If you monetize with ads, Digital Turbine is bidding on your inventory with something no other network has. Its software ships inside the firmware on roughly a billion Android devices, which means it can install apps directly, and to do that it has to read what is already on the phone. That app list becomes a signal in the auction.

The question is whether that actually changes what you get paid. Every other network sees inside apps. DT sees across them. Is that a real pricing edge, or a story?

Itai Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer at Digital Turbine, argues it is real, and that it shows up most in the impressions performance UA has stopped paying for. Performance bids decay with session depth. Brand bids stay roughly flat. His claim is that DT competes for impression four and five in a way a single-threaded app install network structurally cannot.

I push back on the part that matters for publishers. Mediation does not price session quality. MAX gives you no filter for ad friction, so the aggressive three-tap creative wins the auction over the lower-CPM brand ad that would have kept the player in the session. Good demand does not win on its own. We get into what a developer can actually do about that without building their own auction.

Chapters

00:00 The bet: DT sees across the whole phone

00:24 First boot: a billion devices and who owns the screen

04:17 On-device vs App Growth Platform: one business or two?

05:47 The new taxonomy: DT Ignite, DT Ads, DT Launchpad

07:09 Wide and shallow vs deep: what DT sees that AppLovin can't

11:03 The app list signal and how it changes a bid

14:29 The firmware vs SDK tradeoff

17:29 Conviction or constraint? The case for impression 4

19:32 $1B in two months: AdColony, Fyber, Appreciate

23:49 Two reported segments, one platform: where the seam shows

29:23 AGP revenue: $72M, then $36M, now $56.6M

32:24 128 steps to launch a single campaign

36:21 Google owns Android. Why isn't this Google's thesis?

40:00 Sizing brand: $670B mobile, $110B app install, $12B gaming ads

45:13 Will DT break out brand revenue by 2030?

47:46 Diapers vs a game ad: how brand outbids performance

50:56 Ad quality has no bid: session quality and the auction

54:54 MAX, missing filters, and the grind from impression 10 to 1

1:01:11 Non-gaming UA is not brand: the demand gradient

1:06:49 The closing bet and what to watch in a year

Disclaimers

Market figures cited by Itai come from eMarketer, AppsFlyer and Sensor Tower.

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.

The conversation delves into the earnings reports of AppLovin, Unity, and Liftoff, and the operator's take on what it means for advertisers. It explores the confusion and perceived value in the market, as well as the future growth and strategy of these companies. The discussion also covers consumer spend, revenue growth, and the gaming ecosystem, with a focus on Unity's performance and Vector's growth. Additionally, it touches on Unity's guidance and the consideration of future testing. The conversation delves into the complexity of the new billing system introduced by the Google Play Store, highlighting the impact of these changes on UA buying models and the need for a thorough understanding of the new billing rules for UA optimization. The discussion also touches on the outcome of the Google and Epic lawsuit, shedding light on the implications for app developers and publishers.

Takeaways

• AppLovin, Unity, and Liftoff operator perspective
• Sensor tower says installs are down, revenue barely moved, and neither did time spent
• Google and Epic dropped their settlements, and now third-party app stores are live inside Google Play
• Impact of changes in UA buying models
• Significance of understanding the new billing rules for UA optimization

Chapters

• 00:00 Does AppLovin Need Brand Awareness?
• 02:12 AppLovin, Unity, Liftoff Earnings: Operator Impact
• 13:17 Can Consumer & E-Commerce Ever Rival Gaming for AppLovin?
• 20:13 The "Crappy Inventory" Debate
• 26:53 Unity Vector: $1B Run Rate, Two Quarters Early
• 32:21 Is Vector's Growth Real? D28 Campaigns & Whether to Retest
• 37:00 Liftoff's First Earnings & DSPs
• 44:47 Sensor Tower H1: Installs Down 12%, Revenue Flat, Old Games Winning
• 50:43 Are Installs Really Falling? The Reinstall Undercount
• 54:59 Is Hypercasual Dead? Time Spent Up 7% YoY
• 58:37 How Big Is Mobile Game Ad Revenue, Really?
• 1:02:20 Google & Epic Settle: Google Play Fees Unbundled
• 1:09:06 Bad-Faith Compliance?

Disclaimer:

Views expressed on Mobile Signal are those of the hosts and guests, not their employers.

Josh Chandley does not hold individual publicly traded securities, including options and short positions.

CloudX just announced Agentic Buying, a move onto the demand side. CEO Jim Payne returns to explain whether it’s an ad network, a DSP, or something new. And whether CloudX can vertically integrate while still calling itself neutral.

Chapters:
1:23 – Traction: Adoption and Publisher Uplift
4:35 – What TEE 2.0 Actually Is
8:22 – Agentic Buying: Ad Network, DSP, or Something New?
10:54 – Flat Take Rate vs. Arbitrage
14:15 – How Targeting Works Without RTB
18:51 – AI Creative: Agentic Playables and Video
23:23 – What "Neutral" Really Means
29:58 – What Stops CloudX From Becoming the Incumbent?
33:38 – The Uplift Denominator: Compared to What?
38:24 – Do You Compete With Traditional Mediators?
40:58 – The 18-Month View
42:27 – Convince the Skeptic

If you work in mobile UA, ad monetization, or run a publishing business weighing CloudX against your current setup, this one is built for you. Subscribe to Mobile Signal for mechanism-level decodes of the biggest moves in mobile ad tech.

Disclaimer:

Views expressed on Mobile Signal are those of the hosts and guests, not their employers.

Josh Chandley does not hold individual publicly traded securities, including options and short positions.