AppLovin’s third-quarter results beat estimates, with fourth-quarter guidance continuing to climb

By how much did third-quarter results and fourth-quarter guidance exceed estimates?

AppLovin’s third-quarter revenue was 2.18 billion dollars, above the estimate of 2.07 billion dollars; earnings per share were 4.30 dollars, above the estimate of 4.04 dollars.
Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA was 1.84 billion dollars, above the estimate of 1.73 billion dollars; net income was 1.44 billion dollars, also above the estimate of 1.36 billion dollars.
The company expects fourth-quarter revenue of 2.37 billion to 2.4 billion dollars, above the estimate of 2.25 billion dollars; adjusted EBITDA is expected to be 2 billion to 2.03 billion dollars, above the estimate of 1.88 billion dollars. The company’s guided range for adjusted EBITDA margin is 84% to 85%, compared with an estimate of 83.6%.

Since the second quarter of 2025, AppLovin’s revenue has been driven solely by its programmatic advertising business. Advertising revenue has maintained rapid year-over-year growth, while operating leverage has lifted the adjusted EBITDA margin.
The MAX platform aggregates traffic and uses bidding to determine which demand-side partner gets an ad placement, helping developers increase the value of their ad inventory; the AXON algorithm assesses the value of an impression to an advertiser. MAX currently reaches more than 1 billion active users.
After AXON was upgraded to 2.0 and a self-learning mechanism was introduced in 2023, advertisers increased their spending because they were getting better returns on their ad campaigns; the company has since continued to improve its machine-learning and AI capabilities.

According to AppsFlyer’s 2025 report on the overall performance of advertising platforms, AppLovin was the second-largest channel in the gaming category on both iOS and Android, behind only Apple Ads and Google Ads, respectively, and it is narrowing the gap with the leaders.
Advertising placements for non-gaming mobile apps are still dominated by large media channels. AppLovin ranks among the top eight, but its position as a channel is more prominent in gaming.
GF Securities noted that mid- and long-tail mobile apps provide advertising inventory as well as having their own promotion needs; the 2021 IDFA policy change created an opportunity for third-party programmatic advertising companies to rise.