AppsFlyer new state of subscriptions for marketers report reveals shifting consumer behaviour reshaping where and how people pay for apps
New report finds short drama among Subscription App marketing’s fastest-growing categories as consumer spending shifts to emerging markets
SAN FRANCISCO — March 31, 2026 — AppsFlyer, the Modern Marketing Cloud, today released the State of Subscriptions for Marketers 2026, an analysis of subscription trends across platforms, categories, and geographies. The data reveals a clear shift in what consumers are paying for, how they are paying for it, and where in the world they are doing it.
Short Drama (bite-sized serialized video content designed for mobile consumption) is now one of the fastest-growing subscription app categories globally, with paid installs up 155% year-over-year. Audiences in India and LATAM are driving that growth as interest cools in North America, where spend fell 40%.
At the same time, Android paid installs now make up the majority of all Android installs for the first time, reflecting a wave of new paying consumers in emerging markets that is reshaping the global app economy.
Additional findings from the State of Subscriptions for Marketers 2026:
- Short Drama and OTT & Live Streaming are where consumer appetite is strongest, and both are dominated by a handful of players. Together they drove 73% of net Android paid install growth. The top five apps in each category control over 90% of spend, a level of concentration that leaves little room for new entrants regardless of budget.
- Short Drama is taking off around the world, but the pace varies sharply by market. Germany led with 210% year-over-year growth in the number of app downloads, followed by Turkey at 171%, Mexico at 170%, UAE at 109%, and France at 87%. Other markets also showed strong momentum, with Brazil up 33%, the UK up 36%, and Spain up 23%. Much of this growth is being driven by aggressive marketing rather than organic discovery, with over 60% of all Short Drama installs now coming from paid channels, up 25% year-over-year. In the US, paid installs on iOS rose 90%, making it the primary driver of Short Drama’s North American expansion.
- How consumers pay for apps is diverging by category. OTT & Live Streaming is consolidating around pure subscription, with its subscription-only share rising from 53% to 62%. Short Drama is moving the other way, with ad-supported revenue growing from near zero to 7.4% as consumers in fast-growing markets prefer to watch ads rather than pay. Gaming is shifting away from advertising toward in-app purchases, with that share up 25%, even as overall spend in the category falls.
- Consumers in emerging markets are fuelling subscription app growth. Overall subscription app user acquisition spend grew 24% year-over-year, with Android growing at four times the rate of iOS. The Indian Subcontinent accounted for 49% of net Android paid install growth and LATAM a further 18%, while North America was essentially flat.
- Free trials tell very different stories depending on the app. Gaming pulls the most users into free trials at 12.2%, but only 19% go on to pay. Education and Lifestyle convert over 40% of trialists, suggesting those apps deliver enough value within the trial to justify the cost. Health & Fitness consumers are the most decisive, with many paying upfront without a trial, particularly in Western Europe.
“The subscription app market is still growing, but the center of gravity has shifted,” said Shani Rosenfelder, Director of Content Strategy and Market Insights, AppsFlyer. “Android is now the primary growth engine, emerging markets are driving the bulk of new subscribers, and the categories pulling ahead are the ones that figured out where their audience actually is, not where the industry assumed it would be. The marketers who close that gap fastest will have a meaningful advantage.”
Methodology
AppsFlyer’s State of Subscriptions for Marketers 2026 is based on anonymized, aggregated data from 2,900 subscription apps across 13 categories including OTT & Live Streaming, Short Drama, Health & Fitness, Education, Utility & Productivity, Gaming, Dating, Business, Photo & Video, Lifestyle, Generative AI, Books & Reference, and Graphic & Design. The analysis covers 1.7 billion paid installs and $2.1 billion in UA ad spend from October 2024 to February 2026. All results follow strict volume thresholds to ensure statistical validity.
About AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer is the Modern Marketing Cloud that helps businesses transform complex data into clarity and growth. A foundation for unified, measurable, autonomous marketing, AppsFlyer breaks down silos across measurement, deep linking, data collaboration, and autonomous AI workflows. For more than a decade, AppsFlyer has been the leader in mobile attribution, trusted by over 15,000 businesses worldwide. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com.
