This report, developed in partnership between EMARKETER and Admazing, explores the evolving role of mobile gaming in the modern media mix and the gap between marketer perception and actual performance.

Brands are investing more than ever in media, but bigger budgets are not necessarily creating more meaningful reach. US media ad spend is expected to reach $463.93 billion in 2026, yet only about a third of marketers say their media investments always hit the mark.

That leaves marketers with a nagging question:

• Are we actually reaching people where they spend their time, or are we simply paying more to compete for the same attention?

Much of the modern media plan still revolves around social media, connected TV, and digital video. These channels deliver scale, but familiarity can turn them into the default, even as competition for attention grows.

Meanwhile, mobile gaming has become a daily habit for people across age groups, lifestyles, and purchase categories. Still, many brands treat it as an experiment, an optional test, or something to consider after the rest of the plan is already locked.

Based on a survey of 108 US marketers (February 2026), the study highlights a key contradiction: while mobile gaming offers scale, engagement, and incremental reach, it remains underutilized due to concerns around measurement, attribution, and performance clarity. What if ignoring mobile gaming is now the bigger risk?

The media mix is crowded. Attention is not.

Marketers are not short on places to spend. The problem is finding environments where people are actually present, attentive, and open to engaging.

Social media offers a useful example. In 2026, social network advertising is expected to account for 26.9% of total media ad spend. Yet consumers are projected to spend only 12.5% of their total media time on social platforms.

That does not mean brands should pull out of social. But it does suggest that the balance may be off. When too much investment concentrates in the same few channels, competition rises, creativity gets buried faster, and impressions become harder to turn into impact.

Mobile gaming gives brands access to moments the rest of the media mix may be missing. Games create an active experience. People are not simply scrolling past content. They are playing, making progress, and choosing to stay involved.

Most marketers agree that being seen is not enough. The quality of that attention matters.

A viewable ad means very little if the person barely registers it. Mobile gaming offers brands a chance to show up when people are already focused, as long as the ad works with the experience instead of interrupting it.

Mobile gamers are probably already in your audience

One of the oldest assumptions about gaming is that the audience is narrow. Young, male, highly technical, maybe difficult to reach with mainstream brand messaging.

That picture has been outdated for a while. More than half of the US population is expected to play games on a mobile phone in 2026. That is not a subculture. It is a mass audience.

People play throughout the day, during commutes, short breaks, or while watching TV at home. Mobile gaming does not sit apart from the rest of their media life. It overlaps with it.

Mobile gaming does not have to replace another channel. It can extend a campaign into moments connected TV or social media may not capture alone.

Key Findings

Marketers already believe in mobile gaming. They recognize its reach, its diverse audience, and its potential to drive incremental impact beyond CTV and social. The problem is somewhere else. That confidence isn't translating into real investment, and most organizations still treat the channel as optional rather than core to their strategy.

The full report breaks down exactly how wide that disconnect is, and what marketers need to know about measurement and attribution to stop leaving results on the table.

Why brands still treat mobile gaming as optional

For a long time, mobile gaming advertising was closely associated with user acquisition. The ecosystem was built around app installs and direct response metrics that did not always answer a brand marketer's questions.

Measurement remains one of the biggest concerns. Marketers want greater clarity around brand lift, attribution, standardized metrics, and how results compare with other channels.

There is also a perception issue. Some marketers still worry that players will find ads disruptive, or that people playing a game are not in a buying mindset.

But the ad experience inside mobile games has changed. Rewarded video gives players something of value in exchange for their attention. Playable ads invite interaction rather than passive viewing. Ads can match the flow of the game instead of interrupting it.

This does not mean every format works for every brand. It does mean the old picture of mobile game advertising, where a random banner interrupts play and irritates the user, is no longer a useful way to judge the channel.

The full report takes a closer look at how these formats are performing, what makes the ad experience work, and where brands are beginning to see more repeatable results.

Measurement has improved, but confidence has not

The evolution of mobile advertising has not followed a straight line. Privacy changes disrupted familiar tracking methods and forced the industry to rethink how performance is measured.

That shift slowed some advertisers down. It also pushed the ecosystem to build better measurement infrastructure.

Even so, many marketers still lack confidence in their ability to measure the brand impact of mobile gaming campaigns. The tools may have evolved faster than the assumptions surrounding the channel.

Some marketers may be evaluating today's channel using yesterday's assumptions. The full report examines which concerns remain valid, how measurement has advanced, and where the mobile gaming ecosystem is becoming more accountable.

Not every challenge has been solved, but the gap between perception and reality may now be large enough to affect media planning decisions.

How AI could lower the barrier to testing

For many marketing teams, the barrier is not a lack of interest. It is the extra work that comes with trying an unfamiliar channel.

Mobile gaming campaigns can require different ad formats, new creative specifications, and a separate approach to measurement. When teams are already stretched, it is easier to keep investing in the channels they know.

AI could help reduce that burden. It can make it faster to adapt creative, test different versions, identify performance patterns, and improve placement decisions without adding as much manual work.

This shift matters because the easier mobile gaming becomes to plan, launch, and evaluate, the more likely it is to earn a place in the media mix from the beginning. Not as a last-minute experiment or a place to spend leftover budget, but as a channel with a clear purpose.

The report explores how AI-driven modeling, faster creative iteration, and more disciplined budget allocation could make mobile gaming campaigns easier to plan and evaluate.

See where mobile gaming fits in your media mix

Mobile gaming is still treated as optional in many media plans. But the gap between what marketers recognize and what they actually invest in is becoming harder to ignore.

This article shows why mobile gaming deserves another look. The full report goes further.

The report examines the barriers holding investment back, where measurement confidence is growing, and what brands should consider before testing or scaling the channel.

Inside, you will find the complete survey results, a deeper look at the measurement questions shaping investment, evidence on evolving ad formats and outcomes, and a practical game plan for evaluating mobile gaming alongside connected TV and social media.

Download From Experiment to Essential: Why Mobile Gaming Belongs in the Modern Media Mix to move beyond assumptions and decide, with better evidence, where mobile gaming belongs in your next campaign.