Mass Appeal

Janos Perei is the Head of Growth at SYBO Games, the makers of Subway Surfers, one of the most downloaded mobile games in the world. Janos and his team have been working on migrating users across the various games in SYBO’s portfolio in a meaningful way, which he calls “cross-promotion.” He discusses the merits of this growth strategy, the experience of cross-promotion for the user, and the challenges. Questions Janos answered in this Episode:Are you a gamer?Outside of Subway Surfers, are there any mobile games in the marketplace that impress you in terms of growth?Why has Subway Surfers been so successful?How do you define “cross-promotion”?How does the experience of cross-promotion manifest for your users?Do more active users get different in-app messaging?What stops game studios from trying to do this? What are the challenges of trying to build a cross-promotion mechanism?Timestamp:1:25 Janos Perei’s background and role at SYBO5:34 Mobile games moving the needle7:24 The secret behind Subway Surfers success10:00 What is cross-promotion?12:32 SYBO’s pillars of privacy controls15:38 The user experience of cross-promotion17:45 Mitigating “cannibalization” within game portfolios22:00 Segmenting cross-promotions23:00 Can smaller game studios do cross-promotion?25:50 The challenges of cross-promotionMentioned in this Episode:Janos Perei’s LinkedInSYBO Games

Why do app users spend more time on Temu’s app than Walmart’s or Amazon’s? In short: gamification. In this episode, Tara Kirkpatrick, the Director of App Marketing at Apptopia, explains why apps using gamification are crushing their categories. Apptopia is a platform providing brands with mobile app performance data and mobile usage insights. Prior to Apptopia, Tara was the manager of product content and communications at Insight Timer.Questions Tara Answered in this Episode:What attracted you to Apptopia when you joined?What is Apptopia’s core focus in the market?Why does Temu see higher engagement in the app than Amazon?Why is Duolingo a leader in its category?Timestamp:5:19 Tara’s background7:58 Measuring scalable impacts for B2C10:45 What does Apptopia do?14:00 Why does Temu see higher engagement than Amazon?18:00 Why Duolingo kills the app monetization game23:07 Gaming runs upstream of all consumer tech25:41 Community as a driver for app engagement31:14 Diverging app monetization strategiesMentioned in this Episode:Tara Kirkpatrick’s LinkedInApptopia

Marc Bearman, the General Manager of Fetch Play, chats with Tommy about the potential of rewarded experiences in gaming, particularly at the intersection of reward platforms like Fetch and game studios, and how it can lead to innovations and new opportunities for engagement, loyalty, partnerships, and revenue streams. They cover the evolution of rewarded video as a monetization strategy, how gaming studios might benefit from designing games with rewarded experiences in mind, and what the future holds for this exciting new intersection. Questions Marc Answered in this Episode:Tell us about your background and what you're doing today at Fetch.What do you think makes Fetch special?Why do you think it makes sense for Fetch to integrate gaming into its rewards platform?What about the Fetch audience makes them attracted to games?What’s got you stoked about 2024?Timestamp:1:27 Marc’s role at Fetch and background in ad tech5:04 The evolution of rewarded video7:51 Integrating gaming into a rewards program12:31 Navigating user feedback and the importance of data-driven decisions16:24 Fetch’s unique position as a rewards and loyalty app22:23 Exploring user engagement and data accuracy23:54 The Fetch Play Initiative26:15 Win-win-win: Fetch-game studios-consumers34:47 How fetch appeals to gamers and non-gamers39:46 Looking ahead: the future of gaming and rewards with FetchMentioned in this Episode:Marc Bearman’s LinkedInFetch

How do we translate the pains of our consumers into a product that benefits their life? Join Tommy as he chats with Nico Ritschel, the Director of Engineering at ATM, about how he helps the rewards app develop features that empathize with the needs of their users.  ATM helps people monetize their personal data. Users can earn rewards, make money, and invest it by taking surveys, playing games, and more. Prior to ATM, Nico worked as a software engineer at Acorns and Netflix. Questions Nico Answered in this Episode:What can ATM app users do with their rewards?Since its start, how has the company decided what features to add?Are “daily questions” different from surveys?How do you determine what is a pervasive sentiment among your users?What are you looking forward to in 2024?Timestamp:4:07 Nico’s industry background5:55 What is ATM?10:40 Developing ATM’s features13:58 Daily questions16:43 Making product decisions20:00 A perspective outside data21:24 An engineer’s role27:00 What’s aheadMentioned in this Episode:Nico Ritschel’s LinkedInATM.com

Miguel Acosta is the CEO of GELT & Beruby, the leading app in Southern Europe for people who want to earn cashback on purchases from over 3,000 merchant links from the biggest brands. On today’s show, Miguel and Tommy discuss how generating revenue with a longtail cashback model works, and slowing down.Questions Miguel Answered in this Episode:You’re from Spain. Tell us what brought you to San Francisco.When did you start Beruby?What did the cashback landscape look like when you started Beruby?How has your business model changed since its beginnings?What allowed you to execute that shift?How do you go about building a cashback model in the e-commerce vertical?How does consumer feedback play in determining what brands you’re affiliated with?What are you excited about in 2024?Timestamp:4:46 Miguel’s backstory & Beruby’s origin13:00 The cashback app landscape at Beruby’s start14:10 How our business model changed17:00 What it took to make the shift18:48 “Longtail” cashback model for e-commerce24:32 How customer experience factors with cashback30:30 What’s to come in 2024Mentioned in this Episode:Miguel Acosta’s LinkedInBeruby

