In 2025, marketers face an impossible equation: lower CPIs, higher retention, less data, and more competition. Legacy UA playbooks no longer work.
So how do today’s top growth teams drive real performance in a fragmented, privacy-first world? In the increasingly complex world of mobile growth, user acquisition (UA) in 2025 demands a multi-faceted, performance-driven approach. As privacy frameworks evolve, platforms diversify, and competition intensifies, UA can no longer rely on isolated tactics.
The central question facing marketers today is no longer “Which channel or tool should we prioritize?” but rather: “How do we integrate AI, creative intelligence, and CTV approaches into a unified and scalable acquisition system?”
This article explores how forward-thinking growth teams are using the combined power of artificial intelligence, advanced creative testing, and CTV campaigns to drive sustainable user acquisition — and why ignoring any one of these elements means falling behind.
- AI-Powered Optimization: Transforming Scale and Efficiency
- Creative Intelligence: From First Impression to First Session
- CTV Campaigns: Connecting Discovery to Conversion
- Strategic Takeaway: Integration Over Isolation
Artificial Intelligence is now foundational to successful UA operations. As the ecosystem becomes increasingly fragmented and manual campaign management becomes inefficient, AI has moved from a competitive edge to an operational requirement.
In 2025, high-performing UA teams leverage AI for:
- Predictive audience targeting based on real-time behavioral and contextual signals
- Automated budget and bid adjustments across networks
- Creative fatigue detection and intelligent rotation of assets
- LTV forecasting to prioritize spend toward long-term value over immediate volume
Beyond basic automation, marketers now use AI to simulate campaign performance across segments before launch — reducing testing costs and improving time to value. This predictive modeling allows for smarter budget allocation and proactive risk management.
Strategic relevance: AI enables marketers to adapt at speed and scale, ensuring media spend is continuously optimized in alignment with post-install outcomes. It’s not about replacing human expertise but enhancing it.
Execution tip: Deploy AI not only for performance optimization but also to identify new audience clusters, optimize cross-channel flows, and uncover hidden revenue opportunities.
No matter how sophisticated your algorithmic targeting is, performance suffers without compelling creatives. In 2025, creative assets serve as the primary differentiator in a saturated ad environment and are often the single most influential factor in user decision-making.
Modern UA teams:
- Develop modular creatives adaptable across formats and funnel stages
- Deploy continuous A/B and multivariate testing to refine visual language and messaging
- Match creative formats (e.g., video, playable, static) with conversion behavior
- Utilize emotional resonance, product previews, and personalized copy to drive engagement
Strategic relevance: Effective creatives increase click-through rates (CTR), reduce CPIs, and attract users with higher lifetime value by aligning acquisition messaging with in-app experience.
Execution tip: Establish a performance feedback loop between creative and media teams. Use data to inform storytelling, layout, and format. Align campaign concepts with seasonal trends and user sentiment.
As signal loss grows in the post-IDFA era, CTV campaigns are making a strong comeback. These campaigns guide users from TV-based experiences (streaming, content, advertisements) directly into mobile apps or websites — improving both measurability and conversion rates. Key advantages of CTV:
- Lower friction versus direct-to-store redirections
- Higher install intent through pre-qualification via landing experiences
- Enhanced attribution using CTV-based events
- Expanded remarketing capabilities using first-party data
Leading marketers now combine CTV with gamified landing pages, personalized product offers, and user-driven onboarding flows. These approaches not only improve install rates but also enhance early session depth.
Strategic relevance: CTV complements in-app strategies by capturing broader intent-driven audiences while preserving user insights through analytics.
Execution tip: Optimize your CTV campaigns with Smart Banners, contextual deep links, custom UTMs, and pre-install engagement elements like mini-games or limited-time offers.
The most successful user acquisition teams in 2025 are no longer asking which single lever delivers the best results. Instead, they’re integrating AI-powered decision-making, data-driven creative frameworks, and CTV strategies into a cohesive growth engine.
If your objective is to:
- Lower CPI while increasing downstream value
- Improve retention and session depth
- Scale sustainably and profitably
...then a siloed UA strategy is no longer sufficient. A unified UA system also provides resilience against market volatility. With flexible, multi-channel acquisition pipelines and AI-driven adaptability, brands are better equipped to respond to platform changes, economic shifts, and emerging user behavior trends.
At Mapendo, we empower mobile marketers to bring together the full UA stack — machine learning, high-performance creatives, and seamless CTV campaigns — into campaigns that drive real results.
Case Study: Sociaaal Increases High-Quality Users 3X with Integrated UA Strategy
A real-world example of integrated user acquisition comes from Sociaaal, the company behind popular apps like Litstick, Celebs, and Fontmaker.
The background
With a large user base already established in the US, Sociaaal partnered with Mapendo to unlock sustainable growth on iOS, particularly targeting high-LTV users. Their primary objective was to drive positive ROAS through in-app purchases and subscriptions—initiated after a free trial.
The Solution
Sociaaal launched CPI campaigns with Mapendo, leveraging its AI-powered optimization platform. Through direct integration with Adjust, key post-install events such as free trials and subscriptions were tracked in real-time. This allowed Mapendo’s machine learning engine to optimize campaigns toward actual revenue events, not just installs.
To scale further, Sociaaal expanded into CTV (Connected TV) performance-based campaigns, testing higher CPIs to reach more qualified users. With granular targeting, automated creative testing, and fast feedback loops between both teams, they aligned campaign execution across channels.
The Results
- 3X increase in high-quality new users within a single month via CTV campaigns
- Trial-to-subscription rate maintained above 20% throughout scale-up
- Partnership expanded to multiple apps and markets, with 4X increase in ad spend across Litstick, Celebs, Fontmaker, and Autopaste
This case exemplifies how AI, cross-channel execution, and performance-focused creative testing can work together to drive growth at scale—without compromising user quality or ROAS.
Conclusion: Build Smarter, Integrated UA for Sustainable Growth
In 2025, mobile user acquisition is no longer about isolated tactics or chasing surface-level metrics. True performance lies in the synergy between AI-driven optimization, data-informed creatives, and CTVthat convert intent into action.
By unifying these elements into a single, scalable strategy, marketers can achieve more than just lower CPIs—they can drive higher retention, increased LTV, and sustainable, long-term profitability.
Success today means moving beyond volume. It’s about attracting high-quality users, making smarter decisions with real-time data, and continuously adapting to a fragmented and privacy-conscious ecosystem.
At Mapendo, we help growth teams do exactly that. Our fully managed UA platform combines machine learning, performance-focused creative testing, and conversion-optimized channels like CTV delivering measurable impact at scale.
Ready to unify your user acquisition strategy? Let’s connect and build a smarter path to growth—together.
Key Takeaways
- Unify AI, Creatives & CTV for True Growth
A winning UA strategy in 2025 isn't built on one tactic — it’s built on synergy between automation, creativity, and seamless user journeys. - Use AI for Predictive Targeting & Performance Modeling
Artificial Intelligence enables smarter budgeting, better targeting, and real-time optimization across fragmented platforms. - Make Creatives Your Competitive Edge
Dynamic, personalized, and emotionally engaging creatives are key to increasing CTR, retention, and user quality. - CTV Isn’t Optional — It’s Essential
Guide users from discovery to conversion with interactive, optimized landing flows that improve intent and attribution. - Don’t Operate in Silos — Build a Unified Growth Engine
Sustainable scale comes from cross-team collaboration and data-driven decision-making that connects all UA layers.
