Plus: Meta’s new health brand restrictions, Unity’s AI transformation, and what it means for your 2025 strategy

The Speed Read

• AppLovin opens e-commerce floodgates in EMEA, reshaping digital ad landscape

• Meta blindsides health brands with tracking restrictions

• Unity rolls out new AI model, early results mixed

• Traditional gaming CPMs show surprising stability in Q1

This Week’s Analysis

AppLovin’s E-commerce Revolution

How the gaming ad giant is becoming retail’s new best friend

The walls between gaming and e-commerce are crumbling faster than anyone predicted. AppLovin’s aggressive push into retail advertising is already showing results that could reshape the digital marketing landscape in 2025.

By the Numbers

• DTC brands seeing up to $4K/day in efficient spend on new platform

• E-commerce ads now represent 25% of impressions in female/35+ gaming titles

• Channel CPMs holding steady despite January seasonality

• Early tests showing performance at 50% of Meta benchmarks

The Opportunity

AppLovin’s expansion into EMEA signals confidence in their e-commerce strategy. DTC brands are finding particular success with female, 35+ demographics in gaming apps – a notoriously hard-to-reach audience through traditional channels.

More importantly, early data suggests these audiences convert. One DTC brand we tracked is already allocating $3-4K daily to AppLovin from a $1.5M monthly digital budget, suggesting strong initial performance.

The Challenge

The platform currently requires significant minimum spends ($5M/month reported by some sources), though a self-service option is rumored to be coming. Performance metrics currently lag Meta but exceed traditional display and CTV channels.

What Smart Brands Are Doing

Forward-thinking DTC brands are:

1. Testing female-focused creative in gaming environments

2. Preparing for the self-service rollout

3. Watching for new DPA (Dynamic Product Ad) capabilities

4. Building multi-platform attribution models that include gaming inventory

Quick Takes: Platform Updates That Matter

Meta’s Health Brand Bombshell

• What happened: Restricted key event tracking for health/wellness advertisers

• Why it matters: First vertical-specific tracking limitation

• What to watch: Potential shift to Google/Amazon for bottom-funnel

Unity’s AI Evolution

• What changed: New targeting model focused on casual gaming

• Early results: Mixed performance, stronger for hybrid-casual titles

• The catch: Still early days, more data needed

Last Word

“The lines between gaming and e-commerce aren’t just blurring – they’re disappearing. Smart brands will be ready.”

The Ad Insider is presented by Acceler8 Labs. Want to talk about scaling your brand from $5m to $10m? Let’s talk.