For those who couldn’t make it to the UA session we hosted at Business of Apps Berlin, we’ve got you covered.

The mobile app industry is at a crossroads. Rising costs, intensifying privacy restrictions, and saturated traditional channels are forcing growth teams to rethink how they acquire users. At Business of Apps Berlin 2025, we brought together some of the sharpest minds in performance marketing to tackle these challenges head-on.

Hosted by Omri Argaman, Zoomd’s CMO, the panel featured an all-star lineup of industry leaders who collectively manage tens of millions in annual ad spend:

• Songhee Kim – Team Lead, User Acquisition at Gameloft (running UA campaigns across mobile, PC, and console for titles like Disney Dreamlight Valley and Asphalt Legends)
• Thomas Kochan – Head of Digital Marketing at SMARTBROKER+ (German based trading app)
• Anastasiia Ivanova – Performance Marketing Manager at Omio (the travel platform for trains, buses, and flights)
• Alper Taner – Growth Lead at Taxfix, with 12 years of growth experience and $30-36M in annual ad spend

The Challenge: Moving Beyond Walled Gardens

The discussion opened with a reality check. The traditional playbook of pouring money into Meta, Google, and TikTok is no longer delivering the results it once did. As competition intensifies on these platforms, costs rise, and returns diminish.

The consensus among panelists was clear: diversification isn’t optional anymore. It’s survival.

3 Key Takeaways from the Discussion

1️⃣ Media Channel Diversification Is Key to Sustainable Growth

Relying on the same few platforms limits scale. The panelists emphasized that expanding beyond walled gardens unlocks new audiences, improves efficiency, and builds long-term resilience.

The open internet—including ad networks, SDKs, OEM partnerships, mobile operators, DSPs, affiliate channels, and in-game advertising—represents a massive, often overlooked opportunity.

“My job is to optimize the opportunities and cut down the noise, then double down on what works.” — Alper Taner

2️⃣ The Fastest Growers Test Early and Scale Smart

High-performing teams aren’t waiting for channels to become mainstream. They’re constantly experimenting with emerging distribution opportunities, gaining a competitive edge before costs rise and competition follows.

On creative testing frameworks:

“We always try to put aside some budget for creative testing. We identify a country where we can achieve sufficient installs and signals to get solid learnings. You’ll be surprised—within a few days every creative will deliver the assigned budget.” — Songhee Kim, Gameloft

On budget management:

“If you’re spending 100-200K a month, you don’t need 10 different channels—focus on maximizing vertical expansion within core channels. But when you’re at million-plus per month, the game changes to finding incremental impact.” — Alper Taner

3️⃣ Performance Discipline Still Wins

New channels only matter if they deliver impact. The panel was unanimous: clear measurement, transparency, and ROI remain non-negotiable.

“I personally use multiple angles—there’s the MMM output, incrementality testing, last-click based MMP, and internally ‘how did you hear about us.’ Then you apply multipliers to see what’s closest to your source of truth.” — Alper Taner

On testing patience, the panelists agreed: the rule of thumb is about a month per channel, iterating on optimization types, creative approaches, and audiences—not just two weeks with minimal spend.

Emerging Channels Worth Watching

The panelists shared several non-traditional channels that are delivering results:

• Reddit: Growing rapidly in Europe with strong communities. Gameloft has tested it successfully. One company even deployed AI agents engaging in subreddits organically—10,000 posts in 24 hours.
• Twitch: Now supporting app install ads with MMP integration (Singular support started December 2024).
• Quora: Delivering results for targeted audiences, especially in knowledge-seeking verticals.
• Dating Apps: Omio discovered that dating apps work surprisingly well for travel—”people travel to date.”
• Creator-Driven Platforms: The lines between UA and brand building are blurring. Gameloft repurposes influencer assets for UA because “how it works organically gets translated well for user acquisition.”

Looking Ahead: The Future of User Acquisition

On privacy-first advertising:

“We stopped looking at very granular data and started looking at ‘enough data’ to see first signals. We understand we’re playing a game with new rules.” — Anastasiia Ivanova, Omio

On AI as an advertising channel:

“Surprisingly, we didn’t touch a lot on AI. Those platforms are struggling with monetization, but sooner or later they might open up new advertising channels. ChatGPT is gaining market share tremendously—it doesn’t take long until generative engine optimization (GEO) becomes relevant from an advertising point of view.” — Thomas Kochan, SMARTBROKER+

On community building:

“Building communities is one of the future channels. Reddit, creators, native ads in other apps—look at your users’ interests and behavior in general through life.” — Anastasiia Ivanova

Scaling Without Breaking: Creative Testing That Works

One of the most actionable discussions centered on how to scale budgets without destroying performance. Alper Taner shared a critical framework:

• Never double budget overnight—diversify across optimization types, placements, angles, and creatives
• Support growth with robust creative testing to avoid fatigue (creatives die faster during scaling)
• Find your ideal spend threshold per creative—look for when performance gets stable over time
• Balance radical new creative approaches with iterations (latest algorithm updates favor variety)

“Testing 50 ads with €10 spend in a day is not creative testing—that’s gambling. Every account should find their ideal threshold.” — Alper Taner

Big Thanks to Our Panelists

A huge thank you to Omri Argaman, Songhee Kim, Thomas Kochan, Anastasiia Ivanova, and Alper Taner for the sharp insights and great discussion. Their perspectives reflect the innovative thinking that’s driving the industry forward.

 

This article was published following Zoomd’s participation at Business of Apps Berlin 2025, where we served as a Silver Sponsor.