Mobile Dev Memo Podcast
Mobile Dev Memo Podcast covers topics related to mobile advertising and app development, providing insights and analysis for industry professionals. The podcast is produced by MobileDevMemo, a site known for its coverage of the mobile ad ecosystem.
Episodes
Season 7, Episode 29: AI's impact on the labor market (with Brian Albrecht)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Brian Albrecht, the Chief Economist at the International Center for Law and Economics. We explore the complex intersection of generative AI and labor economics, alongside a deep dive into the regulatory and economic implications of personalized pricing models. The podcast is tethered to two articles that Brian recently published: You are no
Season 7, Episode 28: Digital Advertising's M&A Resurgence (with Maor Sadra)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Maor Sadra, the co-founder and CEO of INCRMNTAL, to discuss the current cycle of M&A in digital advertising and the industry-wide shift toward intelligence-based measurement. Maor is well-positioned to discuss this topic, as INCRMNTAL was recently acquired by Smartly. Maor and I analyze how acquisitions are moving away from simple inven
Season 7, Episode 27: Applying AI to human intimacy (with Offer Yehudai)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Offer Yehudai, the co-founder of Arya, to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and human intimacy. We explore the development of AI-driven companions designed to improve relationship health and the delicate balance between automation and human expertise. Among other things, we discuss:Whether the lack of human judgment in AI
Season 7, Episode 26: Demystifying open source MMM (with Michael Kaminsky)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Michael Kaminsky, co-founder and co-CEO of Recast. We explore the rise of open-source Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) tools and the challenges of measuring modern ad spend. Among other things, we discuss:Whether open-source MMM libraries like Robyn and Meridian are truly unbiased tools or subtle instruments for big tech self-gradingHow markete
Season 7, Episode 25: Quantifying the impact of AI Overviews on outbound clicks (with Ananya Sen and Saharsh Agarwal)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ananya Sen and Saharsh Agarwal to discuss their research on the impact of Google's AI Overviews on web publisher traffic. We explore the results of their field experiment, currently in pre-print, which utilized a custom browser extension to measure how generative search results influence outbound clicks and user satisfaction. The result
Season 7, Episode 24: Understanding rewarded user acquisition (with Tricia Han and Sampsa Jaatinen)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Tricia Han, CEO of Mistplay, and Sampsa Jaatinen, Chief Data and AI Officer at Mistplay, to explore the rapidly evolving world of rewarded user acquisition. We dive into how the rewarded model has matured from a niche Android-focused strategy into a primary growth engine for mobile gaming across both major platforms. Among other things, we
Season 7, Episode 23: Building ad tech for the chatbot era (with Tal Shoham)
We discuss the transition of AI-native applications toward ad-supported monetization models. Among other things, we cover:Whether AI-native apps will follow the mobile gaming trajectory by adopting hybrid monetization models to reach massive global audiencesHow the high operational costs of AI inference necessitate a move toward ad-supported tiers to maintain sustainable profit marginsWhy the gran
The Prosperous Society
The Prosperous Society is a three-hour, four-part series by Eric Seufert of Mobile Dev Memo that explores the political economy of artificial intelligence, grounded in the liberal tradition of the Western canon.Framed as an extended response to John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society, which serves as the intellectual foil for the series, The Prosperous Society makes the case that AI is n
Season 7, Episode 22: Quantifying the advertising value of cookies (with Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi, professors at Boston University who have co-authored a paper titled "Can privacy technologies replace cookies? Ad revenue in a field experiment." The paper quantifies the impact of Google's Privacy Sandbox on publisher revenue, user experience, and market competition through a field experi
Season 7, Episode 21: The AppsFlyer investment and the new dynamics of mobile attribution (with Olivia Kory)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Olivia Kory, the CMO of Haus, to discuss the recent $1BN investment in AppsFlyer by Meta, Google, Unity, and Moloco, and the shifting landscape of mobile measurement it portends. We explore the strategic motivations behind major ad platforms banding together to ensure measurement neutrality and how the industry is moving toward more sophist
Season 7, Episode 20: Shopify as a marketing operating system (with Venkat Prabhu)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Venkat Prabhu, Director of Product for Shop Campaigns at Shopify, to discuss the platform's evolution into a comprehensive marketing operating system for eCommerce merchants. We explore the major announcements from Shopify's Spring Editions, specifically focusing on how the platform leverages commerce data and AI to simplify adverti
