Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads

Former AppLovin Mobile Solutions Engineer. Mobile AdTech consultant. Professional D&D DM, Actor, Musician, Game Producer, Husband, Dad of Fragile X Son. He/His.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@WhiteCollarExit @m0xt_ “Which ad should I show this user?” is a great problem for AI to solve, and AppLovin has been doing it better than anyone, partially because it has access to so much relevant training data.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@HedgeyeComm If $META really wanted to compete hard against $APP in the mobile app space, buying $U makes sense. I imagine European regulators might take a hard look at such an acquisition.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@VJNCapital @FinanceJack44 The are very focused on using AI to find the best possible ad for each individual ad request. I think this is an ideal use case for AI.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@NoBellTrading I’m long $APP (and a former employee).

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@roanokecap Remember, $APP CEO Adam Foroughi doesn’t like hiring people. He particularly doesn’t like hiring people who aren’t top-notch engineers. Disciplines outside of engineering and machine learning do not have clout there. Don’t hold your breath for a crack IR team to be brought on.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@sam_khoury1 I was a Senior Solutions Engineer at AppLovin 2023-2024. Before that, I worked in AdTech as Snap, and was Director of Partner Integrations at Tapjoy (acquired by ironSource, now part of Unity). I also worked at Fyber (now part of Digital Turbine). I’ve consulted extensively.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@GoodPoint123 @milkroaddaily @AppLovin @artemis Unity shut down ironSource ads because it was redundant with Unity Ads. Unity and ironSource merged several years ago, but they never fully merged their ad networks. This shutdown was a long-overdue focus shift to a single ad network product.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@GoodPoint123 @milkroaddaily @AppLovin @artemis Thats why publishers so desperately want Unity’s Vector algorithm to succeed: if it forces AppLovin to bid higher, publishers win. Until recently, it seems AppLovin has been reaping the lion’s share of the value generated by their Vector improved algorithm.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@GoodPoint123 @milkroaddaily @AppLovin @artemis Well, it’s interesting about how much revenue will get passed on to app makers: if you’re auctioning off ad space, it doesn’t help you much if just one of the bidders gets more clever or improves their inventory. You want multiple bidders to “get good” so they have to compete.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@GoodPoint123 @milkroaddaily @AppLovin @artemis In addition, it’s not clear how much e-commerce will actually “crowd out” game ads. At any given moment, only 1-2% of users are interested in installing a new game. Ads shown to the rest are essentially wasted. If some of those are shown e-commerce, it can be mostly upside.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@GoodPoint123 @milkroaddaily @AppLovin @artemis Yes, if AppLovin brings in e-commerce advertisers, game advertisers will face more competition. So cost of user acquisition goes up. But bringing in e-commerce ads will make game audiences more valuable, so monetization goes up too. So it’s not all bad for game makers.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@AbrahamGYSimon @EnergyCredit1 As an $APP investor, I’d love it if $META tried to buy them. But I think that would trigger a lot of regulatory scrutiny. Certainly it would have been a better investment than the Metaverse stuff that people clearly don’t want.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@eniac Yes, in an iOS IDFA-on-by-default mode, $META would presumably be the biggest relative beneficiary. It’s unclear how much other ad companies in the mix would gain, but I presume they’d all gain something.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@diaknight End card shenanigans is real, and it’s really annoying for the user. But ad companies aren’t willing to surrender the tiny advantage in conversion rates. I’d love it if Apple and/or Google would hire me to be the sheriff in charge of policing this sort of thing. I’d be ruthless.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@PronkDaniel @ariaradnia Apple and Google theoretically have the power to kill AppLovin, but:
1. They make money off the mobile ecosystem which $APP is a big engine for.
2. Google and every other adtech company uses the same info $APP does.
3. Targeting adtech might trigger unwanted regulatory scrutiny.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@qualityequities I think of his is very well-written and captures a lot of the bull vs bear $APP arguments quite well. I come down more on the bull side of some of these arguments than this report, but the framing of the issues is very good.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@SwetalP41290270 @MitchMartan98 The $APP short-seller reports are largely bunk. Some of the stuff in there is sketchy, but everyone in adtech does it. Other accusations (e.g. fake installs) imply that APP’s largest customers are dupes. They are not: they are extremely data-driven. (I am long $APP)

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@serious_bret @buccocapital $APP CEO Adam Foroughi has talked about how you can’t just do layoffs and expect to be like AppLovin. If the team is mediocre, and you cut it by 40%, you just end up with a smaller mediocre team. Building an excellent team is more important than performative layoffs.

[Zachary Drake | zdrake314 on Threads @zdrake]

@workstation1234 @AppLovin That Gist entry code doesn't work for me (B9XCRA).