MobileGroove

25/05/2026

📈 Growth turns from nirvana to nightmare when the signals behind it are fragmented across platforms, channels, and touchpoints.

That’s the reality of omnichannel marketing, and AI is amplifying the problem, not fixing it.

AI only performs as well as the data and signals it receives. If those signals are incomplete or disconnected, AI simply scales the inefficiencies.

The result? Marketers optimize harder while drifting further from their ROAS goals because the underlying measurement is flawed from the start.

📣 That’s why AppsFlyer’s announcement at matters. This isn’t about another dashboard. It’s about rebuilding the infrastructure behind measurement itself.

When mobile, web, attribution, signals, and LTV connect into one layer, AI can finally optimize the full customer journey instead of isolated moments within it.

That’s the real shift:
AI-powered growth depends on connected measurement infrastructure first.
😉 Even AI can’t optimize what it can’t see.



You can read more here:

Mobile Measurement Set the Standard. Web Is Finally Catching Up.

https://bit.ly/4nmaYz6

22/05/2026

🎧 SoundCloud Turned Off Brand Spend. What They Learned About A*O.

🎙️ In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz speaks with Hope Barrett, Director of Product Management for MarTech at SoundCloud, and Simon Thillay, Head of A*O Strategy & Market Insights at AppTweak: App Store Acquisition Platform Driven by Data Science, about their joint effort to answer the question teams avoid: why should you pay for users who are already searching for your app?

SoundCloud turned off brand spend to find out.

As Hope tells us, the goal was to understand what was incremental and challenge the assumption that brand spend is a must to drive growth. Simon breaks down the data to show when and where brand spend really makes a difference.

The experiment also challenged another assumption. Teams often treat the App Store as top-of-funnel and manage A*O as a separate channel. In practice, A*O is essential across the entire user journey.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

◉ How brand spend influences performance across paid and organic

◉ Why delivering the same results without this approach could require up to 49% more budget

◉ Why treating the App Store as top of funnel leads to the wrong conclusions

◉ How A*O signals connect to paid UA and user intent

◉Why growth decisions need to be based on incrementality, not assumptions

It’s just one of the conversations shaping the 2026 Full Funnel Growth Playbook, powered by RZR (formerly Aarki), available soon.

Full episode on:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wPlAVubmfM
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5KAzhWIhyE71jN3v1yk7Zr
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soundcloud-turned-off-brand-spend-what-they-learned/id1585861460?i=1000768959771

17/04/2026

🤔 Scaling products forces a harder question: what do you keep?

In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz speaks with Andrew Burrington (onXmaps) and Andy Carvell (Phiture) about what happens after early growth wins, and why scaling a product portfolio often means rethinking the playbook that got you there.

As teams move from single products to portfolios, continuity shifts from repeating what worked to understanding why it worked and being willing to change everything else.

🎧 Tune in as they explore:
◉ When to break your own rules
◉ Why early-stage products need bigger swings, not just optimisation
◉ How to separate real learning from noise
◉ What changes when retention matters as much as acquisition
◉ Why intent matters more than channels

Part of the 2026 Full Funnel Growth Playbook, powered by (formerly Aarki).

Watch the full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZLUtoIRP8M

You can find Part 1 here: Qualifying Users: Why 90% of Your Growth Metrics Are Lying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIPYPyH4u18&t=28s

16/04/2026

🚨 Ad quality isn’t just a UX issue, it’s a monetisation problem.
In my latest column for ExchangeWire, I explore why publishers need to rethink how they measure and act on ad quality.

👉 Ad Quality is a Monetisation Problem: What Publishers Need to Do Now
For too long, the industry has treated bad ads as isolated incidents. But the reality is much bigger: poor ad experiences quietly erode retention, LTV, and long-term revenue.

As Charlie Castell ( PubRev+) puts it, we’re seeing a shift toward a more holistic view of monetisation — one where ad quality is a proactive strategy, not a reactive fix.

That shift is reinforced by insights from Mixpanel’s latest State of Digital Analytics report, which makes it clear: growth today depends on measuring lifecycle-wide business impact, not siloed metrics.

And with new benchmarks like the Index, highlighted by Rona Lautman, publishers finally have data to connect ad quality directly to revenue outcomes.

💡 Key takeaway:
Bad UX = bad monetisation.

Voices across the ecosystem, including Nastassia Hubarevich ( ), John Wright ( Turborilla), and Itai Cohen ( Digital Turbine), all point to the same conclusion:

➡️ Ad quality must have clear ownership
➡️ Visibility must lead to better decisions
➡️ Short-term gains are never worth long-term damage

And yes — publishers still control more than they think: partner mix, supply paths, formats, and rules.

The bottom line?
If you’re not managing ad quality, you’re leaving revenue on the table.

Read the full article, and we would love to hear your thoughts 👇

https://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2026/04/14/ad-quality-monetisation-what-publishers-need-to-do/

In her latest column, mobile expert Peggy Anne Salz looks at what publishers need to do to turn ad quality into tangible results...

16/04/2026

🫰🏼 Bad ads are expensive.
They don’t just annoy users, they drive churn AND quietly distort how publishers measure performance in the first place.

So what’s the alternative?
Itai Cohen (Digital Turbine) lays out a smarter approach:
• Hold every partner to the same standard
• Be intentional about cadence and creative quality
• Use segmentation to increase the value of the right audiences — not just more impressions

That’s the difference between chasing short-term revenue and building sustainable monetization.

In Peggy Anne Salz latest ExchangeWire piece, she breaks down the real cost of poor ad quality and what publishers can actually do about it using insights from ’s In-App Network Ad Quality Index.

👉🏼 Read it here: https://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2026/04/14/ad-quality-monetisation-what-publishers-need-to-do/

Then ask yourself:
Is your current mix truly working for users — or just working on paper?
We would love to hear your take. Did this challenge your assumptions?

30/03/2026

🤔 How are growth metrics holding us back from achieving real growth?
We talk a lot about the growth playbook. Is it broken, need rewriting, or does it just need a refresh?

But what if the real problem is that the playbook itself is distorting performance because it still relies on proxy metrics like CTRs in isolation to define growth?

If teams are measuring the wrong things, they’re optimizing the wrong outcomes. No wonder so many teams are struggling to deliver profitable growth.

This is where Mixpanel’s 2026 State of Digital Analytics report stands out, exposing how easy it is to get performance wrong when you don't see the full picture.

📊 The EMEA ecommerce data in the report shows exactly where that thinking falls apart.

🪤 In EMEA, acquisition was up 7.4% year over year. On paper, that looks like progress. But that’s the trap of looking at one metric in isolation.

Look across the lifecycle, and the story changes drastically. Engagement fell 48% year over year, the steepest drop across all regions. Weekly retention came in at 56.4%, the lowest in the report.

Here’s what matters:
● Engagement decline doesn’t automatically mean traffic decline. Acquisition was still growing, which is exactly why isolated metrics can mislead.
● Blind spots distort the picture. GDPR-driven underreporting, localization failures, and fragmented measurement across markets may be masking true behavior.
● Fragmentation creates false confidence. When data’s split across regions and tools, it’s harder to see what’s really happening.
● The real signal is in behavior. Looking at acquisition or engagement alone isn’t enough to understand performance or build lasting value.

Put another way, acquisition suggests momentum. But the other signals point to friction, weak habit formation, and a journey that isn’t turning interest into loyalty.

For Peggy Anne Salz, that’s the real value of this report. It’s the only one to show (and prove) your biggest problem isn’t performance. It’s visibility.

