MobileGroove

18/12/2025

📱 Mini Game Gold Rush: How WeChat Turned Snackable Games into a $7B Market
I recently sat down with Lemon Choi, Founder of HyperJoy, for a new PocketGamer.biz episode to unpack the explosive rise of hashtag mini games in China, and what this mini-game gold rush means for studios in Vietnam and the West.

We covered:
• How frictionless, no-download mini games scaled to a ~$7B ecosystem.
• Why monetization and retention are designed in from day one.
• What Western & Southeast Asian studios can learn from China’s playbook. • Lemon’s bold 2026 prediction & why WeChat-born games could soon hit the US top-grossing charts.

Recorded on location at Think Apps @ the Google Apps Summit APAC in Vietnam.

🎧 Watch the full episode: https://lnkd.in/ek8aD2ee

17/12/2025

Why One Bad Ad Can Kill Your Game – and How Top Studios Stop It.

Berk Ulusoy works with leading app and game publishers at Google on the AdMob team. In this episode, Berk tells me:

◉ Why one bad ad can be enough to make a player quit your app or game
◉ What Google is seeing in ad UX across EMEA and how different markets approach experimentation
◉ How to use segmentation (payers vs non-payers, regions, behaviors) to design smarter ad experiences
◉ How to think about formats, density and placements so ads feel integrated, not intrusive
◉ Why it pays to start conservative with monetization tests, then scale once you understand user expectations
◉ How to balance rewarded ads, IAP and other revenue streams without breaking UX
◉ How to work with partners like Google AdMob and AppHarbr to clean up bad ads and enforce your policies

Watch the full interview on:
🎧 YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=xs_jMHJ6L-M&feature=youtu.be
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5yFF2InbeIgkIRcxvDy3jm
🎧 Amazon: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/28e1039b-4ead-4c48-aed7-8aceb5195fa6/mobilegroove
🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mobilegroove/id1585861460

This conversation is part of Perspectives, a new Mobile Groove mini-series powered by AppHarbr. It’s a series about fixing ad quality and developing ad policies so users stay in your app or game, and you can enforce what you believe is right for your players.

24/11/2025

For newspapers and magazines, the web alone is no longer enough. Mobile apps are no longer optional—they’re the foundation for retention, subscriptions, and sustainable digital growth.

If you’re thinking seriously about your mobile strategy, I highly recommend checking out “The Publisher’s Mobile Growth Playbook: How To Drive App Adoption and Engagement” from Branch

https://www.branch.io/resources/blog/the-publishers-mobile-growth-playbook-how-to-drive-app-adoption-and-engagement/

20/11/2025

📣 Ready to make sense of the biggest AdTech shifts of the year, minus the buzzwords and spin?

Join Peggy Anne Salz for The AdTech Debrief Roundtable 2025, where leaders from across the ecosystem break down what actually mattered this year.

Featuring:
• Andrew Whiteside – VP & GM, Americas at
• Ezgi Dogan – Product/Game Monetization Consultant
• Nancy Roberts – President, Craftsman
• Prajwal Barthur – SVP, Product Management, Verve Group
•Peggy Anne Salz - Founder, MobileGroove

We’re unpacking:

◉ ID-less monetization: cohort-based targeting, contextual AI, clean rooms & universal IDs, what worked, what didn’t, and why.

◉ AI in AdTech: yield optimization, fraud detection, creative automation — was 2025 the year AI finally delivered?

◉ Brand advertising: CTV growth, attention metrics, suitability, storytelling — where budgets actually shifted.

📊 Your voice matters:

Ahead of the event, we put out a questionnaire to gather industry sentiment… and we were inundated with responses.

Thank you to everyone who shared their insights. The results will be revealed live during the webinar.

👉 Save your spot: https://verve.com/events/the-adtech-debrief-roundtable-2025/?utm_campaign=2922506[…]able&utm_source=Webinar&utm_medium=Partner&utm_term=MobileGroove

18/11/2025

Why community management has become a core growth function in game development
AppQuantum Yuriy Makhanov on why nurturing player community from day one can make or break your game

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/why-community-management-has-become-a-core-growth-function-in-game-development/ via PocketGamer.biz

Strangely enough, it’s often smaller studios that better understand the value of community.

