# What percentage of tracked apps run on advertising?

Source: Lazyweb Research
Published: 2026-07-07
Sample size: n=686
Tags: monetization, pricing, saas, web
HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/what-percent-of-tracked-apps-run-on-advertising
Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/what-percent-of-tracked-apps-run-on-advertising.md

**Answer.** 26% — 176 of 686 attribute-tagged apps carry an advertising model, the second-most-common revenue stream after subscription (418) [1]. Advertising is rarely the whole story: it clusters in News, Social Networking, Games, and Utilities and often runs alongside subscription as a hybrid. If you are deciding whether ads can carry your app, the data says they are a minority strategy overall but dominant in a handful of categories.

> 176 of 686 attribute-tagged apps (26%) monetize with advertising — July 2026.

## Where advertising concentrates

Advertising's 26% overall share masks sharp category clustering [1][2]:

| Category | Advertising apps | Category n |
|---|---|---|
| News | 39 | 45 |
| Magazines & Newspapers | 21 | 25 |
| Social Networking | 17 | 29 |
| Entertainment | 10 | 30 |
| Music | 9 | 25 |
| Weather | 8 | 12 |
| Utilities | 8 | 23 |
| Games | 6 | 8 |

In News, advertising (39/45 = 87%) beats subscription (36/45), and the two overlap heavily — News apps are mostly ad-first hybrids, not pure-play either way [2].

## How to apply it

Advertising alone is a category bet, not a general one. If you are in News, Magazines, Games, Weather, or Utilities, an ad model is normal and often paired with a subscription upsell. Outside those verticals, ads are the exception — 74% of tracked apps do not carry an advertising tag at all [1]. Advertising also peaks in the Social archetype (34% of Social apps) and bottoms out in Enterprise and 2-sided Marketplace (10% each), so archetype constrains it as much as category [3].

## Caveats

Denominator is the 686 apps with a business_model tag, not the full corpus [1]. Per-category counts below N=8 were dropped; Games (n=8) is thin — treat its 6/8 as an absolute count, not a stable percentage [2]. The tag is multi-valued, so an app can be both advertising and subscription.

## The numbers

| Stat | Computed from |
| --- | --- |
| 176 of 686 (26%) | bm_leaderboard: Advertising 176 / 686 |
| 39 of 45 News apps | bm_by_category: News Advertising 39, n=45 |
| 21 of 25 Magazines apps | bm_by_category: Magazines & Newspapers Advertising 21, n=25 |
| 17 of 29 Social Networking apps | bm_by_category: Social Networking Advertising 17, n=29 |
| 10 of 30 Entertainment apps | bm_by_category: Entertainment Advertising 10, n=30 |
| 9 of 25 Music apps | bm_by_category: Music Advertising 9, n=25 |
| 8 of 12 Weather apps | bm_by_category: Weather Advertising 8, n=12 |
| 8 of 23 Utilities apps | bm_by_category: Utilities Advertising 8, n=23 |
| 6 of 8 Games apps | bm_by_category: Games Advertising 6, n=8 |
| 36 of 45 News apps also subscription | bm_by_category: News Subscription 36, n=45 |
| 34% of Social apps advertising | pa_denominators_and_subscription_share: Social advertising_pct 34.2 |

## Methodology

Universe: the 686 business-model-tagged apps in Lazyweb's ~800-app tracked corpus, sliced by Apple App Store category and archetype, July 2026 pull. Method: multi-valued tag prevalence with per-category denominators. Caveat: categories under N=8 dropped; Games (n=8) is thin.

## Sources & citations

- [1] Lazyweb Research analysis of 686 attribute-tagged apps (~800-app tracked corpus), July 2026. advertising prevalence across the business-model leaderboard.
- [2] Lazyweb Research analysis of 686 attribute-tagged apps (~800-app tracked corpus), July 2026. business-model mix by Apple App Store category; categories below N=8 dropped.
- [3] Lazyweb Research analysis of 757 archetype-tagged apps (~800-app tracked corpus), July 2026. advertising share by product archetype.

## Related questions

- [How do tracked apps actually make money — subscription, ads, or transactions?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-tracked-apps-make-money-subscription-ads-transactions)
- [How do News apps make money — ads or subscriptions?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-news-apps-make-money)
- [How do Games apps make money?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-games-apps-make-money)