It has only been a few weeks after Google’s announcement to phase out third-party cookies and we are already seeing its effects. Facebook made headlines last week by announcing its plan to shut down the mobile web portion of its Audience Network and this could be a response to the changes in cookies. Meanwhile, mobile games generated $7.4 billion in Europe last year. Learn all about it in this week’s Mobile Monday!
Mobile Gaming Accounts for 66% of App Revenue in Europe
Sensor Tower’s report on the mobile apps market in Europe revealed that games generated $7.4 billion in Europe in 2019. This is an increase of approximately 15% year-over-year and accounts for 66% of all app revenue in the continent. Google Play made the majority of the year’s earnings with $4.2 billion, a 15% increase from 2018. Apple generated $3.3 billion from user spending, an increase of 14%.
Germany’s user spending was a key driver for Google Play’s revenue and accounted for $1 billion. When it comes to the top mobile games, Coin Master rose to the #1 spot by earning $211 million. The Moon Active title edged out longtime player favorites Candy Crush Saga ($206.8 million) and Clash of Clans ($182.8 million). Coin Master achieved impressive growth with downloads early tripling year-over-year to 16.7 million.
Facebook to Shut Down Audience Network for Mobile Web
Facebook confirmed last week that it is planning to shut down the mobile web portion of its Audience Network on April 11. This digital platform was built for advertisers to extend their campaigns outside of social media to mobile websites. A spokesperson said the decision was made based on partners’ growing demand in other formats across mobile apps. Facebook will continue to support existing in-stream video and mobile web placements until April 10. Demand will no longer be provided in response to bids and ad requests for third-party web and in-stream placements after that date.
Audience Network’s shutdown is believed to be in response to Google and Apple’s recent changes to limit third-party cookies amid concerns for surrounding privacy and brand safety. Additionally, the company has had to deal with the challenges of allocating internal resources to stay on top of new data regulations. Mobile Marketer predicts that a possible abandonment of ad placements outside of Facebook and Instagram as the company has already scaled back its efforts to place ads on third-party apps and websites in the past few years.
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