Business of Apps Podcast

You know it better than us — the era of experimenting with AI is over. The question isn't whether to use it anymore. It's whether it's actually moving the numbers. In 2026, the winners aren't the teams running clever pilots. They're the ones who've wired AI into the core of their growth engine — into how they find users, activate them, and figure out what those users really want. In this special e...

Performance marketers are running out of levers — and the one most teams haven't pulled yet is signal. In this episode, we speak with Shumel Lais , Founder of Day30, about signal engineering and why it may be the most important skill in performance marketing right now. Shumel explains what signal engineering actually is, how prediction models use behavioural data to identify high-value users befor...

Hi, welcome to the Business of Apps podcast! Today, we have a special episode for you. We're featuring our recent webinar, presented by Aampe - agentic infrastructure for personalized experiences. It brings together four mobile growth leaders to cut through the AI hype and share what's actually working — from app user acquisition to retention. This session goes beyond buzzwords to unpack the real...

Brand visibility is no longer just about winning the attention of consumers — it's about being eligible to exist in the spaces where discovery happens. In this episode, we speak with Lavinea Morris, Managing Director EMEA at M&C Saatchi Performance, about what it really takes for brands to show up in an AI-driven world. Lavinea introduces the concept of "eligibility" — the idea that before an...

What if your MarTech stack was actually working  for you instead of against you? In this episode, Amanda and Adam of Branch are joined by Rebecca Nackson, CEO of Notable, to explore why most companies fail at implementation after buying marketing tools, how to enlist salespeople as strategic partners in the buying process, and the systems that separate high-growth teams from stalled ones. From ref...

What if AI didn’t replace your creative team, but made them more creative than ever? In this episode, Amanda and Adam of Branch are joined by Jen Taylor to explore how AI is changing the way creative teams work, produce, and scale content without losing the human touch. From breaking down the real role of AI in creative production and why it won’t replace artists, to how teams can use AI to iterat...

Search inside the app stores is changing — and AI is accelerating that shift. In this episode, we speak with Dave Bell, CEO at Gummicube, about how artificial intelligence is transforming the way users discover apps. Dave explains why search is becoming more conversational and intent-driven, how natural language queries are reshaping rankings, and why the era of optimizing for a single dominant ke...

What if your mobile app strategy was holding back your entire company's growth? In this episode, Amanda and Adam of Branch welcome back Matt Hudson, founder of BILDIT, to discuss why mobile-first thinking isn't just about technology—it's an organizational imperative. From breaking down the real ROI of app investment and the myth of channel cannibalization, to preparing your ecommerce business for...

How do you know if your app marketing is actually driving growth — or just generating activity? In this episode, we speak with Dane Buchanan, Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer at M+C Saatchi Performance, about one of the most misunderstood topics in app growth: measurement. Dane explains why clicks and impressions don’t tell the full story, why incrementality matters more than correlation,...

Scaling user acquisition has become harder to justify and even harder to predict. App teams are under pressure to grow faster while proving, with real data, that every dollar spent delivers meaningful results beyond the install. In this episode, we’re sharing an App Talk interview where David Murphy speaks with Lee Aho, Chief Revenue Officer at Perform[cb]. Lee explains how outcome-based user acqu...

Welcome to another episode of How I Grew This podcast from our partner Branch – mobile attribution platform and app analytics solutions for enterprises. It covers building a sustainable agency through values-driven leadership and specialist focus. In this episode, hosts Amanda and Adam speak with Mick Rigby, founder and CEO of Yodel Mobile, about his 20-year journey building a specialist mobile ap...

For many app teams, ads are treated as a necessary tradeoff — something you accept in exchange for revenue. But ad quality isn’t just an ad ops issue. It directly shapes user experience, retention, and how people perceive your app. In this episode, we’re sharing an App Talks interview where David Murphy speaks with Alex Yerukhimovich, General Manager at AppHarbr. Alex breaks down what ad quality r...

The way app users discover, evaluate, and even build apps is starting to shift — and large language models are at the center of that change. As AI platforms evolve beyond chat and into full ecosystems, app growth teams are facing a new set of questions around discovery, distribution, and long-term strategy. In this episode, we’re sharing an App Talks interview with Dan Shabtay, Co-Founder of Z2A D...

