Mobile Dev Memo Podcast

MobileDevMemo

Mobile Dev Memo is the site of record for mobile advertisers and app developers.

Play

Open in

31 episodes
weekly
Avg 51 min
English

Episodes 31

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

S8 · E4
Wednesday · 51 min
Season 8, Episode 4: Designing eCommerce for agentic discovery (with Rishabh Jain)
On this week’s episode of the podcast, I am joined by Rishabh Jain, the founder of FERMÀT Commerce. Over the course of our conversation, Rishabh and I explore a potentially seismic shift in consumer behavior toward agentic discovery for e-Commerce and how specialized AI agents are beginning to mediate the relationship between brands and consumers. Among other things, we discuss: Why traditional search interfaces may become obsolete as consumers shift toward natural language interactions with specialized AI agents How the implementation of agentic workflows could resolve trust issues that have historically hindered high-value e-commerce transactions within chatbots Whether the future of digital commerce will rely on advertising auctions or subscription-based models for product recommendation and ranking If independent brands can leverage agentic discovery to compete effectively against the massive logistical and infrastructure dominance of Amazon What structural changes are necessary for merchant websites to communicate effectively with agents rather than just human site visitors When and why the role of human-in-the-loop oversight will become unnecessary for complex purchasing decisions across various retail product categories How the integration of AI agents within social platforms could fundamentally rewire the existing marketing and conversion funnel for retailers Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S8 · E3
October 21 · 45 min
Season 8, Episode 3: Amazon and Agentic Commerce (with Adam Epstein)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Adam Epstein, the co-founder and CEO of Gigi, an AI-enabled media manager for the Amazon DSP (disclosure: I'm an investor in Gigi). Adam is one of the foremost experts on the Amazon Gigi, and I invited him back onto the podcast to explore the evolving landscape of agentic commerce and Amazon's strategic positioning within it. We analyze the shift from take-rate models to advertising-driven monetization for AI agents and the significance of Amazon's recent partnership with OpenAI. Among other things, we discuss: Why the economic incentives of major retailers might prevent them from fully embracing open agentic commerce platforms How the integration of Amazon's advertising signals into ChatGPT could redefine the digital shopping experience for consumers Whether a revenue-sharing model based on cost-per-click is viable for third-party AI agents in the long term If the desire for a browsing experience will ultimately limit the mass adoption of autonomous shopping agents When the expansion of Amazon's DSP into AI chat interfaces will start to displace traditional search-based advertising What the implications are for brand relationships when AI agents mediate the entire path to purchase for consumers How Amazon's control over the full advertising and logistics stack creates an insurmountable moat against rival shopping agents Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S8 · E2
October 14 · 1 hr 4 min
Season 8, Episode 2: Will consumers adopt agentic commerce? (with Michael Morton)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Michael Morton, a Senior Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson who covers E-Commerce and Marketplaces. In our conversation, Michael and I discuss the potential for agentic commerce and why consumer adoption might be more limited than Silicon Valley expects. We explore the data surrounding consumer payment habits and the structural moats that protect incumbent marketplaces from disruption. Among other things, we discuss: Whether I'm wrong about Agentic commerce being a mirage Why denizens of Silicon Valley may be overestimating the average consumer's actual frequency of shopping decisions How Amazon's massive investment in physical fulfillment infrastructure creates a nearly insurmountable barrier for new agentic competitors Whether autonomous agents can provide a reliable shopping experience without real-time API integrations into merchant inventory systems If the shift toward AI-powered product discovery will ultimately benefit independent brands over centralized e-commerce marketplaces What role consumer trust and reviews play in preventing the widespread adoption of hands-off autonomous purchasing agents How the transition to AI search might lead to higher-value advertising clicks despite a potential decrease in volume When high-stakes purchases like family vacations will be deemed too important to delegate to an automated agent Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
S8 · E1
October 7 · 50 min
Season 8, Episode 1: Articulating a bull case for the open web (with Gareth Glaser)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Gareth Glaser to explore the potential for a resurgence of the open web. Gareth is the CEO of Gamera and a long-time operator in the programmatic media space, having spent time at Appnexus and Magnite and having served as the PMC Chair at Prebid.js. We explore why the open web has lagged behind walled gardens like Meta and Google in performance marketing and how a shift in focus could unlock meaningful economic value. Gareth shares insights from his extensive career in independent ad tech, discussing the evolution of programmatic infrastructure and the current state of publisher monetization. Among other things, we discuss: Whether the open web can transition from a legacy branding medium to a high-scale performance marketing opportunity How the historical reliance on agency budgets and rebates stunted the technical development of open web advertising tools Why current estimates of open web traffic might significantly undervalue its potential if monetization strategies are modernized What structural changes are necessary to make open web inventory as attractive to small businesses as Meta ecosystem If the outcome of the Google antitrust trial will truly level the playing field for independent ad tech companies How the shift toward LTV measurement for publishers reflects the maturing operational standards of the mobile app world Why the lack of granular ad experience descriptions remains a primary barrier to entry for performance-oriented advertisers Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E35