Season 7, Episode 19: Can AI Save Journalism? (with Peter Stuart)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Peter Stuart, the co-founder of Velora, an AI operating system for specialist publishers. Peter returns to the podcast to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI in journalism and to explore how editorial teams are integrating these tools into their daily operations. Among other things, we cover:How AI tools like LLMs can effectively a
Season 7, Episode 18: Understanding Amazon's advertising advantages (with Adam Epstein)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Adam Epstein, the co-founder and CEO of Gigi, to talk about Amazon’s strategic advertising advantages. Among other things, we discuss:The value of Amazon’s deterministic identity spine, which spans ninety percent of US householdsWhether Amazon can successfully transition its e-commerce data dominance into non-endemic categories like automot
Season 7, Episode 17: The New Economics of Building an Audience (with Danny Frankel)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Danny Frankel, the founder of Punchup Live, a digital platform and ticketing ecosystem built for stand-up comedians. We explore how the economics of content distribution and audience building are being fundamentally rewritten. Danny provides a unique perspective on the shifting landscape of social media, the rise of clipping farms, and the
The Prosperous Society, Part 4: Per commercium virtus
The Prosperous Society is a podcast series by Mobile Dev Memo that articulates an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. It argues that the pervasive application of AI to the digital economy will be broadly economically expansionary, leading to increased individual prosperity, expanded consumer choice, and greater human agency.In Episode 4, the conclusion to the series, I outline the AI-enabled f
Season 7, Episode 16: AI and video games (with Julian Togelius)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Julian Togelius, a professor of computer science at NYU and director of the NYU Game Innovation Lab. We delve into how games serve as the perfect sandbox for AI development, the potential for generative tools to revolutionize production workflows, and how the future of play might involve infinite, procedurally generated worlds that adapt to
Season 7, Episode 15: The modern mobile gaming economy (with Phil Black)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Phil Black, one of the co-hosts of the Game Economist Cast, a podcast dedicated to game economy design, and a consultant with Game Economist Consulting. Previously, Phil held game economist and analytics roles at Amazon Games, DICE, and Scopely. Phil is also a panelist on the This Week in Games (TWIG) podcast. Phil joins me on this episode
Season 7, Episode 14: Re-evaluating agentic commerce (with Andrew Lipsman)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Andrew Lipsman to discuss the evolving landscape of agentic commerce and retail media. Andrew is an independent analyst and consultant who runs the Media, Ads + Commerce blog, which covers the retail media landscape. Prior to this, Andrew held roles at eMarketer and comScore. This is Andrew's third appearance on the podcast.In our conve
The Prosperous Society, Part 3: The Collapse of the Pareto Principle
The Prosperous Society is a podcast series by Mobile Dev Memo that articulates an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. It argues that the pervasive application of AI to the digital economy will be broadly economically expansionary, leading to increased individual prosperity, expanded consumer choice, and greater human agency.In Episode 3, I make the case that artificial intelligence stands to e
Season 7, Episode 13: Google navigates the AI advertising era (with Dan Taylor)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Dan Taylor, the Vice President of Global Ads at Google. We discuss the profound impact of generative AI on search behavior and the technological evolution required to support the next era of digital advertising. Among other things, we discuss:How the shift from keyword-based search to conversational intent will redefine the core mechanics o
Season 7, Episode 12: Considering the future of Section 230 (with Ben Sperry)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ben Sperry, a senior scholar at the International Center for Law and Economics, to explore the shifting landscape of social media litigation. We dive deep into recent court rulings in California and New Mexico that challenge the historical protections of Section 230 by focusing on product design rather than hosted content (see a recent piec
The Prosperous Society, Part 2: The Human Nexus of Commerce
The Prosperous Society is a podcast series by Mobile Dev Memo that articulates an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. It argues that the pervasive application of AI to the digital economy will be broadly economically expansionary, leading to increased individual prosperity, expanded consumer choice, and greater human agency.In Episode 2, I argue that the Western political economy treats commer
