Growth Masterminds: mobile growth podcast (Singular)

What if you could take a microscope to some of the biggest and best companies in your space, peer inside, and see exactly what they spend for user acquisition and marketing? Would that be useful data? That's exactly what Clement Favier, Chief Operating Officer at Adikteev has been doing for massive gaming companies like Netmarble, SciPlay, and Aristocrat, owner of Product Madness and Big Fish Games. In this Growth Masterminds, we chat about UA spend, how to find it across verticals and companies you care about, and why UA cost is more than just the dollars you spend directly on app installs.

CTV's growing fast. But where does it fit in your marketing mix?

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Peter Hamilton, Head of Ad Innovation at Roku. That talk about the role of Connected TV (CTV) in marketing, its evolution, and the ad experiences on Roku.

They also explore the integration of Shopify, ad measurability, and targeting strategies.

They also chat about new engagement modes on Roku that have vastly boosted conversions over QR codes.

Watch or list to understand how CTV can serve different market verticals, from casual and hardcore gaming to D2C and FinTech. Don’t miss insights on how performance marketers can thrive using CTV.

00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds

01:26 The Evolution of CTV Advertising

04:19 Peter's Journey in Tech and Marketing

12:18 Roku's Ad Innovations

23:41 Measurability in Advertising

24:39 Performance Marketing Insights

25:16 The Role of QR Codes and Click-Through Paths

27:50 The Importance of Remote Controls in TV Ads

32:14 Shoppable Ads and Shopify Integration

37:32 Strategies for Different Verticals

43:42 Future of CTV Ads

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Singular product manager Gali Housman and product marketing manager Kelsey Lee about the complexities of cross-platform performance marketing. They discuss the necessity of tracking customer journeys across platforms to gain full return on investment and to adhere to user privacy concerns. Singular, their platform of choice, has increasingly evolved to address these intricacies providing tools to measure gaming engagement and the effectiveness of marketing strategies across platforms. Kelsey emphasizes the need for an end-to-end solution to manage the influx of data while ensuring full measurement by marketers. 00:00 Introduction to Journey Tracking in Marketing 00:27 Welcome to Growth Masterminds 00:56 Challenges in Cross-Platform Marketing 01:30 Changes in the Gaming Industry 01:45 The Impact of the Pandemic on Gaming 02:27 The Shift to Mobile Marketing 03:05 The Role of Privacy in Marketing 03:24 The Future of Cross-Platform Games 05:06 The Challenges of Cross-Platform Marketing 06:17 The Importance of User Tracking 10:58 The Role of Conversions API in Marketing 16:13 The Benefits of Cross-Platform Solutions 20:52 The Future of Cross-Platform Marketing 22:17 Conclusion and Wrap Up

Mobile app retargeting is a huge part of engagement, monetization, and retention for top apps. Especially in categories like shopping, travel, and gaming.

What can you learn about mobile app retargeting from a 100M MAU app?

Lots.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier speaks with Subhadeep Chakraborty, Senior Manager for Growth at Ixigo. We chat about the importance and effectiveness of retargeting strategies in one of the most competitive markets – travel and booking in India.

Subhadeep shares detailed insights on how Ixigo leverages retargeting to maximize customer value, personalized messaging, and algorithm-driven data points to recommend the best options for users.

We also cover CRM channels, the role of analytics, and personalized customer engagement to boost retention.

00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds

00:52 Understanding Ixigo's Market and Services

01:15 Retargeting Strategies at Ixigo

02:40 Effective Retargeting Techniques

04:14 Timing and Channels for Retargeting

08:25 Personalization in Retargeting

10:06 Technology and Tools for Retargeting

11:38 The Importance of Retargeting

14:29 Real-World Retargeting Experiences

15:14 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

We chat with InMobi CEO Abhay Singhal on Epic vs Apple, IDFA and iOS 14.5, and especially the company's new InMobi Telco on-device platform.

"There are over 800 telcos in the world and each one, if you talk to them today, has an ambition of becoming a large media company," Singhal says.

We're seeing on-device ad platforms achieve significant success, with companies like ironSource Aura, AppNext, and Digital Turbine scoring very high on the 2021 Singular ROI Index. Most of them include on-device app discovery via a persistent experience on new devices and a set-up wizard upon activation. They can tie into the home and/or lock screens, and offer live updates on new apps to try.

We also chat about IDFA and iOS 14.5, the Epic Games vs Apple legal settlement impacting third-party payment options on iOS, and much more ...

0:00 On-device app discovery

3:10 Lock screen and home screen ads

5:09 Telcos as media companies

8:11 Custom version of Android?

9:32 iOS 14 and IDFA

14:40 Apple vs Epic Games

Planning to buy an Apple Vision Pro?

Whether yes or no, Apple very quietly released a ton of new privacy updates: privacy manifests, SKAN 5 (!?!), required reason APIs, tracking domains, retargeting attribution, SDK signing, listings of privacy-impacting SDKs, relays, enhanced private browsing, and more.

In this Growth Masterminds, Singular CEO Gadi Eliashiv, CTO Eran Friedman, and host John Koetsier discuss the changes and updates. And, of course, their impact on SKAN, fingerprinting, MMM, and the entire adtech ecosystem.

If you’re a marketer who is wondering how to navigate the new privacy-safe reality in Apple environments, Mixtiles is a good company to look to for insight:

 - Super-fast growth over the past few years

 - Hot D2C (direct to consumer) category

 - Heavily focused on iOS

 - Overwhelmingly multi-channel and multi-platform user journeys

 - Not dependent on IDFA

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with Mixtiles co-founder Eytan Levit, who shares his insight on mobile marketing now.

How do you sell your mobile app?

Sometimes you're just not the right person or company to take your app to the next level. You need more cash, or you need marketing expertise that you don't have.

Well, then you might need to sell your app to another publisher, studio, investor, or app aggregator.

Welcome to Growth Masterminds! In this episode, host John Koetsier chats with app sales expert Charlie Ryan, founder of AppFlip. They chat about why publishers might want to sell their apps, who is looking to buy them, and how to value an app.

With insights on evergreen app categories, the shift to subscription models, and the complexities of app acquisition, this episode is a goldmine for anyone interested in selling -- or buying -- a mobile app.

00:00 Introduction to App Aggregators

01:17 Why Publishers Sell Their Apps

02:46 Who Buys Apps and Why

07:07 Valuing Mobile Apps

13:21 Popular App Categories and Trends

19:38 Advice for Small Publishing Houses

22:41 Common Oversights When Buying Apps

24:24 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Monetization and retention can seem like the opposite ends of a continuum ... a zero-sum game where focusing on monetization kills retention.

Not necessarily, says AppLike CEO Jonas Thiemann. AdJoe, one of their brands, has a unique ad placement that earns players money for installing and playing games they're interested in ... including the game they saw the ad in.

He says it's the perfect balancing of incentives between users, publishers, and advertisers, and that's why 80 out of the top 100 grossing apps on Android are using AdJoe, users are making $20-20 a month, and some publishers are taking home six-figure paydays daily.

Women are half of mobile gamers, but many of them don't identify as gamers. Superbloom CEO Emily Yim and John Koetsier talk about making great mobile games for women, and much more.

Emily shares her journey from working at major gaming companies like EA, Zynga, and Glu to founding her own company and launching the hit game Venue. The conversation delves into the gender dynamics in gaming, growth strategies for niche markets, and the technological and social elements essential for game development.

Emily shares 9 insights about women and gaming:

1. Women make up at least 50% of mobile gamers

2. Many women gamers don’t identify as gamers

3. Women in mobile gaming are highly engaged and spend money

4. Women gamers often prefer different game genres and play styles

5. Women’s motivation to play games is different from men’s

6. Women value productivity and progression in games

7. Women prefer collaboration over competition in gaming

8. Women gamers appreciate real-life inspiration in games

9. Many women gamers prefer games with a non-traditional “game” aesthetic

00:00 Introduction and Audience Insights

00:27 Meet Emily Yum: Gaming Industry Leader

01:02 Emily's Career Journey

03:24 The Concept and Development of Venue

06:26 Growth Strategy and Audience Engagement

13:19 Women in Gaming: Insights and Motivations

20:21 Future Plans and Global Expansion

27:15 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

What is happening in the mobile adtech ecosystem?

Is it the rise of platforms? The need for size to fight the heavyweight contenders of mobile advertising? Consolidation to accumulate and stockpile more first-party data in an era of increasingly scarce second and third party information? Or just a need to acquire revenue on the path to going public?

Whatever it is, we are seeing a massive acceleration in mergers and acquisitions in the mobile marketing and adtech ecosystems. Applovin bought Adjust, Vungle bought GameRefinery, Verve bought Nexstar. District M and Sharethrough. Magnite (formerly Rubicon) bought SpotX just a few months ago … and, of course, the ink has barely dried on the $400 million Digital Turbine acquisition of AdColony.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with Offer Yehudai, president at Fyber, and Matt Tubergen, EVP corporate development and strategy at Digital Turbine about their deal ... and the wider implications in the ecosystem.

With over a billion people on TikTok, there’s a lot going on. In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with M&C Saatchi’s Jennifer Sudo, who just completed a study on TikTok users.

What she found:

 Over 90% of TikTokkers buy or are willing to buy products they see on TikTok

TikTok can make the most mundane product go viral

TikTok ads shouldn’t really be ads at all

Authenticity wins

TikTok is evolving into something like Home Shopping Network or QVC

TikTok is the new Google for millions of young people

What does a DSP do? And how will it change when they no longer have IDFA or GAID to do it with?

In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with longtime adtech and martech thought leader and current InMobi head of product marketing, Sara Camden.

They chat about:

- what DSPs even do :-)

- how DSPs work under SKAN (and Privacy Sandbox)

- the transition to SKAN 4

- and much more ...

