David Philippson is a privacy expert, evangelist and an active member of the adtech community.
He is the founder and CEO of Dataseat (now part of Verve Group), the contextual mobile DSP (acquired by Verve Group in 2022), and Ad-X tracking, acquired by Criteo in 2013.
Philippson performed multiple roles during his four years with Criteo, including GM of mobile solutions, where he built the company’s in-app retargeting business. He is also an active commentator, advisor, and investor in multiple ad-tech and gaming startups.
Philippson is one of more than 250+ expert speakers delivering 29 conference tracks at Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 22nd to 23rd. We asked Philippson to tell us more about their upcoming talk, entitled ‘Kicking off 2024 for iOS: device IDs, privacy manifests & SKAN’, as well as get their opinions on the latest industry trends.
PocketGamer.biz: Please give us a summary of what you’re speaking about and why it’s important.
David Philippson: In my presentation, I’ll delve into Apple’s recent privacy changes and their projected impact on the mobile industry in 2024.
Apple plans to enforce privacy manifests in the spring, forcing advertisers to turn towards SKAN for iOS campaign measurement. I will talk about SKAN 4.0, the expectations from SKAN 5, and using SKAN features to maximise data that feeds optimisation decisions.
What company do you most admire in the mobile games world?
AppLovin. I’ve always been an admirer of them and have been building different businesses whilst they have built the behemoth it is today. Not only have they built a very valuable company, but they have done so with least reliance on external funding.
What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?
I will speak from the adtech perspective and say one of the biggest challenges is reaching the consumer in the new privacy-first world where we can no longer rely on device IDs for targeting and attribution.
What leaders/pioneers in games do you find inspiring?
I follow entrepreneurs, thought leaders and innovators in mobile gaming adtech, particularly Eric Seufert from Mobile Dev Memo, Adam Foroughi (AppLovin), and Gadi Eliashiv from Singular.
Is hypercasual gaming here to stay?
As a category I think it has and will continue to shrink, but I think the consumer demand