App downloads: Seasonal campaigns work best with Middle East consumers

Dubai: Well-timed seasonal campaigns work best when it comes to consumers downloading and installing apps or engaging with them far more frequently. This was particularly visible in Middle East markets during the recent Ramadan period in March last.

Sessions, a measure of app usage across all app categories, increased around 15% year-over-year, with gaming, shopping and finance apps ‘driving steady engagement throughout the Ramadan period’, according to data from AppsFlyer.

In fact, ‘non-organic’ app installs also increased an estimated 10% across categories, while in-app purchase revenue was up 18.6% to $1.70 billion.

During Ramadan, shopping app sessions across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar rose by over 20%, to 682 million this year. Not surprisingly, ‘shopping apps saw the strongest uplift in the first half of Ramadan, with a 111% increase in installs compared to the same period in 2024, followed by a 47% rise in the second-half’, according to the data.

Finance apps saw sessions increase by 9.7% and in-app revenue growing 29.35%, reaching $650 million. However, non-organic installs in finance declined slightly, suggesting that ‘while fewer paid users were acquired, those who did convert delivered higher value’.

Gaming app installs held steady, with flat session growth and stable monetization, though non-organic installs fell marginally.

“This year’s Ramadan data reinforces how critical the season has become for mobile-first engagement strategies,” said Sue Azari, Industry Lead – eCommerce, at AppsFlyer. “The leap in shopping installs across the region reflects users’ growing comfort with mobile commerce as their default shopping channel — particularly in markets like the UAE where promotional cycles and user expectations are maturing fast.”