Advertisers have lengthy directed most of their cell advert budgets to Google and Meta, however that dominance is beginning to face new pressures as cell customers spend extra time in unbiased apps. Throughout Asia-Pacific (APAC), this shift is prompting many advertisers to rethink their dependence on the 2 tech giants. New analysis from Moloco, developed with Sensor Tower and Singular, exhibits that 88% of cell advert budgets nonetheless go to Google and Meta—despite the fact that billions of customers are spending their time elsewhere.
The examine, titled Efficiency By way of Independence, highlights why this overreliance could now not make sense. It discovered that shifting advert spend into the unbiased app ecosystem can ship as much as 214% increased returns. This fast-growing area contains informal gaming, productiveness, finance, supply, and different apps that collectively now attain two billion each day lively customers, a scale much like TikTok and Instagram mixed.
Paul D’Arcy, Chief Advertising Officer at Moloco, spoke with Advertising Tech Information about why advertisers are exploring alternate options, what’s driving this shift, and the way APAC’s distinctive cell surroundings is creating new alternatives.
Why advertisers are trying past Google and Meta
In APAC, advertisers stay closely tied to Google and Meta for efficiency promoting, with China being the principle exception. D’Arcy defined that whereas these platforms dominate advert budgets, they solely seize about 30% of customers’ consideration on cell gadgets. That imbalance alone is a key motive why entrepreneurs are exploring new choices.
Price is one other main issue. Promoting on Google and Meta is changing into more and more costly, with costs rising at double-digit charges every year. As advertisers scale campaigns on only a few platforms, the price of every extra conversion turns into a lot increased. Many manufacturers are reaching some extent the place the returns now not justify the spend.
“What each advertiser desires is an alternate platform that delivers three issues: international scale, related AI-advertising capabilities that maximise outcomes and ship predictable outcomes, and the power to ship cost-effective incremental development,” D’Arcy mentioned.
The unbiased app ecosystem suits this want. Two-thirds of person consideration now lies exterior the attain of Google and Meta. Impartial platforms supply sturdy advert codecs and, when mixed with fashionable AI instruments, can ship the identical form of optimisation and efficiency advertisers anticipate from Google and different giant platforms. Based on Moloco’s analysis, advertisers that diversify into this ecosystem can see incremental return on advert spend rise by as a lot as 214%.
A area constructed for unbiased app development
APAC’s cell market is especially well-suited for this shift. Not like North America and Europe, the place cell app utilization has levelled off, APAC continues to expertise speedy development, particularly in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Folks throughout the area are downloading extra apps and spending extra time in them every year.
“Moloco was constructed for this ecosystem,” D’Arcy mentioned. The corporate’s AI fashions consider thousands and thousands of advert alternatives per second throughout greater than three million unbiased apps, reaching over two billion each day lively customers. “For advertisers, which means we may also help them attain the fitting audiences, optimise efficiency in actual time, and regulate as shopper behaviour shifts throughout each rising and mature markets.”
This sort of scale makes the fragmented app surroundings extra accessible. As a substitute of counting on a number of centralised platforms, advertisers can faucet right into a broad and various community of apps the place helpful customers are more and more lively.
Understanding altering person behaviour
One frequent mistake advertisers make in APAC is underestimating how various person engagement actually is. Social media stays standard, however habits are shifting rapidly. Customers are spending extra time on gaming, productiveness, finance, and even generative AI apps. Moloco’s analysis exhibits that individuals within the area interact with a median of 26 totally different apps every month.
“For youthful shoppers, which may imply gravitating towards apps with gamified experiences. For older customers, it’d imply spending extra time in finance or life-style apps,” D’Arcy defined.
This behaviour creates a number of each day touchpoints the place manufacturers can attain customers, nevertheless it additionally calls for extra considerate methods. As a substitute of assuming that social platforms are the first solution to attain audiences, advertisers must design campaigns that match the context and class of the apps individuals really use. AI instruments are enjoying a rising function right here, serving to entrepreneurs determine and goal these high-value moments at scale.