Happy 2026, everybody! We're kicking off this year with an episode from our partner Branch - mobile attribution platform and app analytics solutions for enterprises. Join Adam and Amanda of Branch as they sit down with Shumel Lais, a mobile growth expert with over a decade of experience, to explore the essential strategies for launching and scaling subscription apps. From setting up proper analyti...

App Store optimization is often treated as a checklist item — update keywords, run a few tests, maybe layer on some paid traffic. But when those pieces operate in isolation, teams miss the real opportunity: using paid and organic together as a single, feedback-driven system. In this episode, we’re sharing an App Talks interview with David Quinn, VP of Strategy and Partnerships at Gummicube. David...

In today’s episode, we’re digging into one of the most overlooked levers in mobile growth: the App Store page itself. Developers obsess over UA budgets, creative variations, and dashboards — yet leave untapped conversion sitting on the table simply because the storefront experience isn’t aligned with how users actually arrive. To get clarity on what really moves the needle, we’re sharing with you...

For years, mobile marketers have been navigating a storm of signal loss, rising UA costs, siloed data, and an explosion of tools that promise growth but rarely deliver clarity. Now, with 2026 on the horizon — and budgets tightening even further — one question keeps resurfacing: How do you drive confident, profitable app growth in the year ahead? In this App Talk special of the Business of Apps Pod...

As mobile marketers head into another year of rising costs, shrinking signal, and fiercer competition across search and social, one performance channel keeps gaining momentum where few expected it: connected TV. What used to be dismissed as “just a brand play” is now becoming a measurable, high-intent driver of installs and in-app actions — especially when powered by OEM data. In this App Talk spe...

You know it better than us - acquiring users is no longer the finish line. It’s barely the starting line. In 2025, growth happens in the layers after the click — where segmentation, onboarding, product activation and value messaging determine whether a user becomes a one-and-done trial or a compounding revenue cohort. In this special episode, we’re syndicating the App Promotion Summit NYC 2025 pan...

As app marketers navigate rising costs and tightening privacy rules, one truth is becoming clear — relying solely on Meta, Google, and TikTok is no longer sustainable. Beyond those walled gardens lies a vast, often overlooked landscape — the open internet — where opportunities for user acquisition remain untapped. In this App Talks special of the Business of Apps Podcast, David Murphy sits down wi...

What happens when AI meets lifecycle marketing? In this special episode, we’re bringing you a panel discussion from App Promotion Summit NYC 2025, featuring leaders from WHOOP, theCut, and Grohaus. They unpack how AI is transforming app engagement — from personalization at scale to the rise of 100,000-message permutations. You’ll hear where AI makes a real impact, where it still stumbles, and what...

Building a sustainable game business has never been more complex—or more full of opportunity. As platforms evolve and user acquisition costs rise, developers are rethinking how they monetize and engage their players directly. In this episode, Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla , breaks down the rise of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) transactions and how Xsolla’s Web Shop is helping game studios reclaim o...

September rolls on—Apple’s big reveal is behind us, and the tech world is still catching its breath. With the unveiling of the iPhone Air, Apple has once again raised the bar in mobile innovation. But while hardware dominates headlines, we’re zooming in on a quieter, yet equally game-changing shift: the migration of payments from app stores to the web. This week’s episode of The Business of Apps P...

September is in full swing - Apple is about to host its highly anticipated event - fingers crossed the new iPhone will be awesome! “Back to School” theme is everywhere you look; one of the things that kids need to learn about is obviously finance. OK, not for kids but for app brands and developers, we want to share yet another App Talk interview conducted by Peggy Anne Salz with Andrew Davies, Chi...

Yet another summer is wizzed by with a jet speed. With a few days left, we want to signify this moment by sharing with you yet another App Talk interview from App Promotion Summit London 2025, this time with Rui Mateus, CTO of Mobrand. At the interview, Rui brilliantly laid out the state of programmatic advertising for mobile apps. He touched on the need for control and transparency in programmati...