Why Simplicity Is the New Power in Mobile Advertising?

A new report by AppsFlyer has revealed a decisive shift in mobile advertising: campaigns that tap into emotional storytelling, simplicity, and authenticity are now delivering stronger performance than traditional high-budget creative. Based on $2.4 billion in ad spend across 1,300 apps and 1.1 million creatives, the ‘State of Creative Optimisation’ report highlights a new rulebook for marketers.

Human-Centred Creative Outpaces High Production

Instead of flashy visuals or celebrity endorsements, ads that reflect real human motivations, such as challenge, curiosity, and connection, are achieving higher install and retention rates. According to Adam Smart, Director of Product for Gaming at AppsFlyer, “It’s not about more creatives; it’s about better ones. The ones that cut through are rooted in real emotions, platform behaviour, and content relevance.”

Key findings from the report:

• Influencers beat film stars: Mobile audiences prefer relatable creators like Ryan Trahan or MrBeast over traditional celebrities. Sports figures also perform well during live event tie-ins, such as the IPL.
• Tutorials outperform testimonials: While testimonial videos still dominate spend, tutorial-style UGC shows higher engagement and retention, especially in gaming and finance.
• Narrative storytelling is underused: Just 6% of spend goes to emotional, story-driven content, despite this format consistently delivering top-tier retention.

App-Specific Trends Point to a Creative Recalibration

Gaming apps have leaned on scale and speed, but the report reveals a move toward challenge-based narratives, particularly failure-to-success arcs, which deliver 78% higher install rates and 2.5x better retention after one week. Interestingly, movie stars continue to receive the bulk of endorsement budgets, even though TV personalities and content creators outperform them in user engagement and loyalty.

Finance apps benefit from simplification and education. Tutorials that break down complex processes drive 37% higher day-7 retention compared to testimonials. However, despite their effectiveness, such formats account for just a fraction of current spend.

Dating apps reveal a preference for depth and emotion. Ads that reference long-term relationships or spark curiosity (“Guess who swiped right?”) yield higher engagement than casual themes or process-led messaging. Female-led endorsements also outperform their male counterparts in IPM by 60%, yet remain underfunded.

Creative tools and GenAI apps show that authenticity trumps novelty. First-person UGC, especially those reflecting practical benefits like time-saving, consistently performs better than AI-generated visual flair.

The Future: Emotion Over Excess

The report concludes that creative effectiveness is driven less by volume and more by understanding user psychology and aligning with the dynamics of each platform. The age of producing endless variants is giving way to a new era, one where a few powerful, emotionally intelligent messages outperform a hundred forgettable ones.

Adam Smart summarises it best:

“The ads that win are the ones that feel real. The challenge is not just to create content, it’s to connect. That means testing relentlessly, refining constantly, and listening more closely to what audiences respond to.”