True ROI calculation requires complete data. You've got data on your In-app purchase, of course. But most mobile publishers also have ad monetization data. The question is: how do you get all of it together … match it up … and figure out true ROI based on your actual cost of user acquisition?

To get more details, we’re chatting with Lisi Gardiner, Senior Product Manager for Analytics for Singular. And we'd better be fast: we're keeping her from weekend pizza and wine.

SKAdNetwork-compatible mobile ad inventory is hard to come by these days. Fortunately, Snap is ready, and Singular and Snap are announcing a joint solution for SKAdNetwork campaign measurement. 

For all the details, we check in with Singular product marketing manager Saadi Muslu in this episode of Growth Masterminds.

Perhaps even more interesting?

Like Facebook but unlike Google, Snap has decided to show the App Tracking Transparency prompt. And the results, according to our recent IDFA survey data, could be extremely important for the ecosystem as a whole.

All the details in the episode, or here in the blog post:

https://www.singular.net/blog/snapchat-skadnetwork/

How do you build web3 in 2023, after the boom and after the bust? 

In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with Dan Reynolds from  First Light Games, Jon Hook, the CMO of PlayEmber, and Quinn Campbell, the VP Growth at Sky Mavis, makers of Axie Infinity.

After the hype, after the Discord and Telegram, after the influencers ... where do you go for growth? And what is the emerging web3 growth stack?

We chat about:

- new web3 growth strategies

- old web2 growth strategies

- wallet relationship management

- web3 attribution

- and different kinds of users/owners/players in web3 environments

Many mobile marketers are less than happy with Apple's new iOS 14.5 and SKAdNetwork, Apple's privacy-safe mobile advertising attribution framework. 

But developers and publishers of kids' apps are not among them.

In fact, SKAdNetwork might just be the best thing that's happened to kids' apps. Now, as Kidoz co-CEO Eldad Ben Tora says, marketers can actually do user acquisition at scale for kids' apps. And publishers can monetize safely via ads.

In this podcast ...

0:00 Intro

0:44 Kids' apps market size

5:17 What is Kidoz?

11:38 User acquisition for kids apps

15:01 Marketing to kids vs parents

17:38 Monetization of kids' apps

23:06 Integration with Singular

25:00 Why focus on kids?

There's a lot new in the world of SKAdNetwork, even if we're not talking about SKAN 4 or SKAN 5.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Singular product manager Omri Barak about everything that's new, including:

- the SKAN 4 conversion value reset bug

- the state of SKAN

- model migration: how to change SKAN models easily & quickly

- upgrading to SKAN 4

- SKAN cohorts

- modeled revenue

- the Google conversion API

... and much more, including what we can expect from Singular in the coming quarter.

This is the potpourri episode: the everything everywhere all at once of growth marketing podcasts.

Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier sits down with industry expert Marcus Burke, who brings over 12 years of experience in user acquisition and growth marketing with companies like InnoGames and Blankist, and is now a UA consultant.

We dive into the effectiveness of free trials in subscription apps, targeting strategies on major platforms like Meta and LinkedIn, the unexpected power of static ads in digital campaigns, the complexities of ad performance measurement, including Apple's SKAdNetwork, and much more.

We also learn tips for optimizing your tech setup for superior campaign results, setting up retargeting strategies, making attribution models work, and creating compelling web funnels to drive engagement and conversions.

00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds

00:43 Meet Marcus Burke

04:49 The Impact of Free Trials on Business

10:03 Understanding Meta's Multiple Channels

15:09 The Role of Static Images in Advertising

17:19 The Rise of Web Apps

18:47 Innovative MarTech Solutions

19:33 Web vs. App Onboarding

20:11 Effective Web Funnel Strategies

24:18 Challenges in Attribution and Measurement

30:03 The Future of Attribution

37:31 Optimizing Signal for Better Performance

40:27 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

SKAN 4 tools are now live in the Singular dashboard. Clients who want to set up and start testing SKAdNetwork 4 compatible campaigns can now do so live in the Singular dashboard.

That means you can now set up conversion details for each postback: postbacks 1, 2, and 3. Both revenue and events models are now available; additional models and mixed conversion models will soon also be live.

And good news: this is fully backwards compatible with SKAN 3, so it won’t interfere with any ongoing live campaigns.

The list of Western apps that have made it big in China is not long. There are some great games on that list, including ones from major studios Supercell and Riot Games. Games like Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja made the cut, and Subway Surfers and PUBG are big globally as well as in China.

But as Josh Burns explains, it’s probably easier to list the apps that failed.

He has a lot of experience with apps in general and China in particular. 

As a former exec at 6waves and EA and founder of DigitalDevConnect, Burns has helped launch games for Kabam, Nexon, and Atari. He’s managed games with IP from Disney, Starz, Eminem, and the BBC. Now, among a few other things, Burns helps top grossing mobile games enter the China market.

I chatted with him recently, and along with a lot of advice about what NOT to do, he shared 12 keys to success in bringing mobile apps to China. 

Here’s his best insight about taking apps and games from the west and bringing them east. If you'd prefer to read this than watch this, the 12 keys are available on the Singular blog:

https://www.singular.net/blog/mobile-app-success-in-china/

MMM is hard.

Whether you like media mix modeling or marketing mix modeling, getting all your data is hard, onboarding to an MMM tool is hard, comparing to market trends is hard, sanity checking is hard.

But there is an easy button for MMM.

And it's called Singular.

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Singular CTO Eran Friedman about Singular's new MMM product, with:

- total spend coverage

- fully automated onboarding

- market trends baked in automatically

- direct comparisons with direct attribution results for sanity checking

MMM isn't attribution, per se. Nor is it a replacement for SKAN, for Privacy Sandbox on Android, or GAID. But it does offer huge utility in incrementality checking and measuring results in hard-to-measure channels and media.

How can you get pre-ATT levels of behavioral targeting in a privacy-safe way? Can you? In this Growth Masterminds we’re chatting with the co-founder of an AI-powered tool that says it analyzes game play and user behavior to understand gamers and what they do. Then it recommends games that they’ll like, while rewarding them for playing recommended games. Our guest is a co-founder of Gamelight, Gunay Aliyeva. Host John Koetsier interviews her about Gamelight, an AI-powered tool that analyzes user behavior and gameplay for targeted recommendations. The tool utilizes AI algorithms and a user's data (with given permission) to suggest games based on their preferences. Gamelight endeavors to minimize game downloads and maximize user retention through personalized recommendations. They also discuss Gamelight's arbitrage strategy of acquiring users at a generalized level, then offering highly targeted advertising opportunities to their partners, focusing on long-term user quality and satisfaction. They also touch on the company's expansion into non-gaming apps, the use of a consumer rewards system, and their global reach. 00:00 Introduction 01:15 Exploring the Functionality of Gamelight 03:02 Discussing the Privacy Aspect of Gamelight 04:32 Understanding the User Acquisition Strategy 05:12 Challenging the Traditional Ad Network Model 06:14 The Long-Term Vision of Gamelight 07:08 Understanding User Behavior and Gamelight's Approach 10:03 Discussing the Pricing and Value Proposition of Gamelight 11:08 Expansion into Non-Gaming Apps 15:14 Understanding the Loyalty Program of Gamelight 16:56 Discussing the Global Reach of Gamelight 18:35 Wrapping Up the Discussion

What are the most common blockers to growing games profitably? In other words, why won't your game grow? You built a game and it’s awesome, but it’s not growing like you want it to. What’s wrong? Maybe this episode of Growth Masterminds holds the answer. Today we’re chatting with who reminds me of Ben Affleck in The Consultant, because she’s called in when nothing else is working Her name is Sara El Bachri. She runs ShamsCo, does the mobile gaming growth masterclass, and has worked with 40+ gaming studios over the last few years including EA, Rovio, Gameloft, DoubleDown, Netflix Games, and TutoToons. All of that means: she’s seen a few things. And fixed a few things. We hear about the biggest blockers for growth for games both big and small ... and a little about Sara's journey to becoming an internationally renowned UA consultant. 00:00 The Growth Dilemma 00:33 Introducing Sarah El Bachri 01:27 Mobile Game Growth: Strategies and Insights 11:44 Bridging the Gap: Communication and Creativity in Game Studios 18:10 Unlocking Organic Growth: The Power of Testing and Education 21:49 The Importance of Internal Education and Collaboration 27:12 The Complexity of User Acquisition

If you're on the App Store or Google Play, you're paying the platform tax: 30% on all your IAP revenue. But can you legally AND SAFELY escape that? Maybe yes. In this episode of Growth Masterminds, John Koetsier interviews Archie Stonehill, Head of Product at Stash Gigi, to discuss the digital games industry and the evolution of direct-to-consumer platforms. They discuss the rise of third-party app stores, Apple and Google's 'app store tax', the Digital Markets Act in Europe, and how developers can shift towards alternative distribution channels. Stonehill explains the motivation behind Stash.gg, a platform that supports gaming developers in becoming their own platforms and processing their own payments, and shares insights on how developers can engage with their users directly to optimize profitability and improve overall gaming experience. 00:00 Introduction to the Gaming Industry's Challenges 00:43 The Role of Third-Party App Stores 01:29 The Impact of the Digital Markets Act 02:23 The Three Vectors of Pro-Competitive Pushes 04:23 The Importance of Direct Relationships with Players 05:11 The Evolution of the Games Industry 12:36 The Role of Stash in the Gaming Industry 32:26 The Future of the Gaming Industry 36:36 Conclusion

Can you boost mobile ad performance 30% or more with the right end card?

The answer is a definite maybe.

:-)

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier discusses the effectiveness of end cards in mobile advertising with Avi Cohen, a creative lead at Bigabid.

They explore the challenges of determining the optimal length and format for mobile ads, shifting industry trends toward longer ads, and the importance of end cards in ad performance.

