January Insights

By Eve, Artstash Creative · Published 28 January 2026 · Last updated August 2026

Quick answer: January’s headline was AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming report, and its most useful finding is unglamorous: AI tools only perform as well as the data behind them. The report shows the largest gaming markets shrinking in dominance while smaller markets grow, iOS advertisers operating across more media sources than Android, and advertisers who expand their performance testing finding winning concepts more reliably than those who do not. Alongside it, OpenAI began moving toward advertising inside ChatGPT — the first real signal that AI answer surfaces become paid channels.

What Does AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming Report Say?

This year, Shani Rosenfelder and Yuval Hay Hirsh put their combined 15 years of marketing research experience into AppsFlyer’s 2026 edition of The State of Gaming for Marketers. While the entire article is worth reading, here’s a summary of the key findings:

• Unify data foundations as AI scales

It may seem obvious once it’s spelled out, but with so many AI tools being released (for better or worse) the data each one has access to might not be as comprehensive as you might think. As the authors state in this section “AI is only as good as its data”, and if your team relies heavily on AI tools (specifically multiple of them) it’s for the best to make sure the datasets they are working with aren’t keeping anything from each other.

• Test emerging markets as efficiency signals appear

The reports earlier in the article show that while top markets begin to shrink and their dominance begins to slip, other smaller markets are growing to take up the slack. Turkey, Mexico, and Kenya are some of the markets listed which gave signals hinting at improved payback dynamics, so keep them in mind during your testing phase (and don’t forget about localization and culturalization, while you’re at it).

Year over year % change in the number of paid installs on iOS (2025 vs 2024) Source: AppsFlyer

• Expand iOS media mix for incremental scale

The report issued the surprising claim that iOS gaming advertisers not only had more media sources to operate across than Android counterparts, but that the gap was considerable. The article describes how when it comes to incremental iOS scale, adding channels instead of overusing existing ones works best.

• Use AI to speed insights, not reporting

AI is a powerful tool, but like any tool it only works as well as it’s used. We’ve mentioned this already, and the AppsFlyer report confirms this further: the teams that use AI for more advanced queries do better. Rather than simply using AI to report on your data, ask it to provide insights for you – pattern recognition and outlier detection are what these models excel at, let them work for you.

• Scale creative output to stay competitive

When it comes to finding winning creative concepts, spenders who expand their performance come out on top. AI tools are cited as a huge boon in this regard, as they can help iterate massively and quickly. Testing velocity is the key to making sure you stand out from the crowd in saturated channels

What Do Ads in ChatGPT Mean for Marketers?

In mid-January, Chance Townsend’s Mashable article “OpenAI to finally bring ads to ChatGPT” takes an overall negative tone. Talking about how advertising within ChatGPT had already been off to a shaky start with in-response ads (or “suggestions”, as OpenAI called them), Townsend reports that the company will now start serving ads to the free and lowest paid tiers of the service which will be personalized to the conversations had within the app, though there will be an option to opt out of personalization.

Example of in-app ads in ChatGPT. Source: Tecnobits

While the author and many others see the move as a negative one, it’s also made clear in the article that this decision was a long time coming. And now that it’s here, the only thing to do is roll with the punches – and that’s why we see this as an opportunity. Ads on ChatGPT are one more avenue for ads to reach new audiences, specifically those on the more tech side. Savvy marketers will seize this opportunity to target a more specific audience with their creative, and that’s exactly what we intend to do.

Reactive content burnout

User johngracia56 posted a heartfelt article about what they called Reactive Content Burnout to InkLink Writers. Described as “the quiet fatigue that builds when creation turns into constant response,” they detail how as of recently, everything felt reactive to them – to the point of them feeling anxious before even logging into their computer. At the start of the day, there’s notifications that have accumulated from the night before, comments left that shoot down ideas and propose new ones, and new trends to chase and of course, to react to.

Once the pattern has been noticed it isn’t broken immediately, but the solution only begins there – here’s what they say:

Understanding the problem didn’t fix it overnight. However, it changed how I approached creation.

Rather than planning individual posts, I began designing clear paths. Topic chasing gave way to defined boundaries that reduced friction. Daily reactions slowly shifted into a calm, weekly rhythm of preparation.

This translation mattered. Insight without application still creates tension.

What helped most was treating content like infrastructure. Stories became modular. Ideas connected instead of competing.

As a marketer, it’s helpful to stay on top of trends and news as they emerge, but it’s not your job to report on them. Planning and intention are the keys to making good content, and good content speaks for itself.

Expert breakdown: Mike Kochansky’s AI Insights

Our Creative Producer Mike keeps his ear to the ground when it comes to AI, and every month he shares any big insights with the team. Here’s what he has to say about the start of the year:

For 2026, it seems like the AI models (for research, writing, && image and video generation) will likely just have a lot of small refinements and quality of life enhancements rather than massive rapid growth with crazy improvements and capabilities. Things might be plateauing a bit for the foreseeable future. We saw a lot of crazy growth and capabilities that were mind-blowing in 2025, and I think this year might be more about model refinement.

Mike has also provided some articles to share in case you’d like to learn more on the topic:

“Stanford AI Experts Predict What Will Happen in 2026” – Stanford HAI (Dec 14, 2025)

Experts predict no AGI in 2026 and focus on sovereignty, safety, and governance rather than spectacular new model types, which lines up with the “refinement and deployment” phase more than dramatic creative breakthroughs.

“10 AI Predictions for 2026” – Forbes (Dec 22, 2025)

Predicts that 2026 will bring more regulation, consolidation, and focus on practical deployments, and notes that there will be no AGI in 2026, echoing a “slower‑than‑hype” view of near‑term advances. It implicitly acknowledges that many people perceive current generative models as incremental rather than revolutionary.

“The great AI hype correction of 2025” – MIT Technology Review (Dec 15, 2025)

Frames 2025 as a “year of reckoning” where many AI deployments failed to show value and adoption stalled, even as the core tech kept improving. This reinforces the idea that from the outside, progress can look like a plateau in spite of under‑the‑hood refinements.

Works Cited

johngracia56. “The Hidden Cost of Reactive Content Burnout.” InkLink Writers, 19 Dec. 2025, inklinkwriters.com/reactive-content-burnout-hidden-cost/. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.

Rosenfelder, Shani, and Yuval Hay Hirsh. “State of Gaming Marketing in 2026 – Trends, AI, && Growth Challenges.” Appsflyer.com, 2026, www.appsflyer.com/resources/reports/gaming-app-marketing-report/. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.

Townsend, Chance. “OpenAI to Finally Bring Ads to ChatGPT.” Mashable, 18 Jan. 2026, mashable.com/article/openai-to-finally-bring-ads-to-chatgpt. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What are the key findings of AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming report?

Dominance is shifting away from the largest gaming markets toward smaller growing ones, iOS advertisers have access to more media sources than Android, and advertisers who broaden their performance testing find winning creative concepts more consistently.

Do AI tools actually help find winning creative?

They help when the underlying data is good. The report’s point is that an AI tool is only as useful as the data it is given, so teams with clean measurement get value while teams without it get confident-looking noise.

Why are smaller gaming markets becoming more important?

Growth in the largest markets is slowing while smaller markets expand, which shifts the return on incremental spend. For advertisers already saturated in tier-one markets, the marginal user is increasingly found elsewhere.

What does OpenAI adding ads to ChatGPT mean for marketers?

It turns an AI answer surface into a paid channel. It also raises the stakes on organic AI visibility, because being cited in answers becomes a position competitors can now buy their way alongside.