AppLovin captured the largest budget share gain among e-commerce advertising networks in 2026, growing to 11% as advertisers adopted its AI video and end-card tools. Half of surveyed advertisers tested these features, with measurable return-on-ad-spend improvements reported by several users. The survey also shows e-commerce advertisers are raising their full-year spending growth expectations to 15% year-on-year.
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AppLovin grew its share of e-commerce advertiser budgets by 169 basis points to 11% between Q4 2025 and full year 2026, the largest gain among advertising networks in a Jefferies survey of 30 e-commerce advertisers. The company maintained a top-three position for both budget share and return on ad spend. Meanwhile, TikTok rose 147 basis points to 10%, while Meta and Google lost share.
Why it matters
AppLovin's growth reflects advertiser adoption of its generative AI tools. Half of surveyed advertisers tested AppLovin's AI video features and AI end cards, with six reporting ROAS (return on ad spend) improvements from the video tool and four from AI end cards. This suggests businesses see measurable value in AI-driven ad creation, which may shape how e-commerce companies allocate marketing budgets going forward.
What to watch
Advertiser confidence in AI-powered direct-to-consumer advertising is rising—survey respondents raised their full-year DTC ad spend growth expectation to 15% year-on-year from 8% in the prior survey, and 73% reported new customer revenue gains from prospecting campaigns, up from 60% in Q1.
AppLovin's 169 basis point gain stands out against a backdrop of advertiser budget diversification. Jefferies attributed Meta and Google's share losses not to budget cuts on those platforms, but to advertisers spreading spend across more networks—a shift that has worked in AppLovin's and TikTok's favor. The survey also noted a notable uptick in new AppLovin users: in the Q2 survey, 23% of respondents had started using the platform in Q4 2025, compared with just 7% in the prior quarter, and these newer advertisers increased spending throughout the year.
The concrete ROAS improvements reported by users of AppLovin's AI tools appear to be a key driver. Sixty percent of advertisers had reported new customer revenue gains from prospecting campaigns in Q1; that figure rose to 73% by Q2. Simultaneously, advertiser expectations for full-year DTC ad spend growth climbed from 8% to 15% year-on-year, suggesting that visible wins with AI-powered ads are lifting confidence in the category. Q2 actual growth came in at 12%, tracking between the two survey-period forecasts.
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