Avi shares insights from his experience, emphasizing the significance of testing and creativity in developing end cards. The episode reveals the complexity of creative testing and the potential impact of unique end cards on advertising success.

Tune in to discover strategies for leveraging end cards to maximize conversion rates and user engagement.

00:00 Introduction to Effective End Cards

02:03 Diving into End Card Formats

03:02 The Psychology Behind End Cards

03:36 The Evolution of Mobile Ad Lengths

06:09 Testing and Best Practices

09:03 The Importance of End Cards

13:40 Real-World Examples and Success Stories

21:54 Encouraging Creativity and Breaking Rules

24:34 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways

In this episode of Growth Mastermind, host John Koetsier chats with Faheem Saiyad, director at App Samurai, about the intersection of AI and user acquisition. They dive deep into topics like the role of AI in game development, how AI aids in campaign optimization, and the application of generative AI in the creative process of ad creation. Faheem also shares details about App Samurai's new ad unit, Rewarded Playtime, that incentivizes users for every minute they spend engaging with a game. However, the chat concludes on the idea that AI is still not perfect; it requires human guidance for optimal performance. 00:00 Introduction and welcome 00:14 Getting to know the guest 01:19 The role of AI in game development 03:35 The Impact of AI on user acquisition 06:22 Challenges of campaign optimization 10:25 Introducing rewarded playtime: a new ad unit 13:44 The future of AI in marketing and game development 16:38 Wrapping up the discussion

The golden age of mobile is over ... at least the golden age of gigatons of free data for marketers and adtech companies. Thanks to IDFA and GAID app marketers had near-free access to huge amounts of behavior data. That was great for acquisition, but also engagement & retention of users/customers/people. That era is almost over. What’s going to win now? In this Growth Masterminds I chat with Thomas Butta, CMO of Airship. Airship just completed a survey of 11,000 consumers, and Butta shares what they learned. We also chat about the one-to-one relationship apps still offer brands AFTER they've managed to get customers into their apps and signed up or subscribed.

Protected Audiences has grown a lot since it was FLEDGE, and even this year. As such, it’s going to be useful for much more than just retargeting, according to 2 experts. In this episode of Growth Mastermind, host John Koetsier explores the intricacies of Google's Privacy Sandbox with a particular focus on the Protected Audiences API. He’s joined by experts Omri Gal, Head of Privacy Sandbox at Singular, and Lucky Harpley, a Product Manager at Remerge. The discussion covers the evolving landscape of retargeting and attribution on Android. They delve into the technical workings, the impact on marketers, and insights from recent testing. The conversation also highlights the challenges and preparation steps for the transition from GAID to Privacy Sandbox, emphasizing the importance of understanding and adapting to new industry standards. Finally, they highlight the key difference between attribution and optimization via GAID right now versus Privacy Sandbox on Android in the future. 00:00 Introduction to Privacy Sandbox and Its Evolution 04:10 Deep Dive into Protected Audiences API 11:32 The Future of Targeting and Retargeting in Privacy Sandbox 19:16 Testing and Implementing Privacy Sandbox Solutions 27:22 Preparing Marketers for the Privacy Sandbox Transition 31:10 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps

How will Google’s new consent management platform requirement impact mobile app and game publishers? You now need a CMP ... what's that all about? In this Growth Masterminds we dive into the complexities of managing user privacy and consent in mobile apps and websites. Google's new consent management platform requirements for AdMob, AdSense, and Ad Manager users are in effect right now. So we chat with Gabe Morazan, a product director, and Achraff-Nour Meski, a client services leader from Source Point, a CMP provider. Together, we explore what CMPs are, their role in ensuring compliance with privacy laws like GDPR, and how they can be seamlessly integrated into the user experience without negatively impacting app engagement. 00:00 Introduction to Privacy and Consent Management 00:36 Understanding Google's New Consent Management Platform Requirement 00:51 Expert Insights: The Role and Functionality of CMPs 04:53 Customizing Consent Messages for User Experience 09:09 Global Privacy Control: Simplifying Consent Across Platforms 15:16 The Future of Privacy and Consent Management 18:37 Closing Thoughts and Acknowledgements

How do you get your first million users?

I'm starting a new series in Growth Masterminds, and it's about getting your first million users for a new app. There are huge challenges for big apps and big brands to grow, but they’re different: they have resources, a brand, and maybe some existing users/players/customers.

Starting from zero is a different challenge.

I think there’s a lot to learn for both types of app marketers from both sets of challenges, but this series will focus on early-stage growth.

To start, we're chatting with Hannah Parvaz, who is literally an “app marketer of the year” and also a “biz strategy consultant of the year.”

She’s worked in tons of growth roles and now runs her own growth agency, Aperture, helping apps grow and mobile businesses work.

SKAN or SKAdNetwork has a major problem. Less data, less timely data, less granular data ... OK, it has many problems.

One particular issue: zeroed-out conversion values because there's simply no revenue data to report.

Singular's mixed models for SKAN fixes that, by allowing mobile marketers measure revenue and a combination of other conversion models to ensure that no matter what happens, you get data back.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we do a deep dive into what the problem is, and how mixed models fixes. In other words, how to make SKAdNetwork ... work.

Ever feel like your user acquisition campaigns are doing the same thing over and over? Ever feel like every UA manager is running campaigns in exactly the same place as everyone else?

In this Growth Masterminds with Fluent co-founder Matt Conlin, we chat about fishing in new ponds: different places to find new users. We chat about CTV, TV, editorial content, rewarded discovery, influencers, surround sound marketing, and -- believe it or not -- ads in e-commerce environments.

Content matters, but so does context. And there's so much more to mobile user acquisition than in-app ads.

Shocker: since we chat about different user acquisition strategies, we also chat about different marketing measurement strategies.

How do you make SKAN work for retail? Games? IAPs? Finance? Subscriptions? Ad monetization?

In this Growth Masterminds we chat with 2 Singular experts who work with hundreds of clients, helping them get their SKAdNetwork models right.

We go through SKAN for:

Games & apps

- admon

- IAP

- subscription

- hypercasual vs mid-core

Verticals for apps

- retail

- fintech

- fast food

- on-demand

- travel

- social

... and more!

Lomit Patel leads growth at IMVU. Before that, he led performance and digital marketing for Roku. He also ran customer acquisition at Texture, which Apple acquired and turned into Apple News+

At IMVU, Lomit cut customer acquisition cost by a factor of three. And, he's now recouping the cost of advertising 3X faster than before.

How?

Artificial intelligence, intelligently applied.

In this podcast episode, we'll chat with Lomit to learn what he did, how he did it, and what the results are. 

There's been a ton of change in adtech in 2021. I'm not even sure we know precisely what an ad network is anymore, but we're certainly seeing the rise of a set of new titans of adtech in mobile, companies like Liftoff+Vungle, ironSource, Unity, Applovin, Digital Turbine, and InMobi.

What's driving the growth?

Is it good for mobile marketers?

And, what should we expect from mobile adtech companies in 2022?

To dig into all these questions, we chat with the CEO of Liftoff, Mark Ellis. Of course, since the merger with Vungle, he's now the CEO of Liftoff+Vungle, or whatever they're going to call the new company, Mark's not just the CEO, he's also the founder, and has a deep history in adtech and mobile.

NOTE:

This episode of Growth Masterminds is cross-posted from another podcast: TechFirst by John Koetsier.

How can you kill it on TikTok, generate more organic downloads, and build your community quickly? Oh ... and by the way ... you don't have a huge budget. In this episode of Growth Masterminds we meet Sarah Neill, founder and CEO of Mys Tyler, a platform connecting women with 'body doubles' to find clothing that fits perfectly, thus solving the common problem of shopping disappointment. Sarah shares her growth story, explaining how they use Meta ads, paid PR opportunities with major publications and what they've done in an experimental but highly successful use of TikTok for organic growth. She shares an insightful strategy involving unpaid internships, where interns created TikTok content that significantly boosted app downloads and engagement, demonstrating the power of authentic, user-generated content in digital marketing. 00:00 Exploring Paid Performance Opportunities in Digital Media 01:07 Introducing Ms. Tyler: A Revolutionary Fashion Platform 03:46 Growth Channels and Strategies for Startups 08:34 Mastering TikTok: A Unique Internship Approach 20:28 Reflecting on Marketing Insights and Future Plans

Tiny X buttons. Phantom clicks. Endless countdowns before you get back to your game.

How can we make mobile ads suck less?

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Francesco Renzo, former Googler and current VP at Moloco, the AI-powered performance ad network.

They chat about:

- the mobile ad problem

- the risk factor if mobile ads suck too much

- the causes between ad networks, publishers, and advertisers

- how we fix it

- what advertisers can do

- what publishers can do

- and ... measurement in the era of privacy (and sky-high click-through rates)

In this episode of Growth Mastermind, host John Koetsier discusses the challenges of iOS mobile measurement in the era of privacy updates, focusing on the difficulty of distinguishing between organic and paid acquisition and the fragmentation of measurement across different methods: SKAN, IDFA, IDFV, MMP, and more. Guests Evyatar Ram and Kelsey Lee, product and marketing managers, introduce Singular's solution to these challenges: unified measurement. This innovative approach combines SKAdNetwork and tracker data to provide marketers with a single, de-duplicated, and accurate view of user acquisition (UA) activity on iOS, tackling issues like over/under counting and data fragmentation. The solution enhances decision-making by offering comprehensive insights into installs, revenue cohorts, and event tracking without the typical delays or inaccuracies stemming from data fragmentation. Beta testers report significant improvements in campaign performance and attribution accuracy thanks to unified measurement, indicating a strong step forward in resolving iOS attribution woes. 00:00 Navigating the Chaos of iOS Mobile Measurement 01:32 The Fragmentation Problem in iOS Attribution 04:37 Unified Measurement: A Revolutionary Solution 07:18 Beta Testers Validate Unified Measurement's Impact 11:12 Differentiating Unified Measurement from Other Solutions 13:54 The Future of Unified Measurement and Its Evolution 17:29 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

User acquisition via OEM is changing massively. What used to be a simple pre-install that maybe no-one ever saw is evolving into 3 different types of app installs for new device owners and HUNDREDS of ad opportunities in OEM apps and on-device experiences.

Join John Koetsier on Growth Masterminds as he chats with Ashwin Shekhar, CRO of Avow about the differences, cost benefits, and downsides of various install experiences including factory preload, out-of-box recommended apps, and Google's Play Auto Install system.

We also chat about Avow's role in managing Samsung's Galaxy App Store ad inventory in Europe and the implications of the Digital Markets Act on third-party app stores.

00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds

01:36 Factory Preload Explained

03:21 Out-of-Box Experience

04:12 Google Play Auto Install

06:01 Targeting and Engagement

09:10 Cost and Metrics

10:50 Samsung Galaxy App Store Management

12:46 Third-Party App Stores and Digital Markets Act

20:16 OEM Ad Networks and Display Ads

23:58 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

How do you achieve a 9-figure exit in mobile gaming? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Daniel Stammler, co-founder of Kolibri Games, known for the Idle Tycoon series. Daniel shares his journey from dropping out of university in 2016 to selling his game studio to Ubisoft for a nine-figure sum. They discuss the appeal of idle games, the challenges faced entering a crowded mobile game market, and key strategies that led to their success, including rigorous research and an agile development process. Daniel also offers insights on the current mobile gaming landscape, investible opportunities, and the importance of balancing commercial sense with creative passion. 00:00 Introduction: Is It Too Late for Mobile Gaming? 00:54 The Appeal of Idle Games 02:15 Starting a Game Studio in 2016 03:39 Keys to Success: Luck and Strategy 06:02 Building and Launching the First Game 09:25 The Importance of Agile Development 13:18 Current Mobile Gaming Landscape 20:46 Investing in Mobile Games 26:21 Challenges and Future of Mobile Gaming 33:11 Conclusion: Insights and Final Thoughts

If you're doing ad monetization in your app or game, you need that data in your MMP. And you need granular data so that you can calculate accurate ROI, LTV, and ROAS.

In this Growth Masterminds, we chat with Singular director of product Lisi Gardiner about admon insight the Singular product. The key new thing: thanks to a recent product innovation it's now available in Singular's free tier of service.

We talk about how it works, what's supported, why it's now in the free tier, and much more!

Imagine going viral on TikTok and getting millions of views. Then imagine you have a product attached to those views and you sell out in 3 days.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Vivian Chang, the VP of e-commerce at GNC, about retail subscriptions.

We chat about GNC's experimental success on TikTok Shop where a women's Stress Vita Pack went viral and sold out in three days, and Vivian breaks down strategies to succeed in subscription retail, touching upon the significance of pricing promotions, the importance of innovative convenience, and effective marketing techniques such as surround sound marketing.

We also dive into the dynamics of on-platform commerce at platforms like TikTok and Facebook ... should you do this, or should you always try to bring customers straight on to your owned platforms?

Finally, we talk about the balance between online and physical retail channels for consumer brands. Whether you're interested in the nuances of e-commerce or looking for creative ways to enhance customer loyalty, this episode offers invaluable insights.

00:00 Introduction to GNC's Success on TikTok

01:32 Black Friday and Consumer Sentiment

02:22 Understanding Subscription Retail

08:48 Key Growth Levers in Subscription Retail

10:53 The Role of Key Channels in Subscription Retail

15:14 On-Platform Commerce: TikTok and Beyond

23:17 Balancing E-Commerce and Physical Stores

27:23 Final Thoughts and Hidden Keys to Success

How do you make games go boom? Balancing pleasure and frustration, says long-time growth expert Elad Levy.

In this Growth Masterminds we chat with growth guru Elad Levy, who sold his last game company to Playtika. He's also led growth and marketing and co-founded numerous other tech startups.

Our focus: making games growth. We chat about:

- data

- testing

- predictions

- generative AI

- engagement

- live ops

- and, of course ... game design

What is the super-important topic we are not talking about in mobile gaming? Player motivations. We talk about a lot in growth marketing for mobile games ... retention ... CPI ... core loops ... game economies ... targeting ... and more. But we often forget to take player motivations into account. In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Google's Mobile Gaming Analyst and Apps Lead Mariusz Gasiewski. We dive deep into the crucial topic of player motivations in mobile gaming, analyze why understanding player motivations is essential, how they variy across cultures, and its impact on user acquisition, marketing strategies, and game design. 00:00 Introduction to Growth Mastermind 01:33 The Untouched Topic in Mobile Gaming 02:50 Understanding Player Motivations 04:30 Cultural Differences in Gaming 10:52 Impact on Game Publishers 14:51 Marketing Strategies for Player Engagement 20:03 Challenges and Opportunities in the Gaming Industry 27:32 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

What can AI do for your creative? How about 6X'ing your output? Or automating winners and losers? Or saving you the awful, horrible non-creative grunt work of making hundreds of variations for testing? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier interviews Hagop Hagopian, the founder and CEO of Appvertiser. They chat about AI's role in creative quality and quantity, the use of specific AI tools, balancing AI-generated content with human creativity, and the best strategies for growth marketers to adopt AI tools. They also talk about the future of AI in growth marketing and the potential of building custom AI models for superior performance. 00:00 Introduction to AI in Creative Work 00:22 The Role of AI in Modern Marketing 00:42 Guest Introduction and Initial Thoughts on AI 06:04 AI's Impact on Creative Quality 11:28 AI Tools for Creative Quantity 19:29 Automating Creative Testing with AI 25:20 Future of AI in Growth Marketing 28:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Singular CTO Eran Friedman talks about challenges with SKAdNetwork: getting enough supply side data, and ensuring you hit privacy thresholds to get data not just in number of total instals, but also total installs for each of several key parameters ...

In other words ... it’s about much more than getting, or not getting, the IDFA.

How will generative AI impact games? According to Unity CEO John Riccitiello, it will massively grow the industry, speed development by a factor of 2-3X, and enable much smarter, more realistic gameplay.

In a crosspost from his TechFirst podcast, Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with Riccitiello about generative AI in game creation, world building, but also in realtime gameplay.

The impacts on NPCs, on immersive experiences, and on richness of the artificial worlds game developers create will be massive.

Plus, Riccitiello drops some news about an AI engine that Unity has been working on for over 5 years ... and is currently present in over 4 billion devices globally.

Ever wish somebody had written the book on making mobile app businesses work? Wish no more: the job has been done. In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with Russell Ovans, game OG, prof, brewery owner, entrepreneur, data scientist, and current Director of Analytics at East Side Games. Russell discusses his journey from social gaming through to mobile gaming. We delve into a range of topics such as the importance of understanding game analytics and monetization in mobile games, challenges in HR, managing company growth, the impact of pricing strategies on a global scale, the value of A/B testing and player retention. But the big story in this podcast is Russell Ovans' book 'Game Analytics, Retention, and Monetization in Free Play Mobile Games' which is a comprehensive guide to the mechanics of mobile game businesses. 00:00 Introduction and Background 00:00 The Challenges of Running a Mobile App Business 00:44 Introduction to the Guest Speaker: Russell Os 01:17 The Journey into Mobile Gaming 05:26 The Evolution of Facebook as a Gaming Platform 07:48 The Transition from Facebook to Mobile Gaming 09:59 The Importance of Analytics in Mobile Gaming 10:41 The Decision to Write a Book on Mobile Gaming 15:09 The Power of Building an Abstract Schema on Top of Your Data Warehouse 19:32 Understanding the Big Mac Index and AB Testing 20:01 Applying Purchasing Power Parity and Exchange Rates 20:34 Testing Market Response in Mexico 21:11 Adjusting Pricing for Different Markets 22:14 The Challenges of AB Testing 22:46 The Importance of Proper AB Testing 28:53 The Role of Retention in Gaming 33:52 The Complexity of ROAS 36:58 Final Thoughts and Conclusion

What actually happens when a demand-side platform engages machine learning to boost your bids?

We now have less data than ever before about to drive the targeting piece of mobile user acquisition, with very limited access to anything approaching behavioral targeting.

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Persona.ly direction of machine learning Joseph Iris about targeting, demand-side platforms, and AI. We talk about signals, timing, context, and how SKAdNetwork and Privacy Sandbox are impacting everything.

We also talk about what signals are most predictive and most powerful.

How do you scale ad spend profitably? You can spend $300/day and make money, but it's much harder to scale ad spend to $10,000 per week and still be profitable. Here are 5 keys to profitably scaling mobile ad spend ...

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier is joined by Lukas Szanto, a lead generation specialist and senior UA manager. We explore 5 keys to profitably scaling ad spend for an iOS subscription app from zero to $10,000 in weekly ad spend.

Lukas shares invaluable insights from his extensive experience, including the importance of creative testing, building a solid campaign structure, the value of user surveys for accurate attribution, and overcoming unexpected challenges.

00:00 Introduction to Scaling Ad Spend

01:49 Creative Testing Strategies

03:56 Building a Strong Foundation

05:08 Iterating and Testing Angles

12:54 Campaign Structure Essentials

18:21 Isolating Strong Ads for Better Performance

19:09 Understanding Meta's Algorithm and Risk

19:40 The Correlation Between Risk and Reward

20:17 Creative Testing and Patience for Unicorn Ads

20:28 Tracking and Tools for Campaign Success

21:08 The Impact of iOS Changes on Attribution

22:22 Survey Strategies for Indirect Attribution

24:48 Using Custom Product Pages for Better Attribution

29:14 Challenges in Mobile Marketing

31:50 Realistic Expectations in Paid Ads

36:35 Concluding Thoughts and Final Insights

Where is location-based gaming right now? Pokemon Go is a massive hit, and Niantic is trying to follow it up with NBA All World, but what else is happening?

