AppLovin Opens Today: Everything You Need to Know

Hey everyone,

September hurt. If you’re running paid on Meta, you felt it. CPAs spiked, ROAS cratered, and suddenly everyone was looking for the exits.

Was it another Andromeda algo swing? The political chaos filling feeds? Both? Whatever the reason, a lot of brands got their teeth kicked in.

That’s why everyone’s been whispering about AppLovin.

We’ve actually been on it for almost a year. Testing stuff, hitting plateaus, and figuring out what works. 

Well today, AppLovin opened up to everyone. So if you’re looking to diversify, that gives you a six-week runway before BFCM. Enough time to learn the ropes, but not enough time to waste.

Here’s what you need to know before you test:

On the Menu:

BTW this is just a sample of the complete AppLovin resource guide we put together. 

It covers setup, strategy, creative, and more. Inside the full guide, you’ll find every resource you need to succeed. 

Plus, if you use our referral code (KIZJL1QED0), you’ll unlock $5K in ad credits with qualifying spend. 

Grab the full guide here.

AppLovin has been hyped up. Mostly because every operator in DTC is hungry for a scalable channel outside of Meta. 

Here’s the honest take: it’s not quite a Meta replacement for most brands. Not yet anyway. 

It’s also not magic. But if you play it right, it can become a real portion of your acquisition mix.

When we started last November, the results were…average. 10 days of meh. Then the AI engine kicked in, and overnight we jumped from 0.8x ROAS to 2.4x, scaling $2K/day to $6K/day. 

By month’s end, AppLovin was 30% of our spend.

It felt like early TikTok with fresh inventory, a strong algo, and first-order profitability. Customers even told us they found us in games.

But by January, the honeymoon was over. 

Performance softened. Creative refreshes became essential. Customer exclusion was messy. It was no longer set-and-forget it. Plus, we had to divert a lot of attention to Meta because it cratered completely on us in Q1 (long story, we figured it out). 

But we’re still bullish. Because in a world where Meta keeps breaking, having another channel that reliably drives even a quarter of your new customers is super valuable.

Here’s why AppLovin works differently:

There’s a real opportunity here if you know how to leverage it.

This was the part that nearly made us walk away.

When we first launched campaigns, the results were ugly. For 2 straight weeks, we watched money burn. 

Our rep gave us advice that sounded like boilerplate: “Give the AI 14 full days to learn. Don’t touch it.” This is actually a good rule for any brand new channel you get into, so we kept the campaigns live.

By week 3, performance flipped. Costs came down, conversions picked up, and within six weeks, AppLovin was one of our largest traffic sources.

The lesson is simple: the learning phase is painful but necessary. 

If you panic early (pausing campaigns, swapping creative, adjusting budgets), you reset the system and start over. That’s the fastest way to waste money.

If you’re planning to test AppLovin, expect two weeks of confusion. Performance might look bad. You’ll feel like you’re burning cash. 

But if you stick it out, the AI eventually calibrates. And when it does, you’ll want fresh creative lined up (week 3), because that’s when the real optimization begins.

One of our biggest mistakes early on was treating AppLovin like Meta.

On Meta, you’ve got half a second to stop the scroll and earn attention. On AppLovin, the game literally pauses. The user’s already stopped. You’ve got 35 seconds to make your case.

You’re not fighting for attention. Instead, you’re responsible for keeping it.

What worked for us:

What didn’t work was just porting over our “winners” from Meta and TikTok wholesale. Many of those fast-cut, first-frame-hook ads bombed here. They were built for a different context.

We also underestimated end cards. 

At first, we used AppLovin’s generic templates and called it done. But when we started customizing them with different layouts, stronger CTAs, actual offers, our conversion rates lifted significantly. 

Think of the end card like a mini landing page: the video gets attention, the end card gets the click.

Here’s the truth: AppLovin isn’t for everyone right now.

If you’re already spending $20-30K+ a month on Meta, producing 3–5 new videos a week, and can commit $500–$1K/day for at least 30 days, you’re probably ready. 

If your creative process is inconsistent, your tracking setup is shaky, or you need instant results to survive, it’s better to wait.

For those who are ready, here’s the fastest path to testing → 

What will sink you faster than anything else are the mistakes we’ve already made: cutting campaigns before day 14, ignoring end cards, underproducing creative, or setting aggressive ROAS targets that keep campaigns from spending. 

If you avoid those traps, you give yourself a real shot at success.