • 2024: Exmox, Adjoe and Adaction now rank 13-15, showing they’re gaining relevance and starting to compete with the big players.

• Android

  • 2023 : Three incentivized networks were in the top 20 global platforms by install volume: Mistplay (10), Tapjoy (12), and Adjoe (13).

  • 2024 : Five incentivized networks made the top 20: Mistplay (10), Adjoe (11), Tapjoy (12), Adaction (19), and Gamelight (20). Adaction and Gamelight made solid gains.

2. Mistplay faces challenges:

• Mistplay held onto the 10th spot in 2023’s Android Global Volume Ranking, but there was no improvement in 2024.

• Mistplay still has no iOS product (its app is still in beta), and its competitors Exmox, Adjoe, and Adaction have climbed into the top 15 iOS networks

• On Android, Gamelight (8th) now ranks higher than Mistplay (9th) in the 2024 Android Global “Power Ranking,” which measures the quality of installs. In 2023, Mistplay appeared in 8th. Mistplay has not improved its ability to target ads relative to its direct and non-direct competitors.

• Compounding this, their headcount has decreased by 10% over the last 6 months, and they recently hired a new CEO, with the previous CEO having been in the role for under 18 months.

• This is surprising given Mistplay’s early lead in the Play and Earn space. My hypothesis is that competitors are taking market share by improving ad targeting and running more efficient UA campaigns.

• This could signal trouble for the whole Play and Earn segment if new players are just splitting the pie instead of expanding the overall user base. We may be seeing early signs of Play and Earn user saturation in the West on Android.

3. Prodege enters the scene:

• Prodege has been expanding, with 664 employees listed on LinkedIn and a 4% increase in headcount over the last 6 months. They’re also hiring for multiple positions to support gaming growth. They’re also hiring for multiple positions to support gaming growth.

• They’ve been vocal about their success with gaming advertisers too. From a June 25, 2024 press release, “Prodege has already doubled its overall User Acquisition (UA) spend year-over-year and is forecasting a tenfold increase in daily gaming-specific UA spend by Q4 2024”.

• However, their relatively low rankings in genre and geo categories are surprising, considering how fast they’re growing.

4. iOS vs Android rankings differ significantly:

• The top 3 networks differ significantly on iOS vs Android

  • iOS: 1. Exmox 2. Adjoe 3. Adaction

  • Android: 1. Mistplay, 2. Adjoe, 3. Tapjoy

• I sense that this is mainly driven by the different companies’ approaches to risk and their ability to do UA effectively.

• Play and Earn apps, along with in-app offerwalls on iOS, are at risk of being hit hard if Apple cracks down again on incentivized installs. We’ve seen companies get creative by kicking users out of app to a h web-based offerwalls or positioning their apps as gaming QA, but neither solution is a reliable long-term fix against Apple’s restrictions.

• Tapjoy, having faced repeated issues with Apple’s policies, is not pushing iOS distribution aggressively.

• Meanwhile, web models like Swagbucks, Freecash, and Scrambly offer platforms a way to keep their iOS businesses running if Apple revisits its restrictions. By 2025, we may see more iOS networks adopting this approach.

5. Total number of incent ad providers

• There are ~79 ad providers named in the AppsFlyer Performance Index 17, and of those, 16 (20%) offer incentivized traffic – that’s a significant share of the market by count, even if not by spend!

• There were some APAC ad platforms (AdiSON offerwall, Playio, Skyflag) that I hadn’t heard of before. These are notable because most of the Western incent platforms have failed to make progress in APAC. However, these companies prove that APAC could be a growth vector for all offerwall and Play to Earn companies.

The insights from AppsFlyer’s 17th Performance Index really drive home the growing significance of incentivized channels in gaming UA. With rewarded providers like Exmox, Adjoe, Adaction, and Gamelight climbing the rankings on both iOS and Android, it’s clear that this space is evolving fast, and the competition is only getting tougher. I expect to see even more platforms from the Incentivized Ad Platform Database making the index in 2025, and we’ll likely see some consolidation and regulatory shifts as pressure mounts on Apple and Google to open up their app stores.