Yves Benchimol is the CEO and co-founder of WeWard, an app on a mission to make walking a more rewarding part of people’s lives. In this episode, Yves and Tommy discuss the three pillars of motivation that WeWard uses to inspire people to get outside and take a walk: gaming, social, and rewards. You’ll hear the strategies behind their success in helping 20 million users increase their number of steps on average by 25 percent.WeWard is a free mobile app that converts steps into digital currency, which can be redeemed for offers, coupons, products, or cash. Yves has a master's in engineering and entrepreneurship and lives in New York with his family. Questions Yves Answered in this Episode:How did you become the CEO and co-founder of WeWard?What’s one business you find inspiring?Why did you start WeWard?How does your app motivate people to walk more?Of the three pillars, which impacts your consumers the most?Do you have any examples of features that didn’t work that you thought would?How did you decide when it was time to expand into other countries? And how did you decide what countries to expand to first?Does the U.S. present unique challenges or rewards to WeWard’s expansion?What approach did you take to amplify your rewards system, and why was that important for WeWard?What’s your favorite walk of the day?Timestamp:3:06 Yves’s background7:14 WeWard’s origin story & the beauty of walking11:11 The 3 motivational pillars13:38 What motivates people the most?18:58 Deciding when to kill a feature22:35 How we decided to expand to other countries31:05 Amplifying our reward strategy with games36:04 The BEST walkMentioned in this Episode:Yves Benchimol’s LinkedInWeWard

Discover how PAYBACK revolutionizes app monetization by engaging users through rewarding actions. Sergio Palau, PAYBACK’s App Performance Marketing Specialist, shares insights into their approach, educating users, tradeoffs, and rewards. Join PAYBACK, the German-based loyalty rewards program, and earn discounts from your favorite brands.Timestamp:1:03 Sergio’s background5:25 What is PAYBACK?9:54 Gamifying PAYBACK to drive engagement15:50 The trust and value exchange of consumer data17:12 Educating users on our app’s offer wall25:25 Providing a rewarding gaming experienceMentioned in this Episode:Sergio Palau’s LinkedInPAYBACKOn Instagram @payback_group

It’s hard to be profitable as a Free to Play mobile game. With a 97% failure rate, it’s not uncommon for games to see that the Lifetime Value (LTV) of their users is below their Cost Per Install (CPI). In this episode, Matt Emery, the founder and lead product manager at Turbine Games Consulting, talks to Tommy about how he helps F2P games improve their monetization, retention, KPI performance, and CPI with as little effort on the client’s part as possible. Matt has worked with over 80 gaming companies on more than 100 games as a product manager over the last 15 years. He founded Turbine Games Consulting in 2016, and for the last five years, Turbine Games Consulting has been perfecting the art of split testing to refine their product recommendations over time. Questions Matt Answered in this Episode:Is the rate at which game developers launch new games part of the reason such a small percentage of mobile games make it?When did you found Turbine Games?What was the problem you were trying to solve for your clients, or the service you were trying to provide?What’s the most common need you see?How do you design your split tests? How do you prove the efficacy of an effort within a game in a split test environment?Is reskinning a store worth it?Tell us about one of your success stories.What are you excited about in 2024 for Free to Mobile Games?Timestamp:3:00 Matt’s background7:14 Mobile game survival rate and the development process11:20 The birth of Turbine Games Consulting15:49 Split testing to help games improve performance21:48 When clients don’t have enough user volume for split tests25:45 Even top-grossing companies miss low hanging fruit29:54 What initiatives create the greatest lift?31:33 A 9x ROAS success story36:00 Helping Free to Play games with pre-code product validationMentioned in this Episode:Matt Emery’s LinkedInTurbine Games Consulting

Tommy speaks to a connoisseur of scaling early stage startups and growing apps of emerging categories into multi-billion dollar products. Sami Khan is the CEO and Co-Founder of ATLAS Reality, a mobile gaming company with the leading real estate app on the metaverse. In this episode, Sami discusses how ATLAS Reality is bridging the virtual and physical worlds with their approach to monetization. Sami got his start in marketing emerging app categories when he led the launch of Acorns, which quickly became the leading fintech app in the U.S. He also advised Honey, the savings extension, on growth. Questions Sami Answered in this Episode:How much of your experience working with early stage startups gave you the confidence to make the jump that you did founding and starting ATLAS Reality?Can you tell our listeners about what ATLAS Reality is? And how do you educate your customers to not just drive installs but keep them engaged?How do you get people to understand what you’re doing? And how do you keep them engaged and retain users?Timestamp:3:04 Sami’s background11:37 The fear of being a founder15:57 Installs don’t mean sh*t19:37 What is ATLAS Reality?20:26 A vision for the Metaverse25:00 Approaches to monetization for retention19:32 The future of loyaltyLinks:Sami Khan’s LinkedInAtlas:EarthAcorns

How did  Ember Fund  get over a million users to invest in cryptocurrencies on their app? Find out as Tommy chats to Guillaume Torche, the Co-Founder and CTO of the Web3 superapp that allows users to earn, play, and invest in digital assets. You’ll learn how they made investing in crypto easy and fun for the average joe, and the outcome of their strategy.Questions Guillaume Answered in this Episode:What was the inspiration behind starting Ember Fund?Can you explain how you’ve taken the middleman out of investing in crypto for your app’s users?How much can users earn for referring a friend? How did you test that experience to find out the optimal payout to the user that made the referral?How else do you think about earning and how to increase consumer opportunities there?What are you excited about for what’s to come next?Timestamp:1:45 Guillaume’s background3:12 The birth of Ember Fund7:12 Cutting out the middleman9:00 Educating our users10:46 Our key to acquisition and scale11:35 How Ember Fund’s referral program works14:08 Tournaments for crypto portfolios21:55 Our next frontierMentioned in this Episode:Guillaume Torche LinkedInEmber Fund