The third-quarter earnings season is drawing a clear line through ad tech. Mobile app and connected TV specialists are growing fast, while much of the open web is contracting. The latest batch of results shows that growth opportunities are not spread evenly across the industry.
AppLovin led the winners. Its Q3 revenue rose 55% year over year to $2.19 billion, and the company said that single-quarter total was bigger than the combined revenue of the other five public ad tech companies in this group, which came to roughly $1.94 billion.
The split between apps and the open web
Unity, AppLovin’s mobile advertising rival, posted revenue of $622 million, up 32%. Its Grow Solutions unit, which houses the media business, generated $457 million in revenue, up 44%, while the Vector ad platform grew 126% year over year and 40% sequentially. Unity also marked its first profitable quarter since going public.
Further down the table, results were weaker:
- Magnite: revenue grew 14% to $204.2 million, helped by connected TV.
- Criteo: revenue fell 11% to $416 million; retail media revenue dropped 23%.
- Taboola: revenue slipped 6.9% to $462.3 million, but gross profit rose 9.6% to $152.3 million.
- Teads: revenue fell 26% to $235.1 million, and its net loss widened to $325.5 million.
Profitability doesn’t always follow revenue
AppLovin’s net income climbed 72% to $1.44 billion, and the company guided fourth-quarter revenue between $2.365 billion and $2.395 billion. Criteo’s gross margin narrowed from 55% to 50%, and its net income fell 85% to $6 million. Taboola, by contrast, lifted gross profit even as revenue declined—a reminder that margin management and mix matter alongside top-line growth.
The pressure from lost clients is real. Criteo said two unnamed clients reduced business by roughly $20 million, contributing to the retail media decline. Teads cited continued weakness in open-internet advertising and did not reinstate financial guidance.
CTV is still the reliable growth engine
Connected TV gave Magnite and Teads a relative bright spot. Magnite’s CTV contribution, excluding traffic acquisition costs, rose 39% to $105.4 million, making up 53% of its total contribution ex-TAC, up from 45% a year earlier. Teads reported nearly $100 million in year-to-date CTV revenue, but the category was not yet large enough to offset its broader revenue decline.
For marketers, the numbers suggest a practical framework: look at top-line growth, profitability quality and format mix together. Mobile apps and CTV are absorbing budget, while open-web and some retail media segments face more pressure. Before your next planning cycle, test incremental spend in the fastest-growing formats rather than assuming every ad platform is expanding.
Next week will add more data. Zeta Global, The Trade Desk, PubMatic and Liftoff Mobile are scheduled to report, which will show whether the divergence holds.
Source: Digiday