September 29 · 42 min
Season 7, Episode 35: OpenAI's advertising ambitions (with Asad Awan)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Asad Awan, who leads monetization product and engineering at OpenAI. We explore the strategic foundations and product principles behind OpenAI's entry into the advertising space. My conversation with Asad focuses on how conversational AI shifts the advertising paradigm from transactional keyword matching to a deeper understanding of user journeys and intent, all while navigating the tension between monetization / commercial utility and user trust. Among other things, we discuss: How the conversational interface creates a unique environment for surfacing latent consumer intent and preferences Whether user trust can be maintained when AI responses are supplemented by paid commercial placements Why the direct value exchange of ads for compute might reshape consumer perceptions of digital advertising What role ChatGPT's Sponsored Agents will play in streamlining the path from discovery to transaction within chatbots How OpenAI's approach to automation and simplified bidding differs from traditional social media ad stacks When generative AI will be capable of fully automating the creation of contextually relevant ad creative If the integration of first-party conversion data is essential for grounding LLM-driven ad targeting systems Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E34
September 23 · 25 min
Season 7, Episode 34: What if everything turns out alright?
Among the many disastrous consequences predicted of artificial intelligence is a jobs famine: widespread worker displacement that devastates the economy and brings about a second Great Depression. But that hasn't happened. In fact, the US economy is doing well and, with a 4.1% unemployment rate, operating roughly at full employment, despite other headwinds like persistent inflation. And while whether humanity is "early" in the adoption phase of artificial intelligence is debatable -- I argue that, certainly, from an exposure standpoint, AI is a familiar technology at this point -- the notion that AI has displaced large swaths of the workforce is not supported in the current data. Given the buoyancy of the economy, should we reduce the odds of that happening? We can't definitively say that it won't, of course, but we can use the data at our disposal now -- in September 2026, nearly four years after ChatGPT's launch -- to update our likelihoods. And one likelihood that I believe is underestimated, sitting somewhere between The Prosperous Society and total economic Armageddon, is that everything turns out alright. Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E33
September 16 · 52 min
Season 7, Episode 33: An oral history of mobile user acquisition (with Nebojsa Radovic)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by my friend Nebojsa Radovic, the Senior Director of Mobile User Acquisition at Zynga and a battle-hardened mobile marketing veteran. In the course of our conversation, we discuss the evolution of mobile user acquisition from the era of manual campaign configuration to the contemporary operating environment of automated, AI-driven workflows. We reflect on how the industry has shifted from highly technical, high-headcount operations toward lean, specialist teams focused principally on creative optimization and signal engineering. Among other things, we cover: How AI-driven automation will permanently redefine the technical requirements for marketing roles Whether the consolidation of major ad networks will eventually stifle innovation within independent mobile gaming studios Why high-volume creative production has become the primary lever for performance in an algorithmic buying environment If traditional media buying expertise is becoming obsolete in the face of sophisticated signal engineering strategies What future organizational structures will look like as marketing teams become smaller and more specialized When the industry will reach a saturation point regarding the effectiveness of cross-channel attribution models Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E32
September 9 · 32 min
Season 7, Episode 32: The CAPI revolution
The Conversions API, or CAPI, represents a revolutionary development in the digital economy: it allows any platform with sufficient scale to extend its advertising scope beyond local context into the broader and more commercially valuable function of behavioral advertising, entirely outside of the purview of a browser or operating system. In this episode, I provide a history of the CAPI and its role in the Everything is an ad network phenomenon. I also explore the fundamental shift in the digital advertising landscape driven by the transition from browser-side pixels to the server-to-server CAPI, moving beyond the immediate impacts of Apple's App Tracking Transparency to a more permanent structural change in how commercial data is shared and utilized. Articles cited in this episode: Everything is an ad network The App Tracking Transparency recession Is CAPI future-proof? The privacy shuffle (part one, two, three, four) Privacy manifests, fingerprinting, and Apple’s intentions Podcast: Meta’s Renaissance Does Apple police fingerprinting? Google embraces IP-based fingerprinting Apple’s privacy “nuclear option” Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E31
September 2 · 33 min
Season 7, Episode 31: Understanding the privileged position of chatbot advertising