How advertisers can overcome friction when transferring past Google and Meta
Shifting away from Google and Meta isn’t so simple as transferring cash. Many entrepreneurs face sensible challenges after they diversify their advert spend. Some are much less accustomed to different platforms and easy methods to measure success there. Attribution could be extra advanced, and there are issues about whether or not campaigns will scale successfully or produce constant outcomes.
Audiences are additionally scattered throughout hundreds of apps, making it tougher to seek out and have interaction the fitting customers. Based on D’Arcy, probably the most profitable manufacturers deal with the unbiased app ecosystem as a core development channel, not simply an experiment. They use premium in-app stock mixed with AI-driven optimisation and concentrate on measuring incrementality—the true affect of their spending fairly than simply top-line metrics.
“In apply, which means utilizing platforms that carry collectively giant, vetted app inventories with automation and outcome-focused AI,” D’Arcy mentioned. “This mix makes it simpler to handle artistic codecs, measure what actually issues, and in the end scale campaigns that drive each return on funding and incremental development.”
Rethinking metrics in a privacy-first world
The shift towards privacy-first promoting is altering how entrepreneurs measure success. Whereas return on advert spend (ROAS) stays a helpful benchmark, D’Arcy famous that it doesn’t at all times inform the complete story.
“ROAS is a mathematical common that doesn’t at all times inform the complete story. Entrepreneurs also needs to be calculating their marginal ROAS and utilizing that to optimise channels,” he defined. Spending closely on one platform usually drives up prices for the final conversions whereas cheaper alternatives stay untapped elsewhere.
One other key metric is incrementality. Some paid conversions, particularly on search channels, merely exchange natural ones. Working experiments to measure incremental affect helps advertisers perceive the place their cash is definitely creating new worth. D’Arcy additionally warned about self-attributing networks that inflate conversion numbers, stressing the significance of testing and normalising measurement throughout suppliers.
AI ranges the enjoying subject past walled gardens
AI and machine studying have powered digital promoting for years, however till not too long ago, these capabilities had been principally concentrated inside Google and Meta. Now, corporations like Moloco are making use of AI-driven optimisation at an enormous scale to unbiased apps, which account for 70% of cell digital exercise.
This growth provides advertisers a brand new solution to run outcome-optimised campaigns throughout thousands and thousands of apps. By increasing past the walled gardens, they’ll attain extra customers, decrease buyer acquisition prices, and increase incremental conversions—all with out sacrificing efficiency.
What’s going to outline advertisers’ success past Google in APAC?
As smartphone adoption in APAC pushes previous 90% by 2030, cell apps will proceed to form how individuals store, play, and work. Based on D’Arcy, probably the most profitable advertisers shall be those that adapt to 2 key traits.
First, they’ll diversify their advertising combine to match altering person habits. In markets like Vietnam and India, customers are transferring towards leisure, gaming, and generative AI apps. In Japan and South Korea, social media use is falling whereas gaming and productiveness apps develop. Reaching these customers means embracing a broader app ecosystem.
Second, they’ll mix first-party knowledge with real-time AI optimisation to function successfully in a privacy-first surroundings. Accountable knowledge use and smarter focusing on will enable advertisers to show alerts into actionable insights and ship extra related experiences.
“The advertisers who thrive would be the ones who faucet into this broader mixture of apps to drive significant attain and engagement,” D’Arcy mentioned.
Conclusion
The APAC cell promoting market is altering quick. Person consideration is fragmenting, prices are climbing on conventional platforms, and privateness shifts are reshaping how success is measured. For advertisers, these adjustments carry challenges—but additionally actual alternatives. By trying past Google and Meta, advertisers can faucet into the unbiased app ecosystem to seek out new development, enhance efficiency, and future-proof their methods in a quickly shifting digital surroundings.
(Photograph by Creatopy)
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