Season 7, Episode 11: Understanding Unity's Vector (with Felix The)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Felix The, SVP of Product and Engineering - Advertising at Unity, to discuss the inner workings of Unity's Vector product and the strategic integration of engine-level data into the advertising ecosystem. We explore how Unity is rebuilding its machine learning infrastructure to provide more granular predictions and better performance fo
Season 7, Episode 10: Deploying AI personalization at scale
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Christina Augustine, the COO of Bloomreach, to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-enabled personalization in digital marketing and e-commerce. We explore how the shift from predictive models to generative agents is fundamentally changing how brands interact with consumers across multiple touchpoints. Among other things, we discuss
Season 7, Episode 9: RecSys and internet commerce (with Michael Komasinski)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Michael Komasinski, the CEO of Criteo, to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of agentic commerce and the critical role of recommendation systems in the AI era. We delve into how Criteo is positioning itself as a commerce intelligence layer for AI assistants and the technical distinctions between large language models and purpose-built r
Season 7, Episode 8: Games and AI (with Joost van Dreunen)
On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Joost van Dreunen, the CEO of Aldora, an adjunct professor at NYU, and the author of the SuperJoost Playlist blog as well as the book One Up. We dive into the profound impact of generative artificial intelligence on the video game industry, exploring the immediate market reactions to new tools and the long-term implications for creative pro
The Prosperous Society, Episode 1: The primacy of distribution
The Prosperous Society is a podcast series by Mobile Dev Memo that articulates an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. It argues that the pervasive application of AI to the digital economy will be broadly economically expansionary, leading to increased individual prosperity, expanded consumer choice, and greater human agency.In Episode 1, I argue that AI production tools will catalyze dramatic
Season 7, Episode 7: MDM Mailbag #7 (with Matej Lancaric)
In the latest installment of the MDM Mailbag series, I speak with Matej Lancaric, a well-known mobile gaming user acquisition consultant, a co-host of the two & a half gamers podcast, and the author of the Brutally Honest blog.As a reminder: MDM Mailbag episodes center on a guest Q&A, with questions sourced directly from the MDM community.Matej and I discuss a wide variety of topics over t
Season 7, Episode 6: Measuring the long-term effects of brand advertising (with Carl Mela and Ross Link)
In this episode of the podcast, I discuss the long-term effects of brand advertising with Carl Mela and Ross Link. Carl Mela is the T. Austin Finch Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Duke University and one of the leading academics in the field of quantitative marketing and consumer choice. Ross Link is the CEO of Marketing Attribution, having previously served as the President of
Season 7, Episode 5: Ads in ChatGPT (with Rishabh Jain)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Rishabh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of FERMÀT Commerce, an eCommerce advertising optimization platform. I invited Rishabh back to the podcast to discuss OpenAI's recent announcement that it will bring advertising to ChatGPT.Among other things, we cover:The commercial potential for ads in ChatGPT.OpenAI's decision to launch ChatGPT ads
Season 7, Episode 4: Protecting children from digital harms (with Karl Stillner)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Karl Stillner, the CEO and co-founder of BrightCanary, an app that allows parents to glean insights from their children's digital activities. Note that I am an investor in BrightCanary through Heracles Capital.In this podcast, we discuss the challenge of protecting children from digital harm. Among other topics, we cover:The concerns that parents face
Season 7, Episode 3: Understanding sovereign AI (with Alfred Succer)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Alfred Succer, the founder of Nova Nuggets, which provides private, end-to-end secure operating environments for AI applications.The topic of our conversation is sovereign AI, or the importance of controlling the environment on which AI-based applications, but especially chatbots, operate. Among other things, we discuss:The definition of a sove
Season 7, Episode 2: Using AI for audience insights and analysis (with Francesco D'Orazio)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Francesco D'Orazio, the President and Chief Product Officer at Pulsar, an audience intelligence and insights platform. The topic of our conversation is the use of AI to develop an understanding of a product's existing audience for feature planning, marketing, and optimization. Among other things, we discuss:How AI is being applied to au
Season 7, Episode 1: GenAI in CTV advertising (with Jonathan Moffie)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Jonathan Moffie, the Head of Agentic Product at Magnite, the largest independent SSP. Moffie joined Magnite when it acquired Streamr.io, which he founded, last year.The topic of our conversation is the application of generative AI to creative production for CTV. Among other things, we discuss:How GenAI is currently being used for ad production for CTV cha