And, are we going to turn the world into a laser tag theme park?

In this episode of Growth Masterminds we chat with Beau Button, the president and CTO of Atlas Reality. Button is making a location-based game with play-to-earn mechanics that incorporates web3 thinking without blockchain. 

We also chat about growth, user acquisition, and much more ...

Jayne Peressini started her career with Glu Mobile in London, then worked for Cisco, Razorfish, Reddit, and Machine Zone. She is now the senior director of growth marketing for DraftKings.

We talk about:

The state of adtech ... what's changing, what’s working, and what’s broken.

Fraud

Scaling ad spend

Safe ways to grow fast

Measurement and privacy

Attribution and incrementality

Metrics that matter

And ... her best advice for growth marketers … on messaging, advertising campaigns, building a team, when to scale, and how to scale.

Measuring ad campaigns on iOS has been hard ever since ATT. But what can we expect in 2025?

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we discuss the future of iOS measurement and marketing in 2025 with Jesse Lempiainen, co-founder of GeekLab, and Neils Beenen from Singular.

We talk about the impact of Apple's IDFA changes, the effectiveness of various measurement methodologies like SSOT, MMM, CAPIs, platform probabilistic approaches, and the potential future developments in Apple's advertising landscape.

Key points include the challenges of current iOS mobile measurement, the role of creative testing, the implications of server-to-server data transfers, and the rise of conversion APIs and web-to-app campaigns. Tune in to get expert insights on how iOS game marketing might evolve in the next few years.

00:00 Introduction to 2025 iOS Measurement

01:01 Current Challenges in iOS Mobile Measurement

03:50 Retargeting Strategies and Banner Ads

04:40 The Role of SKAdNetwork and AEM

05:47 Probabilistic Attribution and Industry Trends

09:06 Unified Measurement and Incrementality

19:24 Web to App Campaigns and Conversion APIs

24:36 Future of iOS Game Marketing in 2025

27:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

WWDC kicked off today and SKAdNetwork is nowhere to be found. Instead, we have App AdAttributionKit and Web AdAttributionKit (say that 3X fast, we dare you!) and not much detail about where SKAN is going.

Out guest today, however, thinks that there' won't be a SKAN 5 or a SKAN 6, and that there will just be new AdAttributionKit releases from time to time. And that all the juicy new tech promised for future SKAN versions is actually here ...

So ...

Join host John Koetsier in this episode of Growth Masterminds as he explores the future of ad attribution and privacy compliance post-WWDC with guest David Phillipson, CEO of DataSeat.

They discuss the potential end of SKAdNetwork, the introduction of Apple's App AdAttributionKit and Web AdAttributionKit, and the challenges and implications for the ad tech industry. They delve into the reliability of modeled attribution data from media giants like Google, Meta, and TikTok, and the evolving modeling strategies used to overcome privacy blind spots.

Also, David shares his personal journey into ad tech (which is interesting!), lessons from successful entrepreneurs, and the importance of unified measurement in a privacy-focused world.

If you're looking to understand the impacts of Apple's recent announcements and the future of ad attribution, this episode is a must-watch (and you know this is absolutely 100% true because ChatGPT wrote this part of the show notes ... but not this sarcastic little note.)

00:00 Introduction and Opening Thoughts

00:16 The Reliability of Ad Attribution Data

00:45 WWDC and Apple's New Releases

01:05 Introducing the Guest: David Phillipson

04:45 Discussion on SKAN and Ad Attribution

07:34 Challenges and Adoption of SKAN

12:49 Future of Ad Attribution and Privacy

18:51 Unified Measurement and Market Trends

29:30 Final Thoughts and Predictions

32:53 Closing Remarks

Welcome to a podcast crosspost from SplitMetrics' App Growth Talks. Host Lina Danilchik chats with usual Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier as they talk about Singular's ROI Index for 2024 highlighting the best ad networks on the planet. I chat about the significance of Singular's ROI Index, detailing the best mobile ad networks across various geographies and verticals. Lina asks me about my background in mobile ad tech and my path from journalist to VP of Insights at Singular, plus my philosophy on app growth and user acquisition. Key topics include the effectiveness of various ad networks like Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, and ironSource, the surprising success of smaller networks like Moloco, the potential of Apple Search Ads, and the strategic use of artificial intelligence in marketing. We also talk about future innovations in the mobile industry, including multiple app stores and ads personalized through generative AI. See a full transcript on SplitMetrics' website:https://splitmetrics.com/blog/category/app-growth-series/ 00:00 Welcome to a Special Crossover Episode! 00:43 Introducing John Koetsier 03:58 Unveiling the ROI Index: A Deep Dive into Mobile Ad Networks 05:21 The Golden Six: Top Ad Networks Uncovered 08:40 Exploring Apple's Search Ads Performance 15:08 Reddit's Unique Position in the Ad Space 19:10 Exploring AI's Impact and Future in Tech 21:15 The Evolution of Advertising with AI 24:49 Emerging Technologies and Innovations in the Industry 28:47 Insights from the ROI Index Report 30:55 Advice for Small and Growing Mobile Businesses 36:09 Concluding Thoughts and Future Sessions

According to a recent study, half of all CTV ad targeting is wrong. In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier and expert Chris Kelly, CEO of Upwave, talk about: - CTV targeting - CTV benefits (and limitations) - CTV affordability for smaller advertisers - CTV ads real-time optimization capabilities We also talk about performance versus brand marketing, and the need to both pick apples that are ripe for the harvest as well as plant apple trees to enable future harvesting as well. Look for the blog post and learn about about Singular here: https://www.singular.net/blog/ Check out Upwave here: https://www.upwave.com

Channel diversification for mobile games: where do you start, and how do you do it?

In this Growth Masterminds we bring not 1, not 2, but 3 seasoned growth experts to join host John Koetsier on how to scale smarter via better channel diversification for mobile games:

- Matej Lancaric from 2 and a Half Gamers

- Kyle West from Mistplay

- Brendan O’Connor from Moloco

When do you add new channels?

Which ad partners do you start with?

How important are rewarded ads?

Where do influencers fit? When?

CTV ... should you try it?

How do you test new UA channels

Look for all of this and more.

Whether you're a new game publisher or managing a large-scale game, this episode provides actionable insights for achieving sustainable growth in the ever-evolving mobile gaming industry.

00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds

01:49 Starting with Channel Diversification

03:10 Expanding Your Partner Network

06:19 Testing New Channels

12:54 Scaling and Diversifying Channels

19:18 The Rise of Rewarded Advertising

22:33 Influencer Marketing in Gaming

26:22 The Challenge of Influencer Marketing

27:51 Celebrity Endorsements: A Double-Edged Sword

30:01 The Rise of CTV Advertising

35:57 Future of Ad Partners and Channels

45:17 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways

This special episode of Growth Masterminds features an all-women panel discussing their experiences and challenges in the growth industry. The guests share their career paths, biggest triumphs, and the key challenges they've faced, offering advice for women considering a career in growth. The panel comprises of five accomplished women from various companies who delve into topics such as the importance of self-advocacy, the value of mentorship, and the need to be adaptable and data literate in a fast-evolving field. The conversation also highlights the significance of community and support among women in tech and growth sectors.

Guests include:

Adrienne Rice, Performance Media Director, M&C Saatchi Performance

Dr. Matina Thomaidou, VP data science, Dataseat

Tamanda Itaye, Senior Global Performance Marketing Manager, WFP - ShareTheMeal

Saadi Muslu, VP Marketing, Singular

Susan Kuo, Chief Operating Officer, Singular

00:00 Welcome to the Women in Growth Special Episode

00:32 Introducing the Panel: Leaders in Growth

02:26 Journey into Growth: Panelists Share Their Stories

12:50 Biggest Career Triumphs: Stories of Success

22:53 Overcoming Challenges: Insights from the Panel

25:53 Cross-Functional Collaboration in Data Science

27:07 Navigating Leadership and Personal Growth

31:30 Challenges of Balancing Professional and Personal Life

36:47 Empowering Women in the Workplace

45:21 Advice for Women Considering the Growth Space

52:45 Closing Remarks and Appreciation

Why does livestream shopping work in China but not in the U.S. or Europe? And what is one big obvious opportunity that big brands are missing?

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with MoEngage's VP of Strategy Vassil Mladjov. We chat about where livestream commerce is actually working, could work, and isn't. We also chat about what's different and why livestream commerce does work in China.

Key topics we cover:

1:27 3 minutes about Vassil

4:34 Livestream shopping: east vs west

8:57 Southeast Asia skipped the web

11:55 Cultural differences

12:28 Much bigger influencers in China

14:14 A massive opportunity for brands

14:38 Steph Curry's kicks

16:42 Siloed shopping

18:39 The huge Facebook opportunity

22:44 Live shopping with American characteristics

24:51 Amazon Live

29:29 Livestream commerce won't happen overnight

31:38 The bricks-and-mortar retail opportunity

What is happening in mobile gaming in 2024? Apparently old people game more than young, casual’s growing everywhere. The market as a whole is growing, and daily engagement jumped back up after a decline last year. I recently saw that Adjoe put out a Mobile Games Index 2024 and I wanted to know more, so in this episode of Growth Masterminds, we discuss the latest trends in mobile gaming with Carly Ostasiewski, director of growth at Adjoe. The find unexpected insights from the 2024 Mobile Games Index report, including older demographics outpacing younger ones in mobile game engagement and the rise of casual gaming across various age groups. Key points include the transition from traditional console gaming to mobile, a surge in adventure and action game popularity among kids, and a significant increase in gaming app monetization through integrated ads. Additionally, the report shows that European players lead in daily app usage and explores the growing role of women in gaming. We also touch on the potential integration of gaming with everyday app usage, hinting at a future where gaming becomes a central component of consumer experiences across platforms. 00:00 Introduction and Surprising Gaming Trends 01:19 Demographics and Gaming Preferences 02:37 Kids and Mobile Gaming: The Reality 04:12 Roblox and the Younger Demographic 06:12 Gaming Industry Trends and Monetization 14:51 Regional Gaming Trends 17:05 Future of Gaming: Integration with Everyday Apps 19:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Why do gamers like certain games and not others? GameTree is a LFG (looking for group) app that connects gamers to play together. To do that, GameTree leverages psychology to build Gaming DNA, which analyzes why certain players like specific games. Gaming DNA shows what kinds of gamers there are, who likes which games, and who might enjoy playing with others. In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with GameTree founders Dana Sydorenko and John Uke. Their conversation reveals insights into how gaming preferences differ across genders, ages, and platforms, touching on the social dynamics of gaming, the role of gamer psychology, and the implications for game design and marketing. Key topics include the surprising patterns of gaming among men and women, the importance of social connections in gaming, and how GameTree's technology is pioneering personalized gaming experiences. Additionally, the discussion delves into the potential of mobile gaming, the impact of VR and Web3 on the gaming landscape, and the significance of supporting diversity in gaming, particularly the inclusion of women in gaming communities and development. 00:00 Introduction to Gamer Psychology 00:59 Introducing GameTree and its Founders 01:34 Gender Differences in Gaming 03:22 Platform Preferences and Gaming Patterns 04:58 The Importance of Gaming DNA 06:21 The Social Aspect of Gaming 15:30 The Role of Mobile Gaming 22:38 The Future of Gaming: VR and Blockchain 26:39 Women in Gaming 31:51 Conclusion

Everyone needs better app retention. Especially in health and wellness categories. One app, Welltory, has an insane 56% retention rate for users over the last 3 years. As in ... people installed 3 years ago, and THEY ARE STILL USING THE APP today. How? Perhaps some Jedi mind tricks, which Asya Paloni, VP of Strategy, shares with us in this episode of Growth Masterminds. We chat about Welltory's success in overcoming the notoriously poor retention rates in the fitness and wellness app industry by implementing innovative strategies. We also talk about making the app experience magical, hyper-personalizing content, offering new experiences with each app interaction, and ensuring users never feel bad for not meeting their goals. With a focus on making mundane data engaging and displaying it in real-time in a way that makes sense to users, Welltory has achieved a remarkable 56% usage retention rate over three years. The conversation highlights the importance of user engagement, the psychological aspects of app design, and the power of keeping users interested without relying on notifications or making them feel inadequate. 00:00 Introduction to Jedi Mind Tricks for App Retention 00:53 Unlocking Jedi Mind Tricks: Insights from a Content Creator 02:37 The Wellness App Dilemma: Retention Challenges and Solutions 07:31 Welltory's 5 Core Strategies for User Retention 08:48 Exploring Welltory's Innovative Features and User Engagement 22:47 The Impact of Welltory's Strategies on User Retention 28:48 Final Thoughts and Conclusion

We chat with Singular CTO Eran Friedman about SKAN, Singular's open-source framework for SKAdNetwork.

The key goals: 

 - identify the top challenges

 - maximize use of your 100 campaign IDs

 - manage the data from SKAdNetwork and bring it all together

 - reduce fraud

 - simplify conversion management ... and optimize conversion methodologies on the fly

 - combine SKAdNetwork data with IDFA data and data from other sources

 - and more!

Apple Search Ads is now in second place among top ad networks apps choose for user acquisition campaigns, at least for Singular clients. And according to Splitmetrics CMO Olga Noha, ASA campaigns help drive organic App Store optimization by as much as 4X.

In this Growth Masterminds, John Koetsier chats with Noha about:

- how important ASA is

- how important ASO is

- how ASA and ASO are related

- how Apple's newest ad units are performing

- what percentage of apps are running Custom Product Pages

- where in an app's lifecycle marketers should think about ASA

How do you achieve insane mobile app retention rates? One way is magic. Another is pure accident. The third is by applying smart frameworks to science (and magic) your way to better retention. In this episode of Growth Mastermind, host John Koetsier speaks with mobile growth expert Jacob Rushfinn about achieving high app retention rates. They discuss four frameworks for tackling retention: Darius Contractor's Psych Framework, RICE Prioritization (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort), Eisenhower's prioritization matrix, and Elena Verna’s Conversion Rate Decline Diagnostic. Jacob shares insights from his diverse experience at companies like Balance, Level Up, Amwell, and Automattic. The conversation covers the practical application of these frameworks, the value of early user engagement, and the impact of better retention metrics on long-term success. 00:00 Introduction to Killer App Retention 01:15 The Journey into Retention 04:27 Understanding Frameworks for Retention 07:26 The Psych Framework Explained 14:16 Framework Number Two: RICE Prioritization 20:06 Balancing Quick Wins and Big Bets 21:14 The RICE Approach to Prioritization 21:49 Eisenhower's Prioritization Matrix 25:48 Elena Verna's Conversion Rate Decline Diagnostic 33:58 The Impact of Better Retention 38:32 Final Thoughts and Resources

Why does a game publisher buy an ad network? What does it bring them? And what is behind this current frenzy of mergers and acquisitions that we're seeing in mobile adtech?

Good questions!

So I asked Zynga and Chartboost. Our conversation happened to be a couple of weeks before the news broke that Take-Two Interactive was buying (errr, acqui-merging) Zynga, and the answers are even more relevant now that that's happened. In this Growth Masterminds we chat with  Zynga Chief Product Officer Scott Koenigsberg and Chartboost CEO Rich Izzo.

Your host, of course, is John Koetsier.

What ad formats will skyrocket your app? What publishers will grow downloads faster?

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Tomas Yacachury from Kaizen about its latest Programmatic Inventory.

They discuss 6 different nations:

1. The US

2. UK

3. Germany

4. India

5. Brazil

6. Japan

In Japan, manga is king, so native ads work great. In Brazil, Spotify is huge, so video ads work well. In India, TrueCaller is huge and banners are essential.

Each nation has its own cultural heritage and hit publishers, meaning that each nation needs a slightly different mix of ad strategies and partners.

John & Tomas talk pricing, formats, publishers, and much more ...

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

01:30 Overview of the Programmatic Inventory Index

05:09 Deep Dive into Ad Formats and Categories

14:17 Country-Specific Insights

14:25 Ad Pricing Segmentation and Strategy

26:57 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

What can we learn about the future of mobile from China?

The Chinese mobile market is the largest on the planet, and has uniquely Chinese characteristics: super apps, social livestream shopping, key opinion leaders and fan economies, and more.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with Moonie Zhu, co-founder of ETOC (E-commerce to China) about the Chinese market, how to enter it, what's different, what we can learn from it, and more ...

What are the 8 biggest mistakes people make in user acquisition?

(Some are going to surprise you.)

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier sits down with Lorenzo Rossi, co-founder and head of growth at Replug. They delve into crucial aspects such as tracking and measurement, targeting, Apple search ads, Android and iOS strategies, and wrong KPIs.

Lorenzo shares in-depth insights on why having an improperly set up MMP can sabotage your efforts, the pitfalls of lazy targeting especially on platforms like Meta, and why a one-size-fits-all creative strategy can be detrimental.

They also emphasize the importance of a holistic marketing approach and understanding the correct KPIs to track. This episode is packed with valuable tips and strategies for anyone serious about optimizing their paid user acquisition efforts.

00:00 Introduction to Common Mistakes in Paid User Acquisition

01:28 No MMP or Improper MMP Setup

04:29 Sloppy Targeting on Meta

10:26 Over-Reliance on Apple Search Ads

17:15 Platform-Specific Content Strategies

18:32 Adapting Creatives for Different Platforms

20:38 Common Mistakes in Ad Campaigns

23:42 Holistic App Marketing Approach

25:53 Onboarding and User Experience

28:18 Looking at the Right KPIs

31:16 Exploring Diverse Paid UA Strategies

34:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Can web2app deliver 60% cheaper trials for your subscription-based apps?

And be able to track 20% more?

In this Growth Masterminds, we chat with Gessica Bicego:

- Blinkist

- Paired

- Kayak

- Fractional CMO, growth consultant

Gessica shares her journey from Blinkist to Paired, revealing key insights into the benefits and challenges of transitioning user acquisition efforts from app to web campaigns. We talk about why web-based UA offers better tracking capabilities, how to leverage landing pages to drive app store conversions, and the potential of web onboarding to minimize app store fees.

We also talk about the effectiveness of paid content and specific strategies to attract different user segments.

00:00 Introduction to Web-Based User Acquisition

01:46 Transitioning from App to Web Acquisition

03:01 Success Stories and Strategies

06:04 Challenges and Solutions in Web Campaigns

07:21 Understanding Audience and Metrics

14:05 Optimizing Mini Mobile Web Landing Pages

17:21 The Impact of Familiar Environments

17:44 The Evolution of Landing Pages

18:58 Innovative Paid Content Strategies

19:55 The Challenges and Rewards of Paid Content

24:45 Web Onboarding: A New Trend

31:19 Personalizing Web and App Funnels

34:32 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

How do you scale influencer marketing?

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with influencer marketing expert Yuliya Gorenko from Mishka Agencies. She's scaled influencer marketing programs to 8 figures, has over a decade of experience and has worked with over a thousand creators.

She's also a former PR and marketing specialist with L'Oreal.

Yulia shares her journey from L'Oreal to building influencer programs for various mobile apps.

Listen to learn how to scale influencer marketing to eight figures, hear about the evolution of the space, and and get Yuliya's top tips for verticals including beauty, health, fitness, retail, tech, gaming, and more. This is a must-listen for performance marketers looking to leverage influencer marketing as a strong growth engine.

00:00 Introduction to Influencer Marketing

01:36 The Early Days of Influencer Marketing

05:16 Evolution and Current Trends

09:13 Scaling Influencer Marketing Programs

15:49 Measuring Success in Influencer Marketing

20:03 Final Thoughts on Scaling and Measurement

20:51 The Realities of Influencer Marketing

22:26 Rapid Fire Tips for Key Verticals

22:32 Beauty Industry Insights

24:10 Fitness and Health Strategies

26:55 Tech and Gadgets Recommendations

27:46 Travel and Hospitality Tips

29:53 Gaming Community Building

30:55 Parenting and Family Influencer Ethics

33:04 FinTech and Financial Services Caution

34:22 Entertainment and Media Storytelling

35:44 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

If you're going to scale user acquisition, it's pretty hard if not impossible to do it without rock-solid forecasting. In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Nathan Ceulemans, an exec at Kohort, about forecasting and predictive analytics. Nathan shares insights from his experience at Leanplum, SensorTower, and Kohort. We discuss how accurate forecasting can enhance scaling efforts for games and apps and talk about the importance of predicting retention and monetization and the challenges of integrating monetization natively. Real-world examples highlight how forecasting can lead to smarter spending and greater growth, like the success of Candy Crush. Tune in to understand the critical balance between retention and monetization, effective UA strategies, and the potential benefits of advanced forecasting methods. 00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds 01:03 The Importance of Forecasting in Scaling Games 01:32 Understanding User Acquisition and Financials 02:24 Forecasting Retention and Monetization 04:15 Challenges in User Acquisition and Scaling 07:31 The Role of Product Teams in Forecasting 13:17 Accuracy in Forecasting with Neural Networks 17:51 The Impact of Accurate Forecasting on Growth 22:35 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Is it possible that you’re wasting marketing dollars by only user acquisition where you always have been in the past? Or limiting your potential growth? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Tom Shadbolt, Moloco's Senior Marketing Insights Manager, about the untapped opportunities in global markets beyond the big 5 countries which account for 60% of gaming UA spend. They delve into findings from Moloco's analysis of 4,000 apps and $3 billion in in-app purchase revenue, exploring emerging markets like Brazil, India, and South Africa, and the importance of a diversified marketing strategy. The conversation highlights the necessity of long-term planning, localization, and the utilization of machine learning to identify high-value users across various regions and genres. Tune in to learn how to optimize your marketing spend and discover new growth potential across the globe. 00:00 Global Growth Opportunities 00:54 Key Insights from the Report 02:56 Top Markets for Gaming UA Spend 05:44 Challenges and Strategies for Global Expansion 10:04 Diverging Strategies for iOS and Android 11:35 Finding the Right Market for Your Game 13:23 Localization and Market Segmentation 14:34 Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) Insights 16:42 Experimentation and Long-Term Strategies 20:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Q4 is the golden quarter. It's when many businesses make it or break it?

How can you dominate growth in Q4 2024?

We're doing 3 webinars in 3 days on exactly that ... listen in for what's going on, and find the link to sign up right here:

https://lp.singular.net/dominating-q4

How do you become Apple's iPhone app of the year? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, John Koetsier sits down with Ron Schneidermann, the CEO of AllTrails, an outdoor exploration app. Out of all the millions of apps on the App Store, AllTrails won iPhone app of the year in 2023. How? How does AllTrails grow? How does AllTrails achieve 7X better retention than the average app What decisions boosted AllTrails growth? Schneidermann talks about taking over from the founder in 2015, growing the user base and revenue, and the critical role of their community. We also chat about the importance of continual product development We end with Schneidermann's thoughts on success, staying humble, and surrounding oneself with smart, passionate people can drive success. 00:00 Introduction to the Journey of Success 00:25 The Making of an iPhone App of the Year 01:45 Understanding the Significance of Being iPhone App of the Year 04:10 The All Trails App: A Closer Look 05:18 The Journey from Startup to Success 07:24 The Decision to Reject Quick Flip and Aim for Long-Term Growth 07:44 Key Decisions that Ignited Growth 12:14 The Role of Product Development in Growth 25:33 The Importance of Regular App Updates 27:50 Advice for Aspiring App Developers 28:15 Conclusion: The Importance of Humility and Openness

60% of in-app subscription cancellations happen in the first 60 minutes ... but there's a way to 10% of them back.

In this Growth Masterminds host John Koetsier chats with Apphud cofounder Renat Kurbanov. Every app marketer wants more subscription revenue, but how do you achieve that?

In this episode, we chat about:

- the core challenges to driving subscription revenue

- typical and most successful flows to drive more subscription revenue

- optimizing free trials

- managing auto-renews properly

- ARPAS … what it is, and why it matters

- subscription fatigue in a down economy

If you’re doing mobile marketing on iOS, you pretty much have to use Apple’s SKAdNetwork. But SKAN has serious issues, including privacy-focused censorship thresholds: You don’t get all the data, so you can’t determine device-level granular marketing performance.

That means you can’t get great ROAS and ROI data ... and that makes optimizing advertising hard.

Now, there might be a solution using data science and machine learning to model the missing conversions and re-surface the missing data.

To check it out, we’re chatting with Singular product manager Evyatar Ram.

What will Unity focus on under its new CEO, Matt Bromberg? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier talks with Unity's new CEO, Matt Bromberg, about the company's recent developments and future goals. They discuss Unity's controversial pricing model change, the importance of Unity in the gaming industry, and the challenges of profitability. Bromberg shares insights on Unity's role in mobile game development, AI integration, data-driven advertising strategies, and the company's unique position in the gaming and broader app economy. The conversation emphasizes focus, innovation, and the potential for growth within the competitive landscape of mobile advertising. 00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds 01:14 Unity's Role in Gaming 04:05 Monetization Strategies and Ad Network Potential 10:49 AI and the Future of Game Development 17:31 AI in Advertising and Final Thoughts

In the mobile app world … how do you know who’s winning? It is number of installs?

We know that can be a faulty measurement: one that's easy to game, and easily misleading. Apptopia knows this. Their job is providing competitive intelligence across the digital ecosystem, and isolated install counts won’t cut it. So they’ve teamed up with Digital Turbine to do something different

They’ve just released v2 of that “something different," the BRAG index. In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with 2 experts about what that is ... and what they’ve learned:

 - Tara Kirkpatrick, analyst for Apptopia

 - Gregory Wester, SVP and CMO for Digital Turbine

How can you maximize one of the top 3 user acquisition platforms on the planet?

Imagine boosting your conversion rate by 100%. Or cutting CPI by 50%. All while massively boosting how many people see your ads ... essentially for free.

In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with ASO expert Emre Bilgic from Mobileaction about cutting-edge App Store optimization plus paid marketing tips on Apple Search Ads, a must for any serious user acquisition pros on iOS.

We also talk about:

- Hidden secrets on ASA

- Common mistakes on ASA?

- Metrics that matter most on ASA

- Recommended budgets and drip campaigns

- The correlation between good ASO and paid UA on ASA

- Media mix modeling and ASA … what’s interesting here

- and much more!

As always get all the details on Singular's blog when we post:

https://www.singular.net/blog/

Everyone needs more creative, but building it at scale is hard and expensive. Can generative AI do the job for you?

In this Growth Masterminds, we chat with Winclap general manager Avi Ben-Zvi about building mobile user acquisition ad creatives via generative AI.

We discuss:

- what tools he's using

- how he's using them

- what he's building: video/stills/audio

- the big shift he's seeing in creative right now

- and the results generative AI is ... well ... generating

How do pink cows, purple velvet shoes, and stone pillows help you beat the competition?

Well, they probably don't. But creativity will.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with Lee Eisenhuth, who leads design at PeopleFun. They make games like Wordscapes. We also chat with Alice Guillaume, the Senior Director of Marketing at Applovin. She left a Wall Street job with Morgan Stanley to do something much more interesting: mobile marketing.

We chat about:

 - magic in marketing

 - process

 - A/B testing

 - luck

 - what ads work for clicks, and what ads work for conversions, and why they're different

 ... and much more!

He helped sell and launch the first-ever banner ad: the (in)famous AT&T "have you ever clicked here ... YOU WILL" ad. Now he's focused on generative AI in advertising in marketing.

In this Growth Masterminds, we chat with Data Axle's Tom Zawacki about the history and the future of marketing and advertising. Ultimately, we chat about generative AI and how it will impact the creation and personalization of ads.

We also hit social media, influencers, Taylor Swift -- yes, once a client -- and that good-old-fashioned marketing methodology: omnichannel.

What are the 5 things you need to know to succeed in influencer marketing in 2024? In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier discusses the ever-evolving landscape of influencer marketing with Kristina Nikeenko, the Influencer Marketing Director at Zorka. They cover everything from the projected $24 billion market value in 2024 to platform-specific strategies, the importance of data-driven decisions, AI integration, and building long-term partnerships with influencers. Also, you'll learn the five key strategies you need to know to succeed in influencer marketing in 2024 and stay ahead of the game. 00:00 Introduction to Influencer Marketing in 2024 01:09 The State of the Influencer Marketing Industry 04:38 YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok 10:56 Top 5 Tips for Influencer Marketing in 2024 13:33 Long-Term Partnerships and Post-Campaign Analysis 18:50 Conclusion

How do you scale your mobile game beyond 1 million players? Anyone can start a game or an app and get a certain amount of growth. But scaling is hard: you need to find more players, sure, but you also need to expand beyond your initial niche. And you probably have to start paying attention to what your competitors are doing. In this episode of Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier talks with Sven Jurgens, an independent mobile games consultant, about the challenges and strategies for scaling mobile games beyond 1 million players. Sven shares his journey into growth marketing, the importance of focusing on successful creatives, managing ad partners, handling cash flow, and optimizing monetization. He also discusses the significance of automation, getting smarter with data, and the impact of AI in user-generated content. The conversation concludes with actionable insights on competitor analysis and core marketing strategies. Tune in for practical advice and expert tips to take your game's growth to the next level. 00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds 01:37 Journey into Growth Marketing 03:55 Challenges of Scaling: Creative Strategies 09:20 Ad Partners and Scaling 11:39 Financial Challenges in Scaling 13:52 Monetization and Data Utilization 15:39 Tools and Automation in Scaling 18:23 Automate the Boring Stuff 19:04 Building Small Tools for Efficiency 20:37 Competitor Analysis Strategies 25:04 Getting Smarter About Data 28:53 Winning Strategies and Trends 32:55 Reviving Old School Marketing 35:35 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

We have SKAdNetwork from Apple. We have Privacy Sandbox from Google. We have ID5 and Unified ID 2.0 and the IAB's Project Rearc.

In short, we have many diverse solutions now competing for the future of marketing measurement. Plus, of course, IPA, or Interoperable Private Attribution from Facebook ... errr ... Meta.

What is it?

How does it work?

Should you be thinking about it?

And ... with all these different methodologies, how can marketers actually measure results across the board? Don't we need a United Nations of measurement to make this all make sense?

We chat about all these questions with Singular CTO Eran Friedman.

We talk to mobile growth expert Thomas Petit on ASO, conversion optimization, the duopoly, how indies can still succeed, getting featured by Google and Apple, and much, much, much more!

Thomas Petit is a mobile growth consultant for Deezer, Lingokids, Playspace, AppAgent, and many more companies. He's spoken at App Growth Summit, App Promotion Summit, Mobile Growth Europe, ASO Conference, and that's just the first part of the list. And he's a frequent contributor to MobileDevMemo.

Whole generations of mobile marketers have cut their teeth on growth in the grand old times of (nearly) free money from venture capitalists, resulting in huge budgets that could be deployed and deterministically measured. Those times are over, so how do you grow when growth is hard? You become a cockroach app.

Cockroach apps survive the nuclear apocalypse when nothing else does because they focus on the fundamentals, says Tynker chief growth officer Lomit Patel.

“If you look at the past 5, 6, 7 years, there was such an over-index emphasis on growth at all costs, right?” Patel, who is the former VP for growth at IMVU and led direct marketing at Roku, says. “It was really cheap to get money at that time, especially in startups. So it was really about just buying your way to growing as quickly as possible.”

So what do you do?

Well, for starters, listen to (or watch) this episode of Growth Masterminds, brought to you by Singular.

Mobile marketers can live with many of the deficiencies of SKAdNetwork: lack of granularity, lack of immediacy, lack of data richness. But they can't live without predictability. Predictability enables confidence in campaigns and massive capital deployment.

BUT ...

Mobile growth experts have had major challenges making SKAN predictable. As many as 90% of mobile marketers can't get what they need out of SKAdNetwork.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, we chat with Singular CTO Eran Friedman, who has worked with many massive clients on SKAN and iOS campaigns, on how to achieve predictability with SKAdNetwork.

In mobile adtech you have two giants (Google and Facebook) and 5-7 major competitors, which we've called titans, and then hundreds if not thousands of additional ad networks.

Unity shook up the adtech space yesterday by announcing a merger with ironSource, largely to get its mediation and publishing platforms, and to get access to more data.

In this episode of Growth Masterminds, cross-posted from TechFirst with John Koetsier, we chat with Unity CEO John Riccitiello about why he pulled the trigger, and what Unity expects to gain by acquiring ironSource.

What is App Tracking Transparency? When do you need to use it? Can you measure marketing effectiveness without it? How can you ensure you are ATT compliant?

Welcome to Growth Masterminds, with John Koetsier

There are a ton of questions about iOS 14 and Apple’s new IDFA rules, and ATT is at the heart of them. Today we are going to ask Singular CTO Eran Friedman all of them :-)

Privacy Sandbox on Android is out and it looks good. But there's still a lot of questions about how advertisers, ad networks, and MMPs will work together. 

If the industry can't find a way to innovate in tandem, we risk having confusing data and unclear insights from marketing campaigns that won't enable proper measurement or optimization.

In this episode of the Growth Masterminds podcast, we chat with Singular product manager Jonathan Chen, who's working on ways of solving Privacy Sandbox on Android for the industry, including how we can ensure that we don't get siloed attribution (where multiple ad networks claim credit for a conversion and advertisers don't know whether they should credit one, or both, or neither) and coordinating aggregation keys so that advertisers, ad networks, and measurement partners can make sense of the aggregated privacy-safe data Google will be releasing.

We chat solutions, integrations, results ... and what still needs to be figured out.

In this intriguing episode of Growth Mastermind, host John Koetsier chats with industry veteran Farhan Haq, founder of independent growth agency Hyper HQ. They explore crucial strategies to enhance CPMs, discussing the importance of manual calls and real-time bidding in optimizing ad ops within a real-time bidding world. Farhan provides an in-depth look at how games developers and publishers can navigate these processes for effective growth in the mobile gaming landscape. He further delves into ad placements, A/B testing, market strategy, and innovative methods like adjusting in-game rewards based on real-time user worth. The conversation wraps up with an exploration of emerging trends and projections for the future of in-app purchase, subscription, and ad monetization models. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation 01:05 Understanding Ad Operations in an RTB World 01:57 The Importance of Manual Calls and Realtime Bidding 03:46 Optimizing Networks and Running AB Tests 04:05 The Role of Competition in Ad Monetization 04:27 Understanding the Fundamentals of AB Testing 05:53 The Impact of Ad Placement and Pricing on Monetization 06:02 The Importance of Ad Units in Monetization 07:27 The Impact of Automation on Ad Monetization 07:27 The Importance of Hands-On Approach in Ad Monetization 08:48 The Role of Google Ad Manager in Monetization 10:17 The Role of User Acquisition in Monetization 20:23 The Impact of Geographical Location on Monetization 26:59 The Future of Ad Monetization 32:13 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Entertainment apps most often monetize via interstitials. Same with news and weather apps. For hypercasual games, it's much more about banners than rewarded ads.

I recently saw that Kayzen released a Programmatic Inventory Index based on an analysis of:

- 24 trillion bid requests

- 630,000 apps

- 1.4 billion daily active users

- 10 billion machine learning decisions every day

I’m a sucker for stuff like this, so I thought ... I have to talk to these guys and learn what they found out. So I did ... and now you can too!

What has App Tracking Transparency done? And what will Privacy Sandbox on Android do? In a lot of ways they shift power from the buy side to the sell side in mobile adtech ... and they privilege larger companies with massive amounts of first-party data.

In this Growth Masterminds we chat with InMobi chief business officer Kunal Nagpal about the privacy revolution and how everything from targeting to optimization to measurement is changing. We also discuss how those changes are impacted every link in the adtech ecosystem.

Tune in as I ask Nagpal:

- How do ad networks have to change?

- What’s the model that works for the next decade?

- Is targeting toast?

- What about optimization signals?

- What about Apple, an ad network based on first-party data?

- Are owned audiences the future?

- What does this mean for third parties? App monetization?

- What changes can we expect to see in the future from InMobi?

How do you manage hundreds of apps? Especially when some are D2C, some are B2B, and many are internal?

In this very special Growth Masterminds, we chat with Athina Kanioura, the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer for PepsiCo. She's managing a digital transformation for PepsiCo to ensure each end customer gets exactly what she or he needs ... but also that every level and layer of a complex multi-billion multinational corporation works together seamlessly.

We chat:

- Strategy

- Apps

- AI

- Generative AI

- Human-centred approach

- Managing internal and external customers

We are down to the short strokes now: Apple’s iOS 14.5 will roar in next week or soon after, changing mobile marketing on iPhone and iPad forever. But is the mobile advertising ecosystem ready? Is there SKAdNetwork-ready ad supply from mobile publishers? And how will MMPs, mobile web customer journeys, and deep links work?

In short: there are still a lot of questions.

I spent some time with Jonathan Chen, who leads Singular’s attribution product and manages integration with top partners, to answer these questions.

How do you get more data from ad platforms than they offer? Simple: use Singular. No, we're not talking about anything underhanded or tricky. We're simply getting multiple dimensions and breakdowns that are individually available but not generally visible together. That lack of visibility has a cost: complexity, time, and your ability to see optimization or targeting capability. In this Growth Masterminds, host John Koetsier chats with Singular product manager Maayan Shor about the companies' new feature to bring as much data into your BI system as possible, allowing marketers to make the smartest optimization and allocation decisions. Multiple Breakdowns helps marketers by enabling access to a broader range of data breakdowns without the need to switch views constantly. This capability allows marketers to uncover hidden trends, fine-tune targeting strategies, and make more informed decisions by providing a more comprehensive view of campaign data across platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat. We also chat about how specific breakdowns, such as age and gender, can lead to more precise targeting and identification of unexpected audience segments. 00:00 Navigating Data Challenges in Ad Platforms 00:28 The Struggle for More Data: Challenges and Solutions 03:15 Introducing Multiple Breakdowns: A Game-Changer for Marketers 04:55 Unlocking New Marketing Strategies with Enhanced Data 06:21 Optimizing Creative Strategies with Targeted Insights 07:11 Frequency and Impact of Data Analysis in Marketing 09:09 Exploring New Dimensions: DMA Breakdowns and Their Impact 11:07 Selecting the Right Data Breakdowns for Your Marketing Goals 12:37 Closing Thoughts and Appreciation

What does it take to win in user acquisition in 2023? In this episode of Growth Masterminds we chat with Misplay chief growth officer Jason Heller about the new world of mobile user acquisition on iOS in 2023: - what works - what's changed - how marketers should navigate these new waters - how ad networks need to adapt as well We also learn a little bit more about Misplay, which was a surprise strong finisher in multiple categories of the 2023 Singular ROI Index, but is still (relatively) small and (relatively) unknown.