Mobile Dev Memo Podcast

MobileDevMemo

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

  1. 4d ago

    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 opportunityHow the historical reliance on agency budgets and rebates stunted the technical development of open web advertising toolsWhy current estimates of open web traffic might significantly undervalue its potential if monetization strategies are modernizedWhat structural changes are necessary to make open web inventory as attractive to small businesses as Meta ecosystemIf the outcome of the Google antitrust trial will truly level the playing field for independent ad tech companiesHow the shift toward LTV measurement for publishers reflects the maturing operational standards of the mobile app worldWhy the lack of granular ad experience descriptions remains a primary barrier to entry for performance-oriented advertisersThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  2. Sep 29

    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 preferencesWhether user trust can be maintained when AI responses are supplemented by paid commercial placementsWhy the direct value exchange of ads for compute might reshape consumer perceptions of digital advertisingWhat role ChatGPT's Sponsored Agents will play in streamlining the path from discovery to transaction within chatbotsHow OpenAI's approach to automation and simplified bidding differs from traditional social media ad stacksWhen generative AI will be capable of fully automating the creation of contextually relevant ad creativeIf the integration of first-party conversion data is essential for grounding LLM-driven ad targeting systemsThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  3. Sep 23

    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: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  4. Sep 16

    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 rolesWhether the consolidation of major ad networks will eventually stifle innovation within independent mobile gaming studiosWhy high-volume creative production has become the primary lever for performance in an algorithmic buying environmentIf traditional media buying expertise is becoming obsolete in the face of sophisticated signal engineering strategiesWhat future organizational structures will look like as marketing teams become smaller and more specializedWhen the industry will reach a saturation point regarding the effectiveness of cross-channel attribution modelsThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  5. Sep 9

    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 networkThe App Tracking Transparency recessionIs CAPI future-proof?The privacy shuffle (part one, two, three, four)Privacy manifests, fingerprinting, and Apple’s intentionsPodcast: Meta’s RenaissanceDoes Apple police fingerprinting?Google embraces IP-based fingerprintingApple’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: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  6. Sep 2

    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 opportunityGoogle's Gambit and Google’s Gambit, Part 4: The end of Static SearchObviously, OpenAI will monetize with adsDigital Advertising, Demand Routing, and the Millionaires’ MallSearch is the wrong mental model for chatbot advertisingThe prosperous societyThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  7. Aug 26

    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 networksHow the proliferation of media mix modeling vendors affects the quality of measurement insights available to smaller app developersWhy the mobile industry continues to struggle with ad fraud detection despite the availability of sophisticated third-party verification servicesIf the current trend toward massive creative volume is actually delivering diminishing returns for performance marketing campaigns on MetaWhat the long-term impact of AI-generated video creative will be on the traditional role of performance marketing creative agenciesWhen the friction of web-to-app onboarding funnels becomes a secondary concern compared to the benefits of merchant flexibilityWhether Apple's proposed fifteen percent commission on external links will effectively stifle the growth of independent web-to-app payment ecosystemsThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

  8. Aug 19

    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 engineHow the redistribution of consumer savings from automated services creates new employment opportunities in diverse service sectorsIf the historical stability of labor's share of income can survive the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligenceWhat long-term productivity gains from previous technological revolutions reveal about the potential economic trajectory of modern AIWhy government policy responses to automation might inadvertently hinder productivity by imposing restrictive taxes on data and computationHow personalized pricing models actually improve market efficiency by reducing the deadweight loss associated with traditional discounting methodsWhen the public's perception of fairness in pricing conflicts with the economic reality of supply and demand for scarce resourcesThanks 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 backInterested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising. The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on: SpotifyYouTubeApple Podcasts

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    MobileDevMemo
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    192
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © MobileDevMemo
  • Show Website
    Mobile Dev Memo Podcast

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