Triple Whale

AppLovin Seeks Patience as Ecommerce, Consumer Ads Grow

AppLovin reported $1.9 billion in Q2 revenue and roughly $1.3 billion in net income, with both revenue and profitability up more than 50% year-over-year. Despite strong financials, its shares fell over 20% in after-hours trading after earnings missed company guidance and its newly launched consumer ads business grew more slowly than investors expected. CEO Adam Foroughi said the consumer ads offering — the evolved form of an earlier ecommerce ads beta — is early in its rollout and targets mid-tier ecommerce and consumer brands that plan budgets on quarterly to multi-quarter cycles. AppLovin cited partnerships with ecommerce analytics vendors (e.g., Triple Whale) and pointed to potential future expansion beyond mobile gaming into non-gaming apps, the open web, and eventually CTV; the company acquired streaming ad platform Wurl in 2022.

Founders Driving Short-Form Social Content

Brands are increasingly asking founders to create short-form social content to build authenticity, connect with customers, and support wholesale opportunities. Small-business founders are adopting a "creator" identity and often personally manage social accounts. Reports cited show short-form video delivers high ROI, but founders face challenges balancing content creation with day-to-day operations, maintaining brand-aligned authenticity, and resourcing production. Examples include Kostarina’s founder Katina Mountanos, women’s outdoor brand Seniq’s co-founders (who use analytics and Triple Whale), and Nick Stenson of Nick Stenson Beauty sharing personal and product-focused content.

Google Meridian and Meta Robyn Reshape Ad Measurement

Google and Meta have promoted open-source marketing-mix-modeling (MMM) tools — Meridian (Google) and Robyn (Meta) — that are changing how advertisers measure channel performance. Google released Meridian in 2024 and is actively pushing adoption (including integrations with Google Analytics and sales KPIs tied to adoption), while multiple sources say Meta is pulling back on Robyn. The open-source code gives the appearance of transparency, but platform-specific data access and sales incentives risk embedding platform self-interest into ostensibly independent MMM results. Amazon’s 2023 MMM is closed-source and explicitly promotes Amazon signals. Numerous agencies and vendors have built proprietary offerings on Meridian or Robyn code, raising concerns about disclosure and independence in measurement.