This week's podcast episode is a long-form companion piece to an article I published last week: The privileged position of chatbot advertising. In this episode, I make the case for why the chatbot advertising model is differentiated from those of both search and social media, feed-based display, and why it benefits from greater targeting scope through the optionality and flexibility it can utilize in determining which signals should inform that targeting, based on the context of a conversation. Articles cited in this piece: OpenAI’s advertising opportunity Google's Gambit and Google’s Gambit, Part 4: The end of Static Search Obviously, OpenAI will monetize with ads Digital Advertising, Demand Routing, and the Millionaires’ Mall Search is the wrong mental model for chatbot advertising The prosperous society Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E30
August 26 · 54 min
Season 7, Episode 30: MDM Mailbag #8 (with Thomas Petit)
For the eighth installment of the MDM Mailbag series, I am joined by independent app growth consultant and advisor Thomas Petit. As a reminder: guests for MDM Mailbag episodes of the podcast are practitioners, and questions are sourced directly from the MDM community. Thomas and I discuss the current state of measurement, the necessity of incrementality testing, and the challenges of scaling creative production in an automated environment. We also dive into the technical and ethical considerations of web-to-app funnels, as well as the ongoing legal battles surrounding app store commissions. Among other topics, the questions Thomas fields pertain to: Whether incrementality testing will ever completely replace deterministic last-click attribution models for large-scale mobile advertisers and networks How the proliferation of media mix modeling vendors affects the quality of measurement insights available to smaller app developers Why the mobile industry continues to struggle with ad fraud detection despite the availability of sophisticated third-party verification services If the current trend toward massive creative volume is actually delivering diminishing returns for performance marketing campaigns on Meta What the long-term impact of AI-generated video creative will be on the traditional role of performance marketing creative agencies When the friction of web-to-app onboarding funnels becomes a secondary concern compared to the benefits of merchant flexibility Whether Apple's proposed fifteen percent commission on external links will effectively stifle the growth of independent web-to-app payment ecosystems Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E29
August 19 · 51 min
Season 7, Episode 29: AI's impact on the labor market (with Brian Albrecht)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Brian Albrecht, the Chief Economist at the International Center for Law and Economics. We explore the complex intersection of generative AI and labor economics, alongside a deep dive into the regulatory and economic implications of personalized pricing models. The podcast is tethered to two articles that Brian recently published: You are not a horse, from his Substack, Economic Forces; and Eliminate ‘personal pricing’ and you risk harming consumers, which he published as an op-ed in the Financial Times. Among other things, we discuss: Whether humans will face the same economic obsolescence as horses after the introduction of the internal combustion engine How the redistribution of consumer savings from automated services creates new employment opportunities in diverse service sectors If the historical stability of labor's share of income can survive the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence What long-term productivity gains from previous technological revolutions reveal about the potential economic trajectory of modern AI Why government policy responses to automation might inadvertently hinder productivity by imposing restrictive taxes on data and computation How personalized pricing models actually improve market efficiency by reducing the deadweight loss associated with traditional discounting methods When the public's perception of fairness in pricing conflicts with the economic reality of supply and demand for scarce resources Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E28
August 12 · 47 min
Season 7, Episode 28: Digital Advertising's M&A Resurgence (with Maor Sadra)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Maor Sadra, the co-founder and CEO of INCRMNTAL, to discuss the current cycle of M&A in digital advertising and the industry-wide shift toward intelligence-based measurement. Maor is well-positioned to discuss this topic, as INCRMNTAL was recently acquired by Smartly. Maor and I analyze how acquisitions are moving away from simple inventory reach toward deeper integration of data, identity, and causal signal. Among other things, we discuss: Why causal measurement is becoming a strategic necessity for large-scale creative and media optimization platforms How the transition from legacy to AI-first companies creates opportunities for consolidation across the advertising stack Whether enterprise clients will prioritize deep domain expertise over general machine learning capabilities when selecting partners If the recent investment in AppsFlyer signals a permanent shift toward a collaborative industry-wide attribution infrastructure What the rise of zero-click platforms like ChatGPT means for traditional performance marketing metrics and models How e-commerce and retail media giants are leveraging CTV acquisitions to challenge established advertising platforms When the current wave of AI-labeled startups will face the reality of high-volume performance requirements Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E27
August 4 · 42 min