Season 6, Episode 23: Understanding the Shopify Product Network (with Amanda Engelman)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Amanda Engelman, Shopify's Director of Product for Advertising. The topic of the episode is the recently announced Shopify Product Network, which allows merchants to insert recommendations for products they don't sell into their own storefronts, sourced from other Shopify Merchants.But don't call it an ad network! In our discussion,
Season 6, Episode 22: Building an AI-first media company (with Peter Stuart)
In this week's episode of the podcast, I speak with Peter Stuart, the founder of Velora Digital, which publishes Velora Cycling, a new media outlet focused on the sport of cycling. Velora Digital has adopted an AI-first philosophy and integrates AI tools thoughtfully and fundamentally into its publishing process. I've known Peter since we both studied at University College London many year
Season 6, Episode 21: Does GenAI outperform humans with ad creative production? (with Anindya Ghose and Vilma Todri)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Anindya Ghose from NYU and Vilma Todri from Emory University about their recent paper, The Impact of Visual Generative AI on Advertising Effectiveness, which is available in pre-print. In the paper, Anindya, Vilma, and the other authors assess the performance efficacy of three types of ad creative: Creative entirely crafted by humans;Creative crafted by
Season 6, Episode 20: Are chatbots driving eCommerce sales? (with Rishabh Jain)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Rishabh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of FERMÀT Commerce, an eCommerce advertising optimization platform. Rishabh most recently joined the podcast in June for an episode of the MDM Mailbag.In this episode, Rishabh and I discuss the impact of chatbot discovery on eCommerce sales, including over Black Friday. Among other things, we speak about:The current st
Season 6, Episode 19: Can the GDPR be reformed? (with Mikołaj Barczentewicz)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Mikołaj Barczentewicz, a professor of law at the University of Surrey and the author of EU Tech Reg, a blog dedicated to following developments in the EU regulatory machinery. In this episode, Mikołaj and I discuss the digital omnibus package that was recently proposed by the European Commission and which aims to reform and simplify, among many other thin
Season 6, Episode 18: Meta's Business AI and the ad-product divide
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Simon Whitcombe, the Vice President, Global Business Group at Meta. We discuss Meta's Business AI and the Meta AI business assistant, both of which were announced ahead of this year's AdWeek. I unpacked the potential of these tools to help advertisers cross the "ad-product divide" in Can Meta cross the ad-product divide?; in this episode
Season 6, Episode 17: Heidegger's caution
In this episode of the podcast, which is a companion to Affiliate links, personalized ads, and chatbot revenue optimization, I discuss the need for OpenAI to discover a scalable, durable revenue model, given its status as the avatar for artificial intelligence as a transformative economic and social force. I then make the case for why personalized, conversion-optimized advertising is a superior
Season 6, Episode 16: Can an LLM evaluate ad creative? (with Luca Fiaschi)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Luca Fiaschi, a machine learning expert who previously held executive data science roles at MistPlay, StitchFix, and HelloFresh. Luca is now a Partner for the Generative AI vertical at PyMC Labs, a consultancy that specializes in the application of Bayesian methods to business problems and which maintains the open source PyMC library for Bayesian statisti
Season 6, Episode 15: MDM Mailbag #6 (with Sylvain Gauchet)
The sixth installment of the Mobile Dev Memo mailbag features app monetization expert Sylvain Gauchet. Sylvain formerly served as Babbel's US Director of Revenue Strategy and now works with a number of subscription apps on revenue growth as an advisor and fractional executive. Additionally, Sylvain runs the GrowthGems newsletter, for which he scours the internet for valuable content related to
Season 6, Episode 14: Zero-to-one product growth (with Daphne Tideman)
In this week's episode of the podcast, I speak with Daphne Tideman, a product growth expert who runs the Growth Waves newsletter. The topic of our conversation is "zero-to-one growth": the tactics developers can utilize to validate and optimize their product to ultimately enable scaled user acquisition.Among other things, we cover:The purpose of early audience validationHow monetizat
Season 6, Episode 13: MDM Mailbag #5 (with Kate Minogue)
In this week's episode of the podcast, I speak with Kate Minogue, a fractional CPO and advisor for consumer and ad tech companies. Kate also runs the AI Leadership Lab, an AI leadership course. Previously, Kate worked in marketing measurement at Meta. This episode is the fifth installment of the MDM Mailbag series, in which I bring experts onto the podcast to answer questions fielded from the
Season 6, Episode 12: The eCommerce creative opportunity (with Dan Pantelo)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Dan Pantelo, the CEO and founder of Marpipe, a platform that enables eCommerce companies to build dynamic product ads. In our conversation, we discuss:The necessity of exhaustive creative experimentation in eCommerce advertisingWhether and how advertisers can create an effective feedback loop between advertising creative and product design / pr
Season 6, Episode 11: iWar, and Apple's struggle to preserve its App Store empire (with Tim Higgins)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins about his new book, iWar: Fortnite, Elon Musk, Spotify, WeChat, and Laying Siege to Apple's Empire. iWar traces a series of campaigns launched against Apple's control of the iOS App Store, including those from Spotify, Epic, Meta, and Elon Musk. Higgins chronicles the rise of the App Store from its launc
Season 6, Episode 10: Unpacking Customer Lifetime Value (with Daniel McCarthy)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Daniel McCarthy on the topic of Customer Lifetime Value (LTV / CLV). This is Daniel's second appearance on the podcast; he first joined me in April to discuss his paper, Evaluating the Impact of Privacy Regulation on E-Commerce Firms: Evidence from Apple’s App Tracking Transparency.In this episode, Daniel provides an overview of the CLV / LTV metric
Season 6, Episode 9: The blandification of marketing (with Adam Singer)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Adam Singer about the general trend of brands pivoting their marketing strategies into anodyne and agreeable positioning (and why brands succeed when they don't). Adam is the VP of Marketing at AdQuick and runs the Hot Takes blog.Among other things, Adam and I discuss:The "blandification" of marketingWhy AI output won't displace creati
Season 6, Episode 8: The headwinds facing agentic commerce (with Andrew Lipsman)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Andrew Lipsman, an independent analyst in the retail media space and the author of Media, Ads + Commerce. Andrew and I discuss the prospects for -- and the futility of -- agentic commerce. Among other things, our conversation covers:The definition of 'agentic commerce'The 'fundamental flaws' in agentic commerce from a conceptual and comm
Season 6, Episode 7: Google's Gambit and the future of the open web
In this episode of the podcast, I examine Google's Gambit: its effort to transition Search from a distribution intermediary to an engagement sink. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode products seek to retain users in the Search experience, rather than forwarding them to external destinations. Many publishers claim that their inbound traffic from Google Search has plummeted, with expectations
Season 6, Episode 6: What is signal engineering? (with Itai Kafri)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Itai Kafri on the topic of signal engineering. Itai is the Head of Product Growth at Voyantis and previously held senior roles at TikTok and ironSource. I've defined signal engineering as "the process of designing and capturing high-quality outcome proxies (eg., pLTV) so they can be reported back to ad platforms in real time such that those pla
Season 6, Episode 5: Sizing the off-platform monetization opportunity on mobile (with Chris Hewish)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Chris Hewish, the President of Xsolla, a payments and merchandising platform for video games. Chris previously held senior roles at Skydance, DreamWorks, and Activision.In our discussion, Chris and I discuss the recent changes to mobile platform payment policy implemented by both Apple and Google as a result of Epic's lawsuits. Among other topics, o
Season 6, Episode 4: Amazon's advertising strategy (with Adam Epstein)
In this week's episode of the MDM podcast, I speak with Adam Epstein, the CEO of Gigi, an AI-enabled automation tool for the Amazon DSP. Following Amazon's announcement in June of identity partnerships with both Roku and Disney (which I cover in Amazon is CTV’s data engine), Adam and I focus our conversation on Amazon's strategic positioning with its advertising business across Amazon
Season 6, Episode 3: An insider's account of the genesis of digital advertising (with Ari Paparo)
In this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ari Paparo, whose new book, Yield, is currently on pre-sale (see my review here). Yield follows Google's growth in the "open web display market", starting with its acquisition of DoubleClick and ending with the company being found guilty of abusing its monopoly power in the "ad tech" antitrust suit brought against it
Season 6, Episode 2: MDM Mailbag #4 (with David Barnard)
In this week's episode, I speak with David Barnard, a well-known independent app developer, the host of the Sub Club podcast, and the Growth Advocate at RevenueCat. This is the fourth installment of the MDM Mailbag series, where questions for guests are sourced from the Mobile Dev Memo community.Among other things, we discuss:The viability of link-out following Apple's policy change and ho
Season 6, Episode 1: MDM Mailbag #3 (with Thomas Petit)
In this week's episode of the podcast, I speak with Thomas Petit, a well-known mobile growth consultant, for the third installment of the MDM Mailbag series. Questions for MDM Mailbag episodes are sourced from the MDM community; in this episode, among other things, we discuss:The evolution of app-to-web user acquisition following Apple's recent policy change in the US;Optimizing Meta ad ca
Season 5, Episode 27: Commerce at the limit
In this episode of the podcast, I argue that the total automation of digital advertising through AI enablement presents a radically economically expansive opportunity that, while certainly disruptive for certain segments of the digital advertising ecosystem, will ultimately confer significant benefits on consumers, advertisers, and advertising platforms alike.I term the complete, end-to-end automa
Season 5, Episode 26: What’s Happening with DMA Enforcement? (with Mikołaj Barczentewicz)
In this episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I speak with returning guest Mikołaj Barczentewicz on the current state of DMA enforcement, including the recently-released text of the European Commission's April decision on Meta's Pay or Okay business model. Mikołaj returns to the podcast for his fourth appearance — he’s a professor of law at the University of Surrey and holds a PhD in Law
Season 5, Episode 25: MDM Mailbag #2 (with Rishabh Jain)
This week’s episode of the podcast is in the MDM Mailbag format. I recruited Rishabh Jain, the CEO of eCommerce experience platform FERMÀT, to answer questions submitted by the MDM community. Among other topics, those questions related to:the "universal truths" of user acquisitiona viable "self-learning path" for acquiring data analytics / data science skillsthe role of technic
Season 5, Episode 24: Advertising measurement in an AI landscape (with Maor Sadra)
My guest on this podcast is Maor Sadra, the CEO and co-founder of INCMRNTAL, an advertising measurement company. Full disclosure: I was one of the first investors in INCRMNTAL. The impetus for this conversation was a blog post that Maor recently published: I Measured Incrementality. Now What?. In this episode, among other things, we discuss:Why discrete, one-off experiments are not the optimal way
Season 5, Episode 23: Meta's AI advertising playbook (with Matt Steiner)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Matt Steiner, Meta's Vice President of Monetization Infrastructure, Ranking & AI Foundations, about the application of AI to the company's advertising platform.Among other things, we discuss:How ad ranking and selection are done at MetaThe evolution and functionality of Meta's various AI-enabled ranking and selection tools, from Lattice
Season 5, Episode 22: Economics and antitrust (with Brian Albrecht)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Brian Albrecht, the Chief Economist at the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE). Brian holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota and is an expert on antitrust and consumer protection.In this episode, Brian and I deliberate on the importance and application of antitrust law, as well as the current state of antitrust enforcement
Season 5, Episode 21: Apple in China (with Patrick McGee)
where he covers Apple. The topic of our conversation is Patrick's new book, Apple in China, which I reviewed last week. In the episode, Patrick provides a history of Apple's manufacturing activities in China, why Apple became so dependent on China for the production of its products, and how Apple shaped the trajectory of China as meaningfully as China shaped Apple.Thanks to the sponsors of
Season 5, Episode 20: The scientific approach to advertising measurement (with Andrew Covato)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Andrew Covato, a veteran of the largest digital advertising platforms -- including Meta, Google, and Snap -- and the founder and managing director of Growth by Science, an advertising measurement and technology consultancy. Andrew and I discuss the topic of advertising measurement broadly, including:The misconceptions that advertisers have abou
Season 5, Episode 19: The power of cohort compounding (with Nilay Patel)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Nilay Patel, the head of product at Kohort, a cohort analytics platform (full disclosure: I'm an advisor to the company). In our conversation, we discuss the profound power of cohort analysis in decision-making, not just related to marketing spend but across all disciplines within a digital-first company. Among other topics, we cover:The aspects of LT
Season 5, Episode 18: Advertising measurement in an uncertain economy (with Olivia Kory)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Olivia Kory, the Chief Strategy Officer of Haus, an advertising measurement platform. Against the backdrop of tariffs and economic uncertainty, Olivia and I discussed how firms can think about assessing the efficiency of their marketing spend. Among other topics, we cover:Why the open web is so foreign to many performance advertisers;The right way to conc
Season 5, Episode 17: MDM Mailbag #1 (with Taylor Holiday)
This week's episode of the podcast is in a new format: MDM Mailbag. I recruited Taylor Holiday, the CEO of eCommerce advertising agency Common Thread Collective and a prominent voice on DTC Twitter, to answer questions submitted by the MDM community. Among other topics, those questions related to:Any visible weakness in consumer spending related to tariffs;The viability of AppLovin and Pintere
Season 5, Episode 16: Quantifying the impact of ATT (with Daniel McCarthy)
My guest on this week’s episode of the podcast is Daniel McCarthy, who is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The topic of our conversation is a draft paper for which Daniel is a co-author: Evaluating the Impact of Privacy Regulation on E-Commerce Firms: Evidence from Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. I cited this paper in Could
