Your AI app now answers questions that search engines once handled, making your product more valuable but also diminishing the effectiveness of traditional growth channels. In fact, according to new SparkToro research based on Similarweb clickstream data, 68.01% of Google searches in the U.S. during the first four months of 2026 ended without a click. So, you must be wondering what is the best mobile app marketing strategy today.
Depending entirely on search and app store visibility for mobile app marketing is becoming less effective, especially for AI apps. Generative AI tools now address user queries directly in chat windows, in-browser results, and AI Mode results, often before users reach an app listing. If your growth strategy depends on users searching and clicking links, that opportunity is shrinking.
The solution is not to improve search campaigns, but to leverage a channel independent of search: mobile OEM advertising delivered directly through the device.
Key takeaways:
- Generative AI answers are absorbing search traffic that app marketers used to convert into installs.
- Mobile OEM advertising (device makers like Samsung, Xiaomi, and OPPO) places AI apps in front of users at the OS level, rather than on the search results page.
- OEM channels include dynamic preloads, on-device display ads, alternative app store featuring, and on-device branding.
- AVOW’s OEM partners cover 86% of the global Android market, reaching over 1.85 billion daily active users.
- A/B testing across OEM inventory lets marketers optimize for down-funnel events, not just installs.
What’s actually happening to search traffic?
Search used to be predictable. A user had a problem, typed it into Google, scanned ten blue links, and picked one. App marketers built entire acquisition funnels on that behavior: keyword bidding, app store optimization, and paid search campaigns targeting high-intent queries.
Generative AI changed the sequence. Someone asks an AI assistant the same question and gets a synthesized answer on the spot. No scroll, no click, no landing page. For an AI app competing to be discovered, this is a strange kind of irony: the technology category you’re building in is the one eroding your own distribution channel.
This does not mean you should abandon search entirely, but it should not be your only strategy. Marketers are seeing increased customer acquisition costs, stricter targeting due to privacy changes, and greater competition on major platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. The shift toward AI-driven search behavior makes diversification even more urgent.
What is mobile OEM advertising?
Mobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are the companies that build the phones themselves: Samsung, Xiaomi, HUAWEI, vivo, OPPO, OnePlus, HONOR, and others. Each one controls its own app store, its own home screen real estate, and its own advertising inventory, all entirely outside Google’s and Meta’s ecosystems.
That inventory breaks down into four main formats:
- Dynamic Preloads: Your app appears when a user first sets up a new device, often via Google Play Auto Install or an OEM’s out-of-the-box experience. No SDK integration is required, and users can be among the first to interact with your app on day one.
- On-device display ads: Native ad placements across the OEM’s browser, app store, and content feeds, targeted using the user’s existing app behavior.
- Alternative app store featuring Placement within an OEM’s own app store (Xiaomi GetApps, Huawei AppGallery, vivo V-AppStore), where competition for visibility looks nothing like it does on the Google Play Store.
- On-device branding: Lock screen takeovers, splash screens, and push placements that build recall without competing for search intent.
None of these formats require a search query. Users do not need to know about your app or search for its category to encounter it.
Why this matters more for AI apps
AI apps experience unique discovery challenges. The market is crowded, use cases often overlap, and standing out in search results or app store listings is becoming increasingly difficult. Users are now more likely to discover AI tools through recommendations, preinstalled options on new devices, or advertisements encountered while browsing.
Mobile OEM advertising addresses this shift in user behavior. Dynamic preloads present your AI app during device setup, when users decide which apps to keep. Display Ads target users based on their current app usage, making it more likely to reach those who would benefit from your AI app than traditional search queries.
Building OEM channels into your mobile app marketing strategy
Consider OEM advertising as a channel to test, rather than a complete replacement for existing strategies. Here are a few practical steps:
- Start with A/B testing across two or three OEMs rather than committing budget across all OEMs at once. Performance fluctuates considerably across regions and device brands.
- Optimize for down-funnel events, not just installs. Cost-per-install looks attractive until you check retention; cost-per-action or cost-per-registration models tie spend to users who actually engage.
- Match OEM to audience geography. Vivo and OPPO skew heavily toward Southeast Asia and India, while Xiaomi and HONOR have a stronger presence across Europe and the Middle East.
- Integrate with your existing MMP (Adjust, AppsFlyer, Singular, and similar) so OEM performance sits in the same dashboard as your Google and Meta data, not in a separate silo.
- Pair performance with branding. On-device display drives installs; lock screen and splash placements build the recall that makes a user recognize your app the next time they see it, even without a search.
What diversifying beyond search actually looks like
Consider what changes when an app stops treating search as its only door. A user setting up a new phone sees a preloaded app before they’ve typed a single query. Someone browsing an OEM’s native content feed sees a display ad matched to apps they already use, not to keywords they searched for. Neither moment depends on a search engine, an AI answer, or a ranking algorithm deciding to show up at all.
This matters because search and social both run on the same mechanism: bidding for attention against every other advertiser chasing the same keyword or feed placement. On-device channels don’t share that mechanism. Inventory on a lock screen, a splash screen, or a device’s own app store isn’t competing in the same auction as a Google Ads campaign, so the same budget buys attention that search dollars can no longer reach.
For AI apps specifically, that separation solves two problems at once. It sidesteps a search results page increasingly dominated by AI-generated answers and reaches users at a moment (unboxing a new device) when they’re actively deciding which apps to keep, before brand loyalty or app fatigue sets in. Search will always have a role in app discovery. It just shouldn’t be the only one left standing.
In conclusion
Search remains important, but it is no longer the primary entry point to a user’s device. For AI apps, it may not be the most effective channel. Mobile OEM advertising provides access to over 1.85 billion daily active users across major manufacturers, covering 86% of the global Android market, without relying on search queries that chatbots may answer before your app appears.
The team that builds this into their mix now won’t have to scramble to find a new channel as search traffic continues to decline. They’ll already have the data.
Discover how OEM advertising can support your app’s growth plan. Book a demo to learn more.
This is just one piece of the puzzle. For a complete, end-to-end strategy, read our “The Complete AI App Guide for 2026.”
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