Season 7, Episode 27: Applying AI to human intimacy (with Offer Yehudai)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Offer Yehudai, the co-founder of Arya, to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and human intimacy. We explore the development of AI-driven companions designed to improve relationship health and the delicate balance between automation and human expertise. Among other things, we discuss: Whether the lack of human judgment in AI interactions encourages users to share more intimate personal details Why a hybrid model combining automated intelligence with human oversight remains necessary for maintaining consumer trust in sensitive topics like intimacy What role long-term contextual memory plays in developing sophisticated AI tools that truly understand complex human dynamics If the current explosion of low-quality AI applications will lead to a permanent erosion of consumer confidence How utility app developers can leverage community roll-ups to achieve sustainable growth in a competitive advertising market When the integration of commerce and physical products will become a standard component of digital wellness subscriptions Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E26
July 28 · 48 min
Season 7, Episode 26: Demystifying open source MMM (with Michael Kaminsky)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Michael Kaminsky, co-founder and co-CEO of Recast. We explore the rise of open-source Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) tools and the challenges of measuring modern ad spend. Among other things, we discuss: Whether open-source MMM libraries like Robyn and Meridian are truly unbiased tools or subtle instruments for big tech self-grading How marketers can effectively evaluate the accuracy of MMM outputs through techniques like parameter recovery and predictive forecasting Why smaller, performance-driven brands might actually find more value in last-touch attribution than in complex econometric modeling If the inherent uncertainty in MMM estimates makes them fundamentally incompatible with the fast-paced feedback loops of digital advertising What role generative AI and large language models play in democratizing access to sophisticated marketing data science analysis When a brand should transition from simple attribution methods to a multi-layered approach involving incrementality and econometric modeling How the shift toward CTV and non-trackable channels is forcing a resurgence in probabilistic measurement frameworks like MMM Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E25
July 21 · 46 min
Season 7, Episode 25: Quantifying the impact of AI Overviews on outbound clicks (with Ananya Sen and Saharsh Agarwal)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ananya Sen and Saharsh Agarwal to discuss their research on the impact of Google's AI Overviews on web publisher traffic. We explore the results of their field experiment, currently in pre-print, which utilized a custom browser extension to measure how generative search results influence outbound clicks and user satisfaction. The results of the field experiment suggest a significant reduction in traffic for certain queries, challenging the narrative that these interfaces only filter out low-quality interactions. We dive into the implications for the broader web ecosystem, including the risks posed to smaller publishers and the role of data licensing deals. Among other things, we discuss: How generative search interfaces might fundamentally alter the symbiotic relationship between search engines and the publishers who provide their data Whether the removal of low-quality clicks truly compensates publishers for the overall decline in traffic driven by AI-generated summaries What happens to smaller publishers when major outlets secure exclusive data licensing deals that prioritize their content in search results Why AI Mode represents a potential endpoint for search that could essentially eliminate outbound traffic for a majority of queries Whether the long-tail of the internet can survive a transition where search engines become information destinations rather than mere conduits Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E24
July 15 · 44 min
Season 7, Episode 24: Understanding rewarded user acquisition (with Tricia Han and Sampsa Jaatinen)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Tricia Han, CEO of Mistplay, and Sampsa Jaatinen, Chief Data and AI Officer at Mistplay, to explore the rapidly evolving world of rewarded user acquisition. We dive into how the rewarded model has matured from a niche Android-focused strategy into a primary growth engine for mobile gaming across both major platforms. Among other things, we discuss: Why rewarded user acquisition has moved from a niche tactic to a cornerstone of modern mobile gaming growth strategies How the shift in Apple's App Store policies regarding incentivized installs has created a new frontier for iOS developers Whether the rich behavioral data sets generated by rewarded platforms provide a significant competitive advantage over traditional ad networks What role machine learning and reinforcement learning play in optimizing the timing and nature of user rewards and recommendations If the play-and-earn philosophy can be successfully exported to non-gaming industries like retail, finance, and quick-service restaurants How the blurring lines between mobile and console gaming will influence the way platforms compete for limited user attention When the industry will fully realize the potential of direct-to-consumer web shops coupled with highly personalized reward mechanisms Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E23
July 8 · 48 min
Season 7, Episode 23: Building ad tech for the chatbot era (with Tal Shoham)
