AppLovin is the apex predator of in-app ads, and it just keeps pulling away. 59% revenue growth, 90% incremental flow-through to EBITDA, and self-serve going global this month. So can anyone actually catch it?

Host Josh Chandley (WildCard Games) decodes AppLovin's Q1 and the entire competitive field with two seats you rarely get in one room: financial analyst Matthew Kanterman (Blue River Financial Group) on the numbers, and Vincent Février (ex-MoPub mediation, Tap Nation) on the demand and supply sides.

Chapters

• 00:00 AppLovin: The Apex Predator of In-App Ads
• 02:07 Insights on AppLovin
• 06:13 The Self-Serve Moment
• 16:24 The Impact on Gaming Advertisers
• 24:13 Strategic Shift to Consumer Apps
• 31:57 The Impact of Self-Serve on App Monetization
• 37:34 The Role of Targeting in Ad Monetization
• 38:15 AppLovin's New Social Media Venture
• 42:05 Unity's Strategic Shift Post-Iron Source
• 55:49 Meta's Potential Return to iOS
• 1:01:59 Winter is coming.
• 01:08:13 Google's Position
• 01:13:03 Ranking Network Competitors
• 01:16:00 CloudX: A New Player in the Market
• 01:20:18 Future Predictions

Networks own targeting. They set the bids. Ad creative is the last input mobile gaming advertisers still control. Now Meta is generating ads with AI at scale, and AppLovin has over 100 advertisers in their network-generated creative pilot. The window for advertiser-led creative in user acquisition is closing fast.We decode whether advertiser-side tools can win this race with Olivia Barnett, COO of Craftsman+. Her company just launched an AI-powered partnership with AppMagic, ingesting thousands of playable ads weekly to train design recommendations and automate creative production. The bet: third-party creative tools can find signal the networks can't see, because networks optimize for auction yield, not differentiation.We break down the structural tension in mobile ad tech: when both sides train AI on the same winning patterns, does everything converge into optimized sameness? We get into why network-generated creative isn't actually free, how Craftsman+ went from 10 playables per designer per week to 40, and what happens when the algorithm doesn't just distribute your ad. It writes it.This is Episode 2 of The Signal. A podcast where mobile gaming operators decode the mechanisms behind user acquisition, monetization, and growth.--------------------------------------- Josh Chandley, President and COO, WildCard Games https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshchandley/ Olivia Barnett, COO, Craftsman+ https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviacdbarnett/--------------------------------------- For inquiries: josh.thesignal@gmail.com

Rewarded user acquisition has always carried a reputation problem: users show up for the rewards… then disappear. But adjoe's data says the opposite. That’s why they ranked #6 on AppsFlyer’s iOS Gaming Power Index. In this episode, Josh Chandley sits down with Thomas Yannopoulos, VP Revenue Americas, to explain how a rewarded platform beat Meta, one of the biggest networks in mobile on quality, not just volume.They break down how Adjoe transformed the traditional “offer wall” into a loyalty-powered acquisition engine by integrating with massive consumer ecosystems like Fetch, Payback, fintech apps, QSR loyalty programs, and potentially even airline rewards systems.

Thomas also explains why most companies still misunderstand gaming audiences, why rewarded acquisition behaves differently inside lifestyle apps, and how incentive structures can actually improve long-term retention instead of destroying it.If you work in mobile gaming, user acquisition, ad tech, monetization, loyalty products, fintech, or performance marketing — this conversation goes deep into one of the most misunderstood channels in mobile growth.Subscribe for more conversations on mobile gaming, ad monetization, growth systems, and the future of performance marketing.#mobilegaming #useracquisition #adtech #gamingindustry #performancemarketing #mobileapps #rewardedads #ua #loyaltyprograms #monetization

The founding team of MoPub and MAX just raised $30M to build the next chapter of mobile monetization for the AI era. Their new approach starts from a simple premise: modern monetization systems should be operable by autonomous agents. We decode the thesis behind CloudX with Jim Payne and Dan Sack. Their new platform, a full programmatic stack for mobile, launches with Meta, Magnite, Liftoff, and more as partners. Sign Up Feb 4: https://www.cloudx.ai/

We break down the structural tension in mobile ad tech: the platform that routes demand also competes for every impression. Jim and Dan are betting that model has a ceiling. I'm calling their thesis "the new neutral." We get into the SDK economics that lock publishers in, why Meta gave input on CloudX's auction architecture, and whether neutral infrastructure can actually win against vertical integration.

This is Episode 1 of The Signal. A podcast where mobile gaming operators decode mechanisms, not journeys.

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Josh Chandley, President and COO, WildCard Games

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshchandley/

Jim Payne, CoFounder and CEO, CloudX

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpayne/

Dan Sack, CoFounder and Business Lead, CloudX

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansack/

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For inquiries: josh.thesignal@gmail.com