Launch Your First AppLovin Ads Campaign

Product reviewed

AppLovin Ads / XON Ads Manager (AppLovin’s ad platform focused on mobile game inventory). The video is a step-by-step guide to launching a first campaign and tuning creatives, landing pages, and campaign settings.

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Key features / workflow (unique points mentioned)

1. 5-step setup process

   • Sign up at xon.ai
   • Install and verify the pixel
   • Choose page and offer
   • Upload creatives (video + “interactive” + image)
   • Create the campaign and settings (ROAS/CPP goals, etc.)

2. Brand settings

   • Upload brand logo, brand name, description (max 75 characters), CTA label + CTA color
   • Brand assets preview matters because it appears on the third ad screen

3. Ad format structure (3 parts)

   • Screen 1: Video
   • Screen 2: “Interactive” (HTML interactive in the manager) or image (both treated as interactive-type assets)
   • Screen 3: Brand assets or DPA (dynamic product ads) / DOA (dynamic offer ad)

4. Integrations

   • Connect Shopify (if used)
   • Configure reporting key / API keys for third-party tracking tools (examples mentioned: TUNE, Northbeam)

5. Pixel setup & verification

   • Shopify users: integrate via the AppLovin app (quick)
   • Non-Shopify/headless: set up via Google Tag Manager
   • Troubleshooting: AppLovin Pixel Helper Chrome extension

6. Geography / targeting availability

   • Can run in “pretty much anywhere … except Western Europe” (as of the speaker’s info)
   • Video examples assume United States campaigns

7. Campaign optimization choices

   • Two goal types: ROAS goal or CPP goal / cost per purchase
   • Suggestion: start with ROAS for most cases (speaker claims ~70% run ROAS in “June 2026”)
   • Audience strategy options:
     • Universal: includes existing customers
     • Prospecting: new customers
     • Discovery: people who haven’t been pixelated yet
   • Day target: optimization window (e.g., 24 hours vs 7 days)
     • Suggestion: start with Day 7 (speaker claims ~70% use Day 7)

8. Attribution difference vs Meta

   • AppLovin uses click-based attribution and does not have view-through attribution like Meta
   • Result: ROAS in AppLovin Ads Manager can be lower than Meta/third-party reporting
   • Advice: don’t turn off campaigns too early due to lower in-platform ROAS

9. Creative sets & testing strategy

   • AppLovin structure emphasizes:
     • Campaign level + Creative set level (no separate ad-set/ad layer like Meta)
   • Recommendation: build multiple creative sets for different combinations, such as:
     • Landing pages (home vs product vs sales page)
     • Creators/batches
   • Avoid mixing “new creatives into existing creative sets” because it can disrupt learning

10. Creative upload limits

    • In a creative set: up to 10 videos and 10 interactives/images

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Creative requirements and what works (unique points)

1. Volume + diversity are critical

   • Major warning: beginners often upload only 1 video + 1 image/interactive
   • Instead: upload as much creative diversity and volume as possible

2. Video length

   • Must be shorter than 60 seconds
   • Unlike Meta, longer videos (2–4 minutes) aren’t viable on XON

3. Aspect ratio

   • Prefer 9:16 videos

4. Captions

   • Add captions because many users are watching on mute

5. Creatives can perform differently than Meta

   • “What works on Meta can work on AppLovin,” but:
     • Stuff that didn’t work on Meta may work on AppLovin
   • Reason given: different mobile game ad user experience (ads appear between levels or rewarded video)

6. Example creative approaches mentioned

   • AI-generated short videos with on-screen text (example: “Parlor Games”)
   • Very short looping video (example: a 5-second clip looped to ~30 seconds)
   • A “creative portfolio” helps the algorithm pair:
     • video with interactives/images to match different users

7. Second-screen strategy (Screen 2)

   • Use both:
     • HTML interactives created in the manager
     • images (speaker mentions Thumbstop as an image tool)
   • Screen 2 is described as important for communicating transformation (how life improves / pain solved / desired outcome)

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Numeric / score-like claims included

• Format / engagement metric

  • AppLovin ad medium watch time: ~35 seconds (speaker stated)

• Attribution / ROAS expectations

  • AppLovin ROAS in the manager can be lower than Meta / third-party due to attribution differences
  • Example target mapping:
    • Aim for about 1.2 ROAS (120% goal) in AppLovin Ads Manager if expecting higher back-end performance (speaker references “TripleLift” comparisons)

• Performance examples (spend/profit)

  • “Parlor Games” (last months):
    • Their best-performing AI creative described as their best spending ad on XON
  • Loop video example:
    • “spent a couple of thousand a day profitably”
    • Another referenced: $6,000+ profitably over 7 days and $1,000+ yesterday for an AI-generated video
  • “SweetFlex”:
    • Spend ~$1,500/day
    • “Day zero ROAS just over one”
    • “New customer day zero ROAS ~0.95”

• Creative spend share

  • “Parlor Games”:
    • “thumbs up” creatives reportedly got ~90% of the spend in the example view

Note: These are reported by the speaker; there’s no independent verification or full chart context provided in the subtitles.

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Pros (explicitly implied or directly stated)

• Faster setup to go live: “get live generally under 60 minutes” (after setup steps)
• Easy integrations: Shopify/AppLovin app; GTM docs for others
• More time in the ad experience than Meta → better for storytelling/transformation
• Creative flexibility: videos + interactive HTML + images; the algorithm can combine components
• Performance improvements possible beyond what failed on Meta (conceptually: different platform experience can unlock creatives)
• Evergreen improvements mentioned after an “algorithm update” from AppLovin

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Cons / limitations (unique points)

• Attribution is stricter than Meta: click required; no similar view-through reporting → in-dashboard ROAS may look worse
• Fewer campaign options: speaker says there aren’t “that much options right now”
• Creative constraints:
  • Videos must be < 60 seconds
  • Requires 9:16 and captions
• Debugging measurement is harder:
  • Harder to identify which specific video+image combination drove conversion
  • AppLovin mainly shows impressions and spend by asset type

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Comparisons made with similar products (Meta / Meta Ads)

1. Creative fit comparison

   • Meta-winning creatives often work on AppLovin, but some Meta failures can succeed on AppLovin due to different user experience.

2. User experience comparison

   • Meta: scrolling with minimal time → hook is everything
   • AppLovin: mobile game context → ads are watched longer, with time for transformation storytelling

3. Attribution / ROAS comparison

   • Meta: view-through attribution by default (as described)
   • AppLovin: requires click attribution → expect lower ROAS in the dashboard

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Verdict / overall recommendation (based on the video)

Recommended for marketers who can produce/assemble a diverse set of short (under-60s), 9:16 creatives—especially with captions and strong Screen 2 “transformation” messaging.

The video suggests AppLovin/XON can perform well for both evergreen and scaled spend, but warns not to judge too quickly using AppLovin Ads Manager ROAS alone, due to click-based attribution differences versus Meta.

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Unique points by speaker

Only one main speaker (Pep, CEO at Smart Marketer Agency) provides the guidance and all examples. No other speaker voices are present in the subtitles.