If you’ve been hearing more and more chatter about AppLovin lately, you’re not imagining it.
Over the last couple months, we’ve watched the platform shift from “interesting gaming network” to a legitimate performance channel for ecommerce. And for brands that are already strong on Meta, it’s quickly becoming one of the most important diversification plays on the table.
That’s why we brought Jonathan from AppLovin onto a live call with our Mentor Table community to break down what’s actually working inside Axon Ads Manager, and what doesn’t translate from Meta when you try to copy/paste your playbook.
The goal wasn’t to hype the platform. It was to answer the real question everyone has:
How do you crack AppLovin so it becomes a reliable, scalable channel (instead of a weird test you forget about after two weeks)?
First, a reality check: AppLovin isn’t “social” and it isn’t “TV”… it’s both
One of the best frames from the call was this:
AppLovin has the algorithmic power of social, but the view-time of TV.
Why?
Because the ads are full-screen and unskippable for at least the first five seconds, which creates a totally different user experience than scrolling through Instagram stories or the Facebook feed.
The average impression time Jonathan shared was around 35 seconds, because the AppLovin ad flow includes three touchpoints:
You start with a 9:16 video. Then you see an interactive “end card” style unit. Then (if enabled) a dynamic product catalog can show up.
Translation: you don’t just get a split-second thumb-scroll glance.
You get attention.
And attention changes everything from creative strategy, to landing page strategy, and even how you interpret performance data.
What AppLovin is (and why it matters for ecommerce)
Jonathan kicked off with the big picture.
AppLovin is the largest mobile app ad platform in the world, serving ads across thousands of apps (think games like puzzle apps, solitaire, sudoku, Candy Crush, etc.). The platform sees massive scale: over a billion daily active users globally, and a huge footprint in the U.S.
That matters because for ecommerce brands, the primary value prop is simple:
It’s a new pool of buyers that you can reach without competing in the exact same “Meta auction” ecosystem.
And when it works, it doesn’t just add incremental revenue. It helps stabilize your business by diversifying where customers come from.
The biggest creative takeaway: longer videos can win here
Meta has trained most of us to think fast.
Hook in the first second. Cut the fluff. Keep it tight.
AppLovin is different.
Because the ad is immersive, full screen, and unskippable early, Jonathan emphasized that the platform often rewards longer-form video. Not “rambling.” Not “slow.” But longer videos that actually earn attention and give the viewer enough context to make the click feel obvious.
Another simple best practice he hammered: caption everything.
Across studies, adding captions consistently lifted engagement because many users watch with sound off.
And if you want the person to click after that first video view, your “interactive” (the end card experience) matters a lot more than people expect. Jonathan shared that the interactive unit can drive a huge share of click-through rate, sometimes up to half.
That means your end card isn’t an afterthought, it is its own conversion lever.
The “offer” part matters more than you think
One thread that kept coming up in examples: clear promos, clear benefits, clear reason to click.
We saw examples of brands leaning into discounts, social proof, and benefit-driven messaging across their creative and end cards. Nothing fancy. Just direct.
AppLovin isn’t a place to be coy.
If your creative and end card don’t quickly answer “why should I care?” and “what do I get?” you’re going to struggle to generate the click volume needed for optimization.
Landing pages: your conversion path should be shorter, not longer
This might’ve been the most useful section of the call for folks actively testing.
Jonathan’s philosophy was consistent: reduce friction and reduce steps.
If the ad experience already forces more attention (because of the unskippable view time), you don’t want to follow it with a long maze of clicks.
A strong AppLovin landing page should give enough info to build confidence, but it still gets the person to check out fast.
We talked through an example of a niche brand (chicken supplements, yes, really), and the key point wasn’t “this niche won’t work.”
It was: the funnel structure matters more than the niche.
Even for a unique product, the page should make the CTA obvious. If users have to scroll forever to find the add-to-cart path, you’ll feel that in performance.
One of the best working hypotheses shared on the call was this:
Because users are already spending time with the creative, your post-click journey should be as short as possible.
Measurement: don’t judge AppLovin like you judge Meta
Another big “aha” for the group was attribution.
AppLovin reporting is click-based, and it’s conservative compared to platforms that include view-through attribution. Several people have noticed the same pattern:
AppLovin might look lower inside its own dashboard, but stronger inside Triple Whale / third-party attribution.
On top of that, AppLovin traffic often shows a lower “new visitor” percentage compared to Meta, but the group also discussed why that metric can be misleading on social platforms due to in-app browser behavior and tracking quirks.
Bottom line: if you’re evaluating AppLovin, you want to look at:
New customer ROAS and broader journey contribution, not just last-click vanity metrics.
Campaign setup: ROAS vs CPP and what to choose
Jonathan broke out the two core campaign types inside Axon:
Some brands will do better optimizing for cost per purchase (especially subscription-style offers with fewer SKUs). Others should optimize directly for ROAS (especially brands with varying AOV and larger catalogs).
He also explained that optimization windows matter.
If your product is more “impulse buy,” day-zero optimization makes sense. If you’re selling higher AOV products where buyers take time, a longer window can help the system learn toward delayed conversion value.
Creative sets: should you add creative or clone?
A question that came up repeatedly: if you have new creative, do you add it to an existing creative set or create a new one?
Jonathan’s recommendation leaned toward a clean, testable approach:
If you want to add one new asset without disrupting performance learnings, clone the creative set and add the new asset there.
That gives you clearer insight into whether the new asset actually improved results, instead of muddying the waters inside an existing set.
What’s coming next
Jonathan also hinted at a few platform improvements, including:
A new audience strategy option (Universal vs Prospecting) for brands that want more explicit new-customer focus, plus continued refinement for how certain components show up for single-SKU brands.
The bigger takeaway: AppLovin is clearly investing heavily into making Axon more self-serve, more transparent, and easier for ecommerce marketers to scale.
The real takeaway
AppLovin isn’t a “set it and forget it” channel.
But for brands that already win on Meta and want a serious diversification lever, it’s one of the most promising platforms we’ve seen in a long time.
The brands that will win fastest are the ones who stop treating it like “Meta 2.0” and start treating it like what it is:
A high-attention environment with different creative rules, tighter funnel needs, and conservative attribution that requires a smarter read.
And the best part?
We’re still early.
We will be dropping a whole course on Axon later this year for free, so be on the lookout!
Want early access to other content in Mentor Table? Apply today: https://smartmarketer.com/mentor-table/