We discuss the transition of AI-native applications toward ad-supported monetization models. Among other things, we cover: Whether AI-native apps will follow the mobile gaming trajectory by adopting hybrid monetization models to reach massive global audiences How the high operational costs of AI inference necessitate a move toward ad-supported tiers to maintain sustainable profit margins Why the granular intent signals captured in LLM conversations offer a superior alternative to traditional search-based advertising targeting mechanisms What new native ad formats will emerge to integrate seamlessly into AI workflows without disrupting the core user experience When the venture capital funding environment will demand more disciplined monetization strategies from AI startups over pure user growth How established ad-tech infrastructure from the mobile gaming era can be adapted to serve the unique needs of AI developers Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
July 3 · 2 hr 53 min
The Prosperous Society
The Prosperous Society is a three-hour, four-part series by Eric Seufert of Mobile Dev Memo that explores the political economy of artificial intelligence, grounded in the liberal tradition of the Western canon. Framed as an extended response to John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society, which serves as the intellectual foil for the series, The Prosperous Society makes the case that AI is not principally a story about intelligence, but about economics: it represents a progressive technological revolution that shifts the binding constraint on economic growth from production to distribution. In doing so, it redefines the role of digital advertising as the coordination infrastructure of an increasingly personalized economy. Last summer, when I began outlining The Prosperous Society, I set out to write an economic defense of artificial intelligence to serve as ballast for more pessimistic narratives. It was originally intended to be a short book. I pivoted to the podcast format when those narratives reached fever pitch earlier this year because I wanted to respond quickly and release new episodes on a regular cadence. But The Prosperous Society evolved into something broader: a defense of liberal political economy in the age of artificial intelligence. Over the course of three hours, I develop that thesis through four linked but distinct arguments: Part 1: Why AI makes distribution more important than production. Part 2: Why autonomous commerce is a false ideal. Part 3: Why personalization changes the economics of the long tail—and of identity itself. Part 4: Where the moral boundary lies between AI that expands freedom and AI that robs us of it. If the series succeeds, I hope it provides a rigorous intellectual case for why AI, if properly constrained and thoughtfully applied, can reaffirm the liberal tradition of Western political economy while helping to usher in one of the great periods of economic expansion in human history.
S7 · E22
June 30 · 45 min
Season 7, Episode 22: Quantifying the advertising value of cookies (with Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi, professors at Boston University who have co-authored a paper titled "Can privacy technologies replace cookies? Ad revenue in a field experiment." The paper quantifies the impact of Google's Privacy Sandbox on publisher revenue, user experience, and market competition through a field experiment conducted in collaboration with Raptive, a digital advertising management platform. Our conversation highlights the specific challenges faced by the digital advertising ecosystem as it moves away from traditional identifiers and toward a new, more restrictive privacy regime. Among other things, we discuss: How the loss of third-party cookies specifically affects regional markets with stricter privacy regulations like the European Union If the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies like the Privacy Sandbox could truly bridge the revenue gap created by the deprecation of cookies What role browser vendors should play in establishing technical guarantees that satisfy both regulators and advertising stakeholders Why the industry tends to respond to identity restrictions by developing more complex identifiers instead of contextual alternatives When the concentration of traffic toward larger platforms will reach a tipping point for small-scale content creators How the removal of personalization features on platforms like YouTube serves as a blueprint for future privacy-driven market shifts We also cover another paper by Garrett Johnson, "COPPAcalypse? The Youtube Settlement's Impact on Kids Content." Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts
S7 · E21
June 24 · 49 min
Season 7, Episode 21: The AppsFlyer investment and the new dynamics of mobile attribution (with Olivia Kory)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Olivia Kory, the CMO of Haus, to discuss the recent $1BN investment in AppsFlyer by Meta, Google, Unity, and Moloco, and the shifting landscape of mobile measurement it portends. We explore the strategic motivations behind major ad platforms banding together to ensure measurement neutrality and how the industry is moving toward more sophisticated incrementality models. Among other things, we discuss: Why a consortium of major ad platforms decided to invest in a major mobile measurement partner at this time How the tension between platform-owned measurement tools and independent third-party services will influence advertiser trust moving forward Whether the failure of Apple’s SKAdNetwork to provide actionable insights has forced the industry back toward traditional attribution If the entry of private equity into the measurement space changes the long-term incentives for data neutrality and transparency What the rise of connected television as a performance channel reveals about the limitations of current mobile measurement frameworks When advertisers should prioritize long-term incrementality testing over the immediate gratification of last-click attribution data in their dashboards Whether the consolidation of ad tech assets under single entities creates a conflict of interest that ultimately hurts performance Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast: ⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on. Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics. ⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts

Showing 1–20 of 31 episodes