From holidays to shopping sprees: How commercial events fuel mobile app growth

Over the years, commercial events have evolved beyond their traditional roots to become global marketing opportunities. Holidays like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Black Friday and Christmas provide mobile apps across various industries - including dating, entertainment and food delivery - a prime opportunity to boost installs and engagement.

Dating app trends over time

Before diving into strategies for app marketers, let's examine recent user engagement during commercial events, such as Valentine's Day. Between January 2023 to December 2024, dating app installs and sessions saw a 13% year-over-year (YoY) decrease. Despite this general decline, engagement remained steady; February 2024 saw installs decline by 5%, but sessions held strong with a 0.5% increase. The average session length grew from 12.95 minutes in 2023 to 13.21 minutes in 2024, indicating that users are spending more time on these platforms.

In February 2025, the dating app industry bounced back, with app installs and sessions increasing by 39% and 5%, respectively YoY, with significant spikes either side of Valentine's day. This demonstrates that commercial events trigger surges in interest for apps, posing as an opportunity for app marketers to maintain user engagement beyond initial install. 

To do this successfully, brands need to foster meaningful and genuine interactions between matches. This can be done by incorporating video and audio into profiles, allowing users to share their personalities authentically and creating genuine interactions. These interactions can be humanised further by using authenticity badges, which are now common across dating apps, for verifying user activity, interests, and responses. This badge of authenticity creates a level of trust, allowing for deeper interactions.

Timing is also key for dating app campaigns, as the buzz of summer love saw installs surge by 10% above the yearly average during May 2023 with sessions up 5%. Similarly, July 2024  saw an increase in installs (+14%) and sessions (+4%) above the yearly average, reinforcing the importance of sunny months as key periods for social engagement.

As last year's data show, launching campaigns during the lead-up to summer would be more beneficial than throughout the winter months. By using targeted ads to reach relevant users, dating apps can reach possible users quicker and more efficiently. 

Entertainment apps and commercial event spikes

Mobile users often use music and video to enhance their experience of commercial events, for Valentine's Day this year, many turned to music and video to set the mood. Music and audio apps saw the highest growth in installs, surging by 107% year-over-year (YoY) and sessions reaching 40% YoY growth on Valentine's Day 2025, indicating strong engagement with love-themed playlists. 

Video streaming apps followed a similar trend, with installs soaring 374% above the February average on February 9 and 230% above average on February 10. Sessions for video streaming apps also spiked, increasing 17% and 13% above the February average on those days, respectively. On Valentine's Day itself, video streaming app sessions saw a 9% YoY increase, reflecting heightened interest in romantic movies and series leading up to the occasion similar to the increase of streaming app installs and sessions when watching festive films at Christmas.

Food apps: Convenience meets celebration

Food-related apps often experience a significant boost during commercial events, as users turn to meal delivery, restaurant reservations, and recipe inspiration. On Valentine's Day 2025, food delivery app sessions saw a 29% year-over-year (YoY) increase, with installs and sessions rising 17% and 14% above the February average. Recipe apps also experienced growth, with installs up 61% YoY and sessions increasing 32% YoY on February 14. Compared to the February average, recipe app activity saw additional spikes in the days leading up to Valentine's - on February 11 (+9% installs, +10% sessions), February 12 (+7% installs, +14% sessions), and February 13 (+12% installs, +13% sessions). These trends highlight the balance between home-cooked meals and takeout as popular choices for celebrating commercial occasions.

This increased interest in restaurant bookings, meal recipes and food delivery apps provides a unique opportunity for marketers to launch timely campaigns with discounted meal kits, exclusive themed recipes or free delivery.

While dating app installs are experiencing a gradual decline, user engagement remains strong, highlighting the need for deeper and more meaningful interactions. By incorporating features like video and authenticity badges, dating platforms can enhance user trust and foster genuine connections. 

Adjust's data highlights the importance of strategic timing for campaigns, with summer emerging as a key period for installs and engagement, as well as the rise in entertainment, food delivery, and restaurant booking app usage around commercial events. By leveraging AI-driven matchmaking, targeted advertising and time-sensitive promotions, brands can capitalise on user behaviour shifts to drive engagement and retention beyond a single event.