Brand Advertising, Monetization
AppLovin’s Head of Demand for EMEA and Americas, Meagan Martino, sat down with Twitter Senior Product Marketing Manager Ali Afshar at MAU Vegas 2022 to discuss the mobile ads space – namely, how AppLovin and Twitter are partnering up through the AppLovin Exchange (ALX) and Twitter Audience Platform (TAP) to deliver increased scale and performance to Twitter advertisers through strong ad supply now that the migration from MoPub to ALX is complete.
Here is a recap of that conversation.
Meagan Martino
Ali, what is TAP, and what problem does it solve for your clients?
Ali Afshar
TAP operates as a demand-side bidder that helps advertisers access off-Twitter supply — specifically buying from the AppLovin Exchange — and is one of Twitter’s scale solutions.
We know Web and App advertisers need as much scale as possible, and TAP, as an audience extension product, helps advertisers reach even more people by letting them run campaigns beyond Twitter. We know our partners want results and they want that at scale. TAP, with ALX, helps us address those needs by providing results at scale to our partners.
“…You get in front of a highly influential audience at multiple points in their app journey.”
Meagan
Let’s talk more about scale. What, if any, insights can you offer around the ability to scale through TAP and how that helps deliver value for Twitter buyers?
Ali
Buyers use TAP for what it gives them: a ton of additional reach. There’s what, over 2 billion devices on ALX? TAP gives you access to that in a way that’s simple – literally a checkbox – using Twitter’s targeting tools, and helps you create more effective and sustainable campaigns.
TAP also gives advertisers another touchpoint with the Twitter audience. People on Twitter are news drivers and aggregators; they’re more leaned in and engaged. This gives mobile advertisers the opportunity to get in front of a highly influential audience at multiple points in their app journey.
In a sort of meta way, the TAP journey is similar to our performance ad journey. MoPub was sold off, and we’ve rebuilt for ALX. Now, we’re focused on making TAP better than it’s ever been.
“There’s what, over 2 billion devices on ALX? TAP gives you access to that in a way that’s simple – literally a checkbox – using Twitter’s targeting tools…”
Meagan
How do you evaluate supply and make targeting decisions? What matters most to Twitter buyers?
Ali
It all starts with goals: What we build, especially in this era where we’re extremely focused on building better performance ad products, is determined by what’s important for the partners and the businesses that buy on Twitter. At a high level, what matters most is ROI, so finding opportunities for quality ad supply that can grant access to audiences driving more revenue is critical.
One layer deeper, we have important considerations like brand safety – making sure advertisers’ content is in a safer environment for their brands and has product adjacency, while also ensuring they’re contextually relevant, especially in a post-App Tracking Transparency world.
“The acquisition of MoPub — now the AppLovin Exchange — stands for a consolidation of mobile mediation and mobile access.”
Ali
What advice do you usually give to advertisers buying on ALX? What should they be thinking about when it comes to reaching their audience across an exchange?
Meagan
I’m sure a lot of us would agree that the digital media landscape is heavily complex and always evolving. Whether it’s brand safety concerns like you were just mentioning, privacy changes, or something else, it’s become increasingly difficult for advertisers and agencies to diversify their media strategies and reach their most important customers.
The acquisition of MoPub — now the AppLovin Exchange — stands for a consolidation of mobile mediation and mobile access. ALX helps simplify the task of finding premium mobile inventory by consolidating the mediation landscape and making all of this inventory available through your DSP’s integration on our exchange. ALX allows for agencies to tap into over 700M Daily Active users making it one the the largest consolidated platforms to reach consumers in the world.
We talk about this idea of direct access a lot because it is a big differentiator for us – it’s not just that ALX is 100% direct, but that we are the mediation partner for 100% of that direct supply. This gives programmatic buyers on our exchange a supply and price efficiency advantage.
Meagan
Ali, it’s been great talking with you. Thanks so much for sitting down with me today.
Ali
Thank you Meagan, it’s been a pleasure.
ALX serves as an exclusive connection to ad supply for TAP, meaning publishers will not be able to access this kind of demand through any other network partner.
This point is also key with regard to Supply Path Optimization (SPO) , because TAP is able to fulfill their demand needs on ALX alone. This creates exceptional efficiency in supply access.
The value for advertisers and publishers in the ALX/TAP partnership is clear: An industry-leading connection to ad supply; incredible reach to audiences on Twitter and beyond; and a built-in demand solution all culminate in a mobile mediation space that is designed to optimize monetization and growth.
