two & a half gamers 🎙️ Creative & Category Blocking: Save your retention by Felix Braberg
This episode covers one of the least sexy but most dangerous blind spots in mobile ad monetization:
If you don’t actively control what ads appear in your game,
your retention is being taxed without you noticing.
Felix breaks down how creative & category blocking really works across networks and why most publishers misunderstand it.
Key truths from the episode:
Blocking is mostly reactive, not proactive
Mediation is not a global kill switch — you must block ads on every network
Category blocking alone is never enough
Some networks give full control, others give almost none
Aggressive end cards silently kill retention
Revenue loss from cleaner ads is much smaller than people fear (~12%)
Having a centralized block list is a massive operational advantage
“Parity” is the only language networks respect when negotiating ad formats
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Podcast:
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
00:00 — Why ad quality quietly kills retention
01:45 — Why blocking is mostly reactive
03:30 — Category blocking: what it actually solves
05:40 — Why category blocking is never enough
07:20 — Mediation myth: why ads aren’t blocked globally
09:40 — Why you need a centralized block list
12:00 — Network-by-network control differences
14:40 — Aggressive end cards & hidden retention damage
17:30 — Revenue trade-offs (the real numbers)
18:45 — Final takeaway
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Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
Felix Braberg
Ad monetization consultant
https://www.felixbraberg.com
Jakub Remiar
Game design consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
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