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KEY findings
IAP Revenue Shows Sustained Growth in 2024
Finance IAP Revenue Reaches Triple-Digit Growth
Gaming Revenue Growth Accelerates in 2024
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introduction
Germany’s Mobile Market Thrives Amid Economic Strains
Germany currently ranks as the third-largest economy in the world by GDP, behind only the USA and China – yet recent economic activity has stalled. Fears of a recession were eased by a GDP bump in Q3 2024, but inflation and unemployment continue to rise.
How will these economic challenges impact Germany’s mobile market in 2025? Despite tough conditions, the mobile landscape remains among the strongest globally, with the tenth-largest smartphone user base as of 2022. High smartphone penetration drives engagement, with over 2 billion apps downloaded in 2023 and users spending 3.5 hours daily on their devices.
Mobile gaming is a billion-Euro industry in Germany, with strategy, casual, and puzzle games leading the way. TikTok earned nearly 100 million Euros in 2023, making it the top-earning app in a country where mobile revenue hit 4 billion Euros last year.
Mobile eCommerce continues to thrive, with in-app purchases growing 15% during the 2023 holiday season compared to Q4 2022. This trend has extended into 2024, reflecting greater consumer confidence in mobile transactions.
In this competitive, high-value market, marketers must deliver personalized, data-driven experiences while navigating strict privacy regulations.
How did marketers and apps perform in 2024? Our latest report on the State of App Marketing in Germany explores key insights in finance, shopping, and gaming apps.
* All results are based on fully anonymous and aggregated data. To ensure statistical validity, we follow strict volume thresholds and methodologies and only present data when these conditions are met. When normalized data is presented, the share of each month out of the total for the entire time frame is shown to create a trend.
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Overall Insights
Overall installs (non-gaming) grow by 18% in 2024
Germany’s burgeoning mobile market has undergone even greater growth in 2024 so far, with overall installs in the nation hitting new heights as part of a steady upward trend. Installs rose by 18% in Q1-3 of this year compared to the same period in 2023, with a 22% rise on iOS.
Year-on-year growth was much more modest in Q3 of 2024, indicating a potential leveling-off to come in Q4 given the performance in the final quarter of 2023 – but even so, this data represents a hugely positive outlook for the German mobile market.
Overall installs (non-gaming) by platform (normalized)
Non-organic installs skyrocket by 250% on iOS
Germany has seen a remarkable surge in non-organic install (NOI) activity in the past few years, with the volume of NOIs growing steadily quarter after quarter. After three quarters of 2024, NOIs were up by 66% compared to the same period of 2023.
This uplift was particularly pronounced on iOS, which rose by an astonishing 250% in Q1-3 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year. Android boasts a much larger market share in Germany than Apple’s platform, but even with an element of market saturation we still saw a growth of 26% of Android NOIs during this period.
Non organic installs (non-gaming) trend by platform (normalized)
Remarketing conversions grow by 52%
Remarketing conversions in the country followed a similar trend to NOIs, as marketers invested in reactivating lapsed users as well as acquiring new ones. The overall volume of conversions grew significantly, with Android rising by 57% to iOS’ 45% in the first three quarters of 2024 compared to 2023.
Remarketing conversions (non-gaming) (normalized)
IAP revenue on the rise and accelerating through Q3
2024 has seen further increases in in-app purchase (IAP) revenue in Germany, with particularly strong growth in Q3 that may suggest a successful end to 2024 for apps in the country. Q3 saw an overall rise of 45% compared to the same period of 2023, with iOS – responsible for the greater share of IAP revenue overall – rising by an impressive 47%.
In app purchase revenue (non-gaming) (normalized)
Liftoff for Germany’s finance vertical
Germany’s finance app vertical has taken off in a big way in the last two years, hitting new heights on iOS in particular thanks to stratospheric install growth. In the first three quarters of 2024, installs of finance apps had increased by more than 300% on Apple’s platform when compared to the previous year. Android rose by 40% during this period.
Although Q3 saw growth abruptly halted, the baseline for finance installs has been raised significantly in the country since the start of 2023.
Finance: overall install trend by platform (normalized)
NOIs power financial app growth on Android
The upwardly-mobile install activity seen among finance apps in Germany was, to an extent, powered by non-organic installs, with the two metrics following a broadly similar trendline. Android has seen impressive traction among paid acquisition campaigns in 2024 in particular, with a 69% increase in finance NOIs on the platform in Q1-3 compared to the same period last year. This included an astonishing jump of 267% when comparing Q1 with the opening quarter of 2023.
Finance: non-organic install trend for Android (normalized)
Finance acquisition spend jumps 167% year-on-year
Powering the rising NOI numbers in the finance vertical is an increase in acquisition budgets in Germany in 2024. Since the start of the year, marketers have invested heavily in app install ad spend, with year-to-date growth of 167% when compared to Q1-3 of 2023.
This trend has accelerated throughout the year, with spend in every quarter more than double that of the respective quarter of 2023 – including a huge 228% year-on-year rise in Q3 of 2024.
Finance: app install ad spend trend by platform (normalized)
Finance IAP revenue shows phenomenal Q3 growth
The finance vertical saw strong in-app purchase (IAP) activity in 2024, with Q3 driving significant growth. IAP revenue for finance apps in Germany increased by 106% in Q1-Q3 2024 compared to the previous year. In Q3 alone, iOS saw a 32% increase, while Android IAP revenue grew 86%, highlighting sustained momentum in the sector.
Finance: In-app purchase revenue trend (normalized)
Shopping app market stays flat despite iOS growth
Despite the strengthening German app economy, the shopping vertical was relatively stagnant in 2024 in terms of installs – perhaps indicating a level of market saturation for shopping apps. Year-to-date installs of shopping apps on Android were down by 5% when compared to the same period of the previous year.
iOS, however, bucked the trend, with 21% install growth during this period, powered by a strong Q2 which saw an uptick of 53%. Notably, that second quarter of 2024 saw a greater number of shopping app installs on Apple’s platform than on Android – largely powered by non-organic activity.
Shopping: Overall install trend by platform (normalized)
Shopping NOIs almost double in Q2
While NOIs of shopping apps stayed relatively flat on Android, iOS – as per the trend of overall installs in this vertical – saw some sizable growth in the middle of 2024. Shopping NOIs on iOS in Q2 were close to double that of the same period in the previous year, and in the year-to-date we’ve seen a 46% increase in shopping NOIs on Apple’s platform.
Shopping: Non-organic install trend by platform (normalized)
Shopping app install ad spend down by a quarter
While shopping NOIs rose on iOS, the actual spend on app installs was down quite significantly in the year to date, dropping by 25% in Q1-3 compared to the same period in 2023. Acquisition spend on Android has picked up again in the second half of 2024, but still sits far below the levels seen in the previous year.
Shopping: app install ad spend trend by platform (normalized)
Shopping IAP revenue accelerating through Q3
Shopping IAP revenue grew by a modest amount in 2024, up by just 9% in the first three quarters of the year compared to the previous period. That growth was consistent across both Android and iOS, with neither platform making huge strides compared to 2023.
It was, however, notable that Q3 performance was markedly improved from the previous year, with a 29% year-on-year rise overall. While the 2023 holidays barely moved the needle on IAP revenue, this 2024 uptick heading into this year’s holiday period may bode better for retailers.
Shopping: In-app purchase revenue trend (normalized)
Gaming installs decline slightly
Installs of gaming apps declined slightly in 2024 to date, dipping by 3% overall in the first three quarters of the year compared to the previous period. As we’ll see, this may be less of a case of declining interest in gaming among users, and more of a reflection of decreased acquisition activity – particularly on Android.
Gaming: overall install trend by platform (normalized)
Gaming NOIs dip despite iOS rise
NOIs for gaming apps dipped by 2% in the year to date compared to the same period of 2023, although that was buoyed slightly by an increase in paid activity on iOS – which rose 17%. Android – which commands a far larger market share of this vertical than Apple’s platform – slipped by 5%.
2023 did bring a sizable quarter-to-quarter jump at the end of the year, however; we may well see the same in Q4 2024 as marketers target new device owners around the holidays.
Gaming: NOI trend by platform (normalized)
Gaming app install ad spend jumps in Q1 but stays flat overall
The trend of app install ad spend for gaming correlates with NOIs in this vertical over the past two years: Android was flat year-to-year while iOS spend climbed, albeit with a much lower share of the market. App install ad spend on iOS rose by 14% in Q1-3 2024 compared to 2023, pulling the overall spend trend up to 4% year-on-year.
Marketers should note the significant jump in spend in Q1 of 2024 as we head towards the new year. While this was only a 7% rise compared to the opening quarter of 2023, it represents a steep uplift from Q4 of that year.
Gaming: App install ad spend trend (normalized)
Gaming IAP revenue climbs 12%
While gaming in Germany did not show much growth in terms of installs, the vertical made impressive strides in IAP revenue. A 12% overall rise in 2024 to date compared to the previous period includes a 23% lift in iOS revenue. With gaming one of the highest revenue-generating verticals in Germany, this level of growth shows that gamers are increasingly willing to spend for in-app items or pay up-front for premium games.
Gaming: IAP revenue trend (normalized)
Gaming’s in-app advertising (IAA) revenue declining
In-app advertising revenue among gaming apps enjoyed a rise towards the end of 2023 and into Q1 of 2024, but has been on a downward slope ever since – in contrast to the trend of IAP revenue. IAA revenue in iOS games has risen by 10% in the first three quarters of 2024 when compared to the same period of the previous year, but much of that was down to a strong Q1 with a tailing off ever since.
Gaming: IAA revenue trend (normalized)
04
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Smartphone Penetration Fuels Mobile Market Growth in Germany
Rising smartphone penetration in Germany has seen hand-in-hand growth from overall installs in the nation, showing that there is still room for expansion for the mobile market – particularly on iOS, which saw NOIs skyrocket by 250%.
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Cross-Channel Marketing is More Important Than Ever
Remarketing conversions grew by 52% in Q1-Q3 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 for non-gaming industries. This signals a growing trend where users engage with multiple touchpoints before converting. Marketers must align their organic signals, paid media, and owned media, investing in automated retargeting campaigns, push notifications, and personalized email sequences to maximize customer conversion and retention.
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Finance Apps Lead Growth in German Mobile Market
Finance apps are a vertical on a rapid rise, growing by 76% overall which includes a massive 333% install jump on iOS. With finance IAP revenue also climbing rapidly during this period, finance as a whole looks poised to be one of the next big verticals in the German app market.
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Shopping Apps See Revenue Growth Despite Install Slowdown
While shopping apps have shown signs of slowdown in terms of installs, steady growth of IAP revenue underlines that shoppers are more willing than ever to turn to their mobile devices to browse and purchase items. As shopping apps install ad spend nosedived, marketers should instead look to reallocate budget towards full-funnel activities with a view to boosting conversions even further – if they are not already.
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Gaming Revenue Remains Strong Despite IAA Decline
Gaming’s high levels of revenue generation have shown no signs of slowing down over the last couple of years, with gamers increasingly happy to spend on in-app items or purchase premium games. By contrast, in-app advertising (IAA) revenue is on the decline, potentially indicating that players would rather pay outright for their mobile games than experience apps that are ad-supported.
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