• Diversified UA
  • Posts
  • The 214% ROAS Unlock: Diversification Data You Can’t Ignore

The 214% ROAS Unlock: Diversification Data You Can’t Ignore

$5B data shows +214% ROAS when budgets move beyond Meta + Google.

Author

Daniel Avshalom
September 26, 2025

🧠 Insight Block — Scale Is Stuck in 2018

The new Moloco x Singular x Sensor Tower report is blunt:

  • Consumer app revenue grew +25% YoY to $70.5B in 2024.

  • By 2026, consumer apps will overtake gaming on revenue.

  • Yet 88% of UA budgets remain locked in Meta + Google (vs. ~35% in gaming).

  • Teams that diversified saw +116% D30 ROAS — and up to +214% in Education, Health & Fitness, and Shopping.

The takeaway: consumer apps are growing, but spend is stuck in 2018 habits.

The opportunity is in the Independent App Ecosystem — 3M+ apps, 2B DAUs — a reach on par with TikTok + Instagram combined.

Diversification isn’t optional anymore. It’s the lever for incremental growth and capital efficiency.

🧰 Vibe Tool — The Diversification Pilot Framework

Don’t blow up your mix overnight. Prove it with a structured pilot:

  1. Allocate 10–15% of budget to DSPs/programmatic inventory.

  2. Primary KPI: D30 ROAS.

  3. Secondary KPIs: Cost per Payer (CPP), Incremental Lift (via holdout or model).

  4. Run for 90 days to gather statistically significant data.

  5. If lift >20–30% → double allocation the next quarter.

This isn’t theory. It’s grounded in $5B of spend across 2,000 apps.

🛰️ Field Notes — New Signals of Scale

What the data shows UA teams can’t ignore:

User signals

  • Social fatigue: 53% want less social media; 66% feel they see the same ads too often.

  • Generational splits:

    • 18–24 → games, education

    • 25–44 → finance, food delivery

    • 45+ → news, weather, medical, puzzle games

  • Cross-category payers:

    • Travel apps convert in productivity apps

    • E-commerce buyers over-index in casino + news apps

    • Food delivery users found via utilities like weather

Context signals

  • Finance apps → mornings (7am peak).

  • Sports → live game time.

  • News → morning + evening cycles.

Walled gardens can’t give you this contextual diversity. The open ecosystem can.

🎯 Permissionless Play — FitOn (Fitness App)

Fitness apps in the study saw +159% D30 ROAS from diversification.

FitOn today leans heavily on Meta loops.

The opportunity: DSP campaigns with LiveOps-style offers (streaks, challenges, subscription trials) across wellness/productivity inventory.

Why it matters: catching a user in a morning routine app may outperform catching them mid-scroll on Meta.

🧃 Personal Sidebar — Breaking Plateaus

Like in CrossFit — more reps at the same weight don’t create gains.

You need new movement patterns, new stimulus.

UA works the same way.

Pumping more into Meta no longer compounds the way it once did.

Diversification is the “new movement” your program needs.

This isn’t theory. It’s $5B of proof.

The apps who diversify scale.

The ones who don’t, stall.

👉 What’s sparking your curiosity this week? Hit reply — I’d love to hear.

—Daniel