Game publishers building their own ad networks. The question is whether any of them can become a real ad network, or whether they stall as highly advanced cross-promotion tools.

Who's in the game:

• Tencent: reportedly building an in-app ad network, backed by 1.2B+ downloads in 2026 so far (AppMagic)
• Voodoo: quietly building its own network, visible spreading across apps on AppGoblin
• Nazara: owns BestPlay (formerly Bluetile), a rewarded distribution app publishers use to move and keep users
• Also discussed: TikTok/Pangle, Bigo Ads, YSO, Nefta

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Who's building publisher ad networks
02:01 The prize: cutting out the middlemen
04:52 Cost savings vs. targeting loss
06:47 Portfolio retention: a lower bar?
10:39 Grocery store vs. bookstore
12:04 Cross-promotion as the beachhead
13:48 What would make a publisher integrate?
15:53 Can Tencent do it?
18:59 Competing by eating margin
20:28 The Moloco playbook: a breakeven network
22:30 The Pangle case study
30:55 Voodoo, AppGoblin, and BeReal
32:40 Escaping cross-promotion purgatory
34:04 The 10% ARPDAU bar
36:15 The new-SDK honeymoon
37:42 YSO and Nefta
38:52 Threat or rounding error?
40:43 Predictions through 2027
45:02 Who moves next?

Disclaimers
Views expressed on Mobile Signal are those of the hosts and guests, not their employers.
At the time of publishing, Josh Chandley does not hold individual publicly traded securities, including options and short positions.