⏳Q2 is already moving. Read this report before your next planning or budget meeting to avoid chasing the wrong signals and explaining disappointing results.

https://mixpanel.com/content/benchmarks-2026?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2026-state-of-digital-analytics-emea-ecommerce-campaign-influencer-peggy-salz&utm_content=2026-State-of-Digital-Analytics

Paid partnership with Mixpanel

Get access to the 2026 report complete with regional benchmarks, recommendations, & key metrics to track. See how you compare to your industry peers.

24/03/2026

One bad ad wiped out 20,000 daily active users in hours. Not because the product failed. Because the ad experience did.

In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz sits down with Ezgi Dogan, a well-known monetization consultant and former engineer who works with gaming and non-gaming publishers. She sees patterns most studios never see — from deceptive-by-design creatives to algorithm changes that quietly double ad duration overnight.

And the reality is uncomfortable: publishers often think they understand their ad quality problem. The data usually says it’s worse.

This conversation is part of PlayerFirst Perspectives, a podcast series on powered by . It’s a series about fixing ad quality and building smarter ad policies so users stay in your app or game — and you can enforce what you believe is right for your players.

🎧 Listen in on

🔵 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5AyV0dXyyo&t=5s

🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ayt1NmpQmJv0WKNlquH8S

🟡 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-single-bad-ad-wiped-out-20-000-daus-heres-what/id1585861460?i=1000756182621

👉 Join the conversation

Be part of the Player First Collective on Slack, where marketers, monetization leads and product teams share real examples, data and solutions around ad quality:

https://join.slack.com/t/playerfirstcollective/shared_invite/zt-3kcihn2oh-jXuCNSOYnqIFjynxegYUug

23/03/2026

Ad quality and safety have become critical drivers of sustainable growth in mobile monetization.

To bring greater transparency and measurable standards to the ecosystem, developed the independent Ad Quality Network Performance Index.

Built for monetization and operations teams, the Index benchmarks demand sources based on real ad quality performance data, helping elevate standards and strengthen trust across the mobile ecosystem.

Dive in to see which networks lead across quality, security, and content.

➡️https://appharbr.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-AppHarbr-Network-Index.pdf

20/02/2026

7 mobile gaming industry trends set to define 2026

🤖 Gen AI changes publisher-consumer relationships

🎯 Personalization deepens in more unique ways

🛒 Direct-to-consumer (DTC) webshops become mainstream

📲 Game offerwalls provide expanded audiences for advertisers

🎁 Rewarded UA becomes a key driver of growth

👥 Mobile games evolve to become complex social platforms

📍 MENA becomes a key market on the world stage

“The sweet spot for engagement lies at the intersection of competition and cooperation. Players feel the pressure of FOMO and the pull of team loyalty, creating a compelling reason to show up, play hard, and stay engaged.” – Jesse Feret, Senior Product Manager at Mistplay

“Every business comes to a point where getting more out of the users they acquire becomes a necessary investment for driving sustainable growth. Even with a massive UA budget, focusing solely on new user acquisition will only take you so far, especially if your players are barely making it past onboarding. Your long-term, loyal players are a key growth driver and formulating a hyper-personalized, rewarded retention strategy is key to driving that deeper gameplay and engagement.” – Victoria Lewin, Senior Manager, Lifecycle Marketing & LiveOps at Mistplay

🎮 Read the full article:

Check out the 7 mobile gaming trends that are set to define 2026

13/02/2026

🎮 The state of mobile gaming, monetization strategies, and the growing influence of AI and non-gaming categories.

🎧 Listen in as Peggy Anne Salz chats with Chirag Ambwani, SVP Gaming & Entertainment, Corporate Development & Partnerships at from PG Connects for a PocketGamer.biz podcast.

Listen on

🎧 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlyH_yqlYLs&list=PL8QnQvPmf4EcWSGsBzCZ6dYdTVJWNlcRu

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mqoVcZKTSTofIwLP9iC54

🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-developers-actually-reach-players-in-2026-chirag/id1574128516?i=1000749107722