• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 21, 2019

Google’s app retargeting business is on fire.

During the second half of 2018, the search giant saw its share of the app retargeting landscape jump by about 190%, according to mobile attribution firm AppsFlyer.

Of course, Facebook remains the biggest app retargeter and the top network for mobile apps overall. 

Compared to Facebook, Google did experience higher growth in non-gaming apps during the period, which AppsFlyer attributed to Google’s search intent model.

Despite still operating in the shadows of Facebook and Google, AppLovin secured third place in gaming rankings. The mobile marketing firm’s share of the gaming app install pie has done nothing but grow over the past two years.

When it comes to driving gaming app installs, ironSource almost doubled its market share during the period, while Unity Ads held its fourth position in the universal power ranking in the gaming category overall. (That's compared to ironSource’s fifth position.)

Among the networks to see the biggest changes were Snap, which rose to fourth place from ninth in the non-gaming ranking, while declining from the top spot to the 12th spot in casual games.

Among the networks appearing in AppsFlyer’s previous Growth Index -- which showcases performance of up-and-coming media sources in a specific region -- 40% saw absolute negative growth, while 10% remained in the rankings of the current and previous editions of the Index.