Season 5, Episode 15: Spotify's down-funnel advertising ambitions (with Lee Brown and Per Sandell)
In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Lee Brown, Spotify’s Global Head of Ad Business & Platform, and Per Sandell, Spotify’s VP of Product, about Spotify's recent advertising product expansion, including its Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX) and its mobile app install product. Among other things, we discuss:The history of Spotify's advertising platform, which predates the Everything is
Season 5, Episode 14: The full-funnel marketing philosophy (with Alex Schultz)
My guest on this week’s episode of the podcast is Alex Schultz, the CMO and VP of Analytics at Meta. Among other things, Alex manages marketing, analytics, and internationalization for the company and directed its rebrand from Facebook to Meta. Additionally, Alex recently wrote a book, Click Here, which is currently available for pre-order.Among other things, we discuss:Alex’s background and long
Season 5, Episode 13: The evolving TV advertising ecosystem (with James Borow)
My guest on this week's episode is James Borow, the Vice President of Product and Engineering at Comcast's new Universal Ads effort, which was introduced this January. James was previously the Global Director of Product Strategy at Snap.The topic of our conversation is the evolving TV advertising ecosystem. Among other things, we discuss:The current state of performance advertising on TV;T
Season 5, Episode 12: A deep dive on dating apps (with George Hadjia)
This week, I speak with George Hadjia, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Bristlemoon Capital, a long-short hedge fund. George publishes regular insights on his firm's blog, including a recent post on Match Group, the company that operates Tinder and Hinge. The topic of our conversation is the dating app market and its prospects for growth after the tumultuous COVID era.Among other th
Season 5, Episode 11: The evolution of browser gaming (with Antti Jäderholm)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Antti Jäderholm, the founder and COO of Ray Browser, a web browser built and optimized for gaming. In our conversation, we discuss:The history of browser gaming and where it stands today;The limitations that have historically prevented the browser from becoming a mainstream platform for AAA-quality gaming;The forces of change that are expanding
Season 5, Episode 10: Podcast: Understanding "Brandformance" marketing (with Jess Jacobs)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Jess Jacobs, the CMO of MDVIP, having previously served in senior marketing roles at Shopify and Wayfair. The topic of our conversation is Brandformance marketing -- or brand-oriented marketing pursued with specific sensibilities around directly-measurable business objectives.Among other things, we discuss:The definition “brandformance," a
Season 5, Episode 9: AdTech M&A and the business cycle (with Terence Kawaja)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Terence Kawaja, the CEO and founder of LUMA Partners, a boutique investment bank focusing on the digital media sector. Terry is a high-profile advisor for transactions in the marketing and advertising spaces, and LUMA Partners publishes the infamous LUMAscapes market maps for those ecosystems. The topics of our discussion include: Terry's general pers
Season 5, Episode 8: The state of eCommerce in 2025 (with Rishabh Jain)
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Rishabh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of FERMÀT Commerce, an eCommerce advertising optimization platform. This is Rishabh's third appearance on the podcast (see one and two).I invited Rishabh back to the podcast to provide a broad overview of the state of eCommerce advertising at the outset of 2025. Among other things, we discuss: Rishabh's outlook
Season 5, Episode 7: Understanding the EU's AI Act (with Mikołaj Barczentewicz)
My guest on this week's episode of the podcast isMikołaj Barczentewicz. Mikołaj has appeared on the podcast a number of times -- he's a professor of law at the University of Surrey and holds a PhD in Law from the University of Oxford. He also regularly publishes thoughtful commentary on the EU regulatory landscape on hisSubstack.In this episode of the podcast, among other topics, we discus
Season 5, Episode 6: The intended and unintended consequences of privacy regulation (with John Lynch and JP Dube)
My guests on this week's episode of the podcast are John Lynch and JP Dube. John is the University of Colorado Distinguished Professor at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado-Boulder, and JP is the James M. Kilts Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Together, along with a number of co-authors, they have written a d
Season 5, Episode 5: The measurement myth
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half."Knowing the context of his work, my view of the infamous quote attributed to John Wanamaker is that advertising measurement is fundamentally and necessarily uncertain, even in success. This surfaces another, in my view, invalid interpretation of the quote: that advertising is only effective whe
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