Key Points
Third-quarter revenue grew 55% year over year to $2.18 billion.
E-commerce consumer advertiser spend grew triple digits year over year.
AppLovin repurchased $1.4 billion of shares during the third quarter.
On its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, held on Nov. 4, 2026, AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) announced that revenue jumped 55% year over year to $2.18 billion. The company is generating massive cash flow while expanding its ad engine beyond mobile gaming into broad e-commerce categories. Three things management said stand out.
1. Next-Generation AI Models Open Fresh Room to Scale
Engineers began rolling out a structural architectural update to Axon, the deep learning algorithm that predicts user actions and matches ads to mobile app users. Early performance metrics show advertisers spent more money profitably, particularly in newer non-gaming consumer categories where historical data is sparse.
The transition is still in front of us, and the new generation gives us meaningfully more room to optimize than the architecture it replaces.
-- Adam Foroughi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
2. E-Commerce Spend Drives Rapid Diversification Away From Gaming
Mobile gaming has traditionally generated most of the business, but non-gaming e-commerce brands are rapidly ramping up spend on the platform. Management sees this consumer vertical providing an extended runway as new advertisers validate performance through return on ad spend, a metric that measures ad revenue against ad spend.
Consumer advertisers' spend continues to have healthy growth, with spend up double digits quarter-over-quarter and growing triple digits from the same quarter last year.
-- Matt Stumpf, Chief Financial Officer
3. Aggressive Stock Buybacks Capitalize on Massive Free Cash Flow
AppLovin converted roughly 65% of its top line into free cash flow this quarter, giving management the firepower to repurchase $1.4 billion of stock. Retiring shares at this pace amplifies per-share returns while net leverage, which measures debt relative to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, remains near zero.
That combination, 55% growth with a shrinking share count, is one very few companies can match.
-- Matt Stumpf, Chief Financial Officer
Looking Ahead
Ad spend is surging across mobile games and e-commerce, and leadership is signaling total comfort with its compounding trajectory. The company maintains an asset-light model, high profit-to-cash conversion, and expanding ad inventory on connected television, which serves streaming video ads to smart televisions.
Gaming keeps improving, consumer keeps adding runway, and we believe this business can compound at roughly 30% annually over the long term.
-- Adam Foroughi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Management is focusing near-term execution on finishing the architecture transition, attracting new e-commerce advertisers, and scaling connected television campaigns.
That's how we'll keep operating, build for the long term, be transparent about challenges and opportunities, and compound through the noise.
-- Adam Foroughi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
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