17/11/2025

🗞️ Something BIG is happening tomorrow, 18th Nov, both online and in person—for the release of the AppsFlyerFall update, and honestly… Getting the same energy the internet had leading up to the movie premiere.

That countdown-to-a-major-moment kind of buzz 🎬

🪄 Just like reimagines a world we thought we already knew, is about to reshape how we understand and drive marketing growth.

Three breakthrough innovations. One unified vision.

A whole new way forward for marketers navigating a fast-changing landscape:

✨ AI-driven marketing that adapts in real time

📏 Holistic measurement built for complexity

🤝 Data collaboration that empowers smarter, ethical growth

If you want a front-row seat to what’s next in our industry, this is it.

Peggy Anne Salz will be tuning in, and you might want to as well.

Sign up and be a part of it

The AppsFlyer Fall 2025 Release is invite-only, with just 150 seats worldwide.
You’ve been chosen to be part of this moment.

13/11/2025

Can a video game treat depression? Teach democracy? Help us remember history?

If you’re a developer, brand, educator, or someone who believes games can spark change, this episode will challenge and inspire you.

🤳🏻 Tune in to learn more: https://lnkd.in/ey_UxcNE

🎮 Jukka Laakso from Soihtu DTx shares how his team is designing a game to treat major depression — a title that’s already seen 1,000+ patients play for 46+ hours and is moving toward FDA approval.

👾 Felix Zimmermann from the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / Federal Agency for Civic Education explains how their agency is supporting indie games that explore democracy, media literacy, and social justice.

🎮 Luc Bernard from tells the story behind his Holocaust education game, played by over 2 million people globally — and why it’s sparking conversations that outlast gameplay.

12/11/2025

✋🏻 Can you help with this very quick questionnaire: Navigating the Maze: The AdTech Debrief 2025: A Year of Shifts, Signals, and Surprises.

Peggy Anne Salz has teamed up with Verve Group to capture the state of AdTech straight from the people shaping it, and would love your opinion, please ⇣⇣

As another whirlwind year in AdTech wraps up, it’s time to pause, rewind, and project forward. We’ve seen new ideas tested, old assumptions challenged, and plenty of “next big things” come and go. This quick five-question check-in captures where the industry truly stands. Your perspective he...

06/11/2025

As 2025 starts to wind down, we have been reflecting on what a year it’s been for AdTech.
New technologies launched, assumptions challenged, and the line between innovation and noise became thinner than ever.

Along with , Peggy Anne Salz has put together a short, 5-question check-in to capture where the industry truly stands — from those shaping it every day.

Your perspective will help spotlight what’s real, what’s hype, and what’s next. 👉 Add your voice here 👇

As another whirlwind year in AdTech wraps up, it’s time to pause, rewind, and project forward. We’ve seen new ideas tested, old assumptions challenged, and plenty of “next big things” come and go. This quick five-question check-in captures where the industry truly stands. Your perspective he...

06/11/2025

Twenty-six billion downloads and counting – behind the success of Talking Tom
How a simple smartphone app spawned a global entertainment franchise

Unless you work in the mobile sector, we'll wager there's a good chance you've never heard of Talking Tom. So it might …

04/11/2025

🗞️ Big news about big news!
AppsFlyer has been everywhere lately, from expansion headlines to major partnerships.

But the real story isn’t what’s in the news. It’s what’s going to make the news. Expect updates and insights on autonomous marketing, omnichannel measurement, and a new data collaboration to turn your data into growth.

You can be there online on November 18, as it happens, by registering to attend AppsFlyer’s first-ever Fall Release virtual event

Get ready for an inside look at the ideas, the people, and the energy shaping what’s next. Just the boost and inspiration we all need as we gear up for a great start to 2026 ✨

If you know, you know. And if you don’t, this is your cue to find out.
Register to attend AppsFlyer’s first-ever Fall Release virtual event https://shorturl.at/WxyHC