Mobile Dev Memo Podcast

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Dan Taylor, the Vice President of Global Ads at Google. We discuss the profound impact of generative AI on search behavior and the technological evolution required to support the next era of digital advertising. Among other things, we discuss:
How the shift from keyword-based search to conversational intent will redefine the core mechanics of performance marketing attribution
Whether the increased monetization of long-tail conversational queries can offset the potential traffic loss for traditional web publishers
What role LLM-based ad ranking plays in reducing irrelevant placements and improving the overall efficiency of digital campaigns
If the consolidation of advertising tools into automated systems like Performance Max represents the final end of manual control
Why the emergence of universal commerce protocols might eventually allow AI agents to handle the entire checkout process autonomously
How the return to marketing mix modeling and first-party data signals a broader renaissance in rigorous measurement techniques
Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:
⁠⁠⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics.
⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back
Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising.
The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on:
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ben Sperry, a senior scholar at the International Center for Law and Economics, to explore the shifting landscape of social media litigation. We dive deep into recent court rulings in California and New Mexico that challenge the historical protections of Section 230 by focusing on product design rather than hosted content (see a recent piece by Ben, "Treating Speech as a Bug, Not a Feature," for more background). Among other things, we discuss:
Why the shift from content-based liability to product design claims might permanently dismantle the protections afforded by Section 230
How the threat of punitive damages may force platforms to implement aggressive age-gating and collateral censorship measures
Whether applying product liability standards to algorithmic recommendation features creates friction with First Amendment principles
Whether smaller tech entrants and startups can survive a legal environment defined by constant litigation and high compliance costs
What the recent jury verdicts against Meta and Google signal for the future of algorithmic curation across the broader internet ecosystem
When the focus on addictive design features like infinite scroll will begin to impact other services like streaming platforms
How generative AI and large language models will be categorized under speech laws if Section 230 remains inapplicable
Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:
⁠⁠⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics.
⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back
Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising.

The Prosperous Society is a podcast series by Mobile Dev Memo that articulates an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. It argues that the pervasive application of AI to the digital economy will be broadly economically expansionary, leading to increased individual prosperity, expanded consumer choice, and greater human agency.
In Episode 2, I argue that the Western political economy treats commerce as a primary mechanism of individual expression, and that artificial intelligence has the capacity to make commerce more expressive as an outward representation of the individual. In this way, the personalization promise of AI should be embraced and amplified, and applications of AI that subsume commerce, or treat it as a chore, are misaligned with the core benefits of AI. By contrast, advertising aligns incentives, incorporates private value through bids, and scales across heterogeneous products and margins, making it the more durable and effective model for product discovery in an AI-driven economy.

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Felix The, SVP of Product and Engineering - Advertising at Unity, to discuss the inner workings of Unity's Vector product and the strategic integration of engine-level data into the advertising ecosystem. We explore how Unity is rebuilding its machine learning infrastructure to provide more granular predictions and better performance for mobile gaming advertisers. Among other things, we discuss:
How the integration of real-time game engine signals can improve user acquisition performance for mobile game advertisers
Why the shift toward massive unified models represents a fundamental departure from the traditional fragmented approach to machine learning
Whether the use of runtime data provides a decisive competitive advantage over traditional software development kit signals for predictive modeling
What the transition from manual creative production to generative exploration means for the long-term sustainability of performance marketing budgets
If the ability to test core gameplay loops through playables before full development can significantly reduce traditional soft launch risk
How personalized creative units tailored to micro-cohorts will solve the persistent challenge of declining engagement in broad audience targeting
Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:
⁠⁠⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics.
⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back
Voyantis. Voyantis uses predictive AI to transform customer value into high-impact signals that boost ROAS across Google, Meta, and more.
Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising.

On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Christina Augustine, the COO of Bloomreach, to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-enabled personalization in digital marketing and e-commerce. We explore how the shift from predictive models to generative agents is fundamentally changing how brands interact with consumers across multiple touchpoints. Among other things, we discuss:
How agentic commerce tools will redefine the traditional customer journey beyond simple search and browse functions
Whether real-time behavioral signals can replace static cohort-based segmentation for truly individualized marketing
What role Answer Engine Optimization will play in the future of organic discovery as search habits shift
Why data quality remains the primary bottleneck for brands attempting to deploy sophisticated AI personalization at scale
If conversational shopping interfaces can significantly reduce product return rates by improving consumer purchase confidence
How marketers should balance the high cost of personalized SMS with the broader reach of email campaigns
When the industry will transition from defensive data siloing to a more integrated cross-channel signal environment
Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:
⁠⁠INCRMNTAL⁠⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
Xsolla⁠. With the Xsolla Web Shop, you can create a direct storefront, cut fees down to as low as 5%, and keep players engaged with bundles, rewards, and analytics.
⁠Branch⁠. Branch is an AI-powered MMP, connecting every paid, owned, and organic touchpoint so growth teams can see exactly where to put their dollars to bring users in the door and keep them coming back
Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Mobile Dev Memo advertising.
The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on:
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify