For a long time, app marketers have been operating within familiar boundaries, relying heavily on Google and Meta to drive user acquisition. These Walled Gardens thrive on closed data and predefined audience systems. They can be powerful, but they’re also restrictive. Marketers see only part of the picture: performance reports without full transparency into how their ads are placed, priced, or optimized. CPIs and CPAs continue to rise, leaving many app marketers struggling to sustain growth.
For the app economy, relying solely on these channels means missing out on the broader opportunities. The problem is particularly acute in categories where user value is high but acquisition costs are rising incredibly rapidly. The result is that growth constrained by constraints ultimately reaches a dead end.
In this article, Mobupps explores how the Open Internet and alternative channels of growth, including in-app, programmatic, CTV, OEM, and other emerging media environments, are redefining what scalable, efficient, and transparent app growth entails.
According to Statista, users spend 66% of their online time on the Open Internet, yet only 40% of ad budgets flow there. That imbalance signals a massive missed opportunity that forward-thinking marketers are starting to tap into.
The Open Internet and alternative channels of growth refer to the vast digital environments that exist outside traditional walled gardens, including mobile apps, streaming platforms, independent publishers, OEM placements on devices, and connected TV. Here, programmatic advertising provides the bridge, offering access to audiences at scale while maintaining transparency, control, and measurable efficiency.
With technologies like Mobupps’ MAFO, advertisers can manage campaigns across thousands of high-quality inventory sources, analyze user behavior in real time, and continuously optimize based on actual performance, not hidden metrics.
This means:
OEM partnerships add another layer of precision, giving marketers access to pre-installed app placements, device-level visibility, and incremental users reached at the very start of their mobile journey, before they even open app stores or social platforms.
On the Open Internet, creativity is powered by transparency. With detailed creative-level reporting, marketers can analyze how every message, visual, and format performs, and then use that insight to refine engagement strategies across verticals continuously.
Across app categories, several creative approaches consistently drive stronger results:
In OEM and CTV environments, creatives need to adapt to native device experiences. For example, onboarding-style visuals or contextual recommendations that feel part of the user’s interface rather than interrupting it.
The Open Internet and alternative growth channels give marketers full creative freedom to experiment, test, and adapt, without algorithmic or format restrictions. This flexibility transforms creative testing into a true engine for performance and scalable app growth.
At Mobupps, we believe automation should empower technologies. Through our proprietary technology – MAFO, we use machine learning to assess traffic quality, predict performance, and optimize bids in real time. This ensures budget efficiency and scalable results that walled gardens with their limited transparency rarely provide.
When predictive algorithms are combined with the diversity of the Open Internet, our advertisers gain precision and reach for long-term, cost-effective app growth.
App marketing is evolving toward openness. The Open Internet and alternative channels of growth are the foundation of a modern acquisition strategy. Walled gardens will continue to have a role in the mix. But the leading marketers in the upcoming years are those who are exploring new “areas”, embracing technology, and using real-time intelligence to grow sustainably. Ready to experience this transformation firsthand? Contact Mobupps right now: marketing@mobupps.com
For a long time, app marketers have been operating within familiar boundaries, relying heavily on Google and Meta to drive user acquisition. These Walled Gardens thrive on closed data and predefined audience systems. They can be powerful, but they’re also restrictive. Marketers see only part of the picture: performance reports without full transparency into how their ads are placed, priced, or optimized. CPIs and CPAs continue to rise, leaving many app marketers struggling to sustain growth.
For the app economy, relying solely on these channels means missing out on the broader opportunities. The problem is particularly acute in categories where user value is high but acquisition costs are rising incredibly rapidly. The result is that growth constrained by constraints ultimately reaches a dead end.
In this article, Mobupps explores how the Open Internet and alternative channels of growth, including in-app, programmatic, CTV, OEM, and other emerging media environments, are redefining what scalable, efficient, and transparent app growth entails.
According to Statista, users spend 66% of their online time on the Open Internet, yet only 40% of ad budgets flow there. That imbalance signals a massive missed opportunity that forward-thinking marketers are starting to tap into.
The Open Internet and alternative channels of growth refer to the vast digital environments that exist outside traditional walled gardens, including mobile apps, streaming platforms, independent publishers, OEM placements on devices, and connected TV. Here, programmatic advertising provides the bridge, offering access to audiences at scale while maintaining transparency, control, and measurable efficiency.
With technologies like Mobupps’ MAFO, advertisers can manage campaigns across thousands of high-quality inventory sources, analyze user behavior in real time, and continuously optimize based on actual performance, not hidden metrics.
This means:
OEM partnerships add another layer of precision, giving marketers access to pre-installed app placements, device-level visibility, and incremental users reached at the very start of their mobile journey, before they even open app stores or social platforms.
On the Open Internet, creativity is powered by transparency. With detailed creative-level reporting, marketers can analyze how every message, visual, and format performs, and then use that insight to refine engagement strategies across verticals continuously.
Across app categories, several creative approaches consistently drive stronger results:
In OEM and CTV environments, creatives need to adapt to native device experiences. For example, onboarding-style visuals or contextual recommendations that feel part of the user’s interface rather than interrupting it.
The Open Internet and alternative growth channels give marketers full creative freedom to experiment, test, and adapt, without algorithmic or format restrictions. This flexibility transforms creative testing into a true engine for performance and scalable app growth.
At Mobupps, we believe automation should empower technologies. Through our proprietary technology – MAFO, we use machine learning to assess traffic quality, predict performance, and optimize bids in real time. This ensures budget efficiency and scalable results that walled gardens with their limited transparency rarely provide.
When predictive algorithms are combined with the diversity of the Open Internet, our advertisers gain precision and reach for long-term, cost-effective app growth.
App marketing is evolving toward openness. The Open Internet and alternative channels of growth are the foundation of a modern acquisition strategy. Walled gardens will continue to have a role in the mix. But the leading marketers in the upcoming years are those who are exploring new “areas”, embracing technology, and using real-time intelligence to grow sustainably. Ready to experience this transformation firsthand? Contact Mobupps right now: marketing@mobupps.com
