Episode 182: Brian Quinn from AppsFlyer on the Billion Dollar Investment from Google and Meta

AppsFlyer President and General Manager Brian Quinn joins Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi to discuss the company’s $1 billion funding round backed by Google, Meta, Unity, and Moloco. They explore independent measurement, mobile commerce, CTV attribution, and the future of AI advertising. Takeaways: - AppsFlyer’s strategic investors hold minority, non-controlling stakes, allowing the company to remain independent. - Google, Meta, Unity, and Moloco rely on independent measurement signals to improve advertising optimization. - E-commerce and retail are among AppsFlyer’s fastest-growing categories. - Connecting CTV, web, and app activity is essential for measuring the complete customer journey. - Last-click attribution remains vulnerable to manipulation and affiliate fraud. - AI advertising growth will depend on proving incremental returns for marketers. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction with Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi 01:09 Marketecture’s new MADDB MCP server 04:14 Brian Quinn joins the conversation 04:45 What is AppsFlyer? 05:39 Inside AppsFlyer’s $1 billion funding round 06:41 Why AppsFlyer selected strategic investors 07:19 Protecting independent measurement 08:34 Why Google and Meta invested 09:49 AppsFlyer as an optimization signal 11:28 How the unusual funding round came together 12:31 Strategic investors versus private equity 13:20 Competing with Adjust while partnering with AppLovin 15:56 Mobile advertising beyond gaming 17:35 Growth in retail and e-commerce apps 19:25 Connecting CTV, web, and mobile measurement 23:52 Ad tech news of the week 25:19 Fia and the affiliate attribution controversy 27:35 The problems with last-click attribution 31:13 Can AI advertising meet its revenue forecasts? 35:01 Questions around IP-based CTV targeting 37:03 Open-web ad supply falls sharply 38:35 The Trade Desk expands its leadership team 40:20 PubMatic exits the wrapper-management business 41:28 Closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices