I couldn’t believe it: AppLovin now accounts for up to 10% of DTC ad budgets after only one quarter.

If your brands haven’t tested it yet, they could be leaving performance on the table.

AppLovin CPMs are higher than Meta’s, which can surprise new buyers.

Yet brands are still increasing spend because ROAS is holding steady. The company argues that its non-skippable inventory justifies the premium and says it has no supply constraints even as spend rises.

U.S. advertisers expanding into international markets are seeing similar ROAS and roughly 30% lower CPMs than domestic campaigns.

One clear limitation remains: AppLovin still lacks a “new customer only” targeting option.

Many brands say they would spend more if that existed, meaning growth is coming despite that constraint.

If your portfolio brands are already past $10M in scale, this might be the right time to test AppLovin.

The platform moved from experimental to a 5-10% budget line in months, not years.

The real question now: are your brands testing, or watching others move first?