Much has changed in the mobile marketing industry since 2021 — and FeedMob’s expert team has been witness to it all. From client interactions to data pulls, our team gets to observe first-hand how user acquisition teams have adjusted to changes in the marketplace and internal expectations. We turned to Gabe de la Cruz, FeedMob’s Director Of Operations and Strategy, to get a holistic view of how mobile performance marketing is changing outside of the duopoly.

Q: How would you sum up the goals of FeedMob clients who are looking to expand their campaigns outside of the duopoly? Has anything about their goals changed in recent years?

A: I believe that quality has become the utmost priority as budgets have become more conservative — and more attention has been paid to these campaigns from key stakeholders within the business. With the number of uncertainties, both within and outside of our industry, acquisition managers are being asked to do more with less. This has led to more risk aversion and the need for more confidence in the supply.

That being said, a trend we are observing is that clients are willing to pay more to achieve this, which has more closely aligned the desire for quality traffic with the cost of it in the market.

Q: Have FeedMob clients wanted more supply diversification? If so, what’s driving that interest?

A: Absolutely. As Clients have shifted to find higher quality traffic, they aren’t able to reach the same scales they previously achieved. This has led them to embrace experimentation and test more partners. For instance, we have seen increases in spend across all of our client verticals on DSPs and Incent Partners. Clients that have tested on these types of partners and have seen success, have generally grown in willingness to test new partners.

Q: Which supply verticals are they most interested in?

A: The easy answer is that they want channels that provide great quality and scale. But in terms of what really catches their attention, it’s owned and operated supply partners that have unique and new user flows. These types of partners have garnered the most interest, as they present an opportunity to capture untapped traffic. At the very least, they offer new ways of engaging with previously contacted traffic.

Q: Is fraud being impacted by changing supply demands (and what does that mean for clients)?

A: Yes. As Clients are more willing to pay a premium for higher-quality inventory, their budgets have shifted away from more efficient but higher-risk traffic. The supply partners they have diversified to are more difficult (but not impossible) to fraud, which has led to lower overall fraud rates.

Q: Are clients only spending on Android outside of search and social?

A: Clients are spending on both Android and iOS but are having much more difficulty on iOS — at least for now — due to last year’s implementation App Tracking Transparency.  That being said, the desire to spend on iOS is still high; it just typically requires more budget and effort.

Q: What advice would you give a marketing team that is just starting to think about expanding their horizons beyond traditional search and social?

A: When looking for traffic outside of search and social, you need to look at new channels as a complement to your current efforts. You should be looking for unique and interesting ways to acquire these users–working with an experienced team who has partnered with and vetted many partners can greatly increase your chances of success outside of search and social.

Gabe de la Cruz is the Director of Operations and Strategy at FeedMob, leading one of the company’s largest teams. He has over 10 years of experience in the mobile space, working across marquee brands in mobile such as Yelp, IronSource, and Supersonic. He has a wide array of technical expertise in ad operations and mobile attribution and has been instrumental in scaling the team’s technical knowledge in mobile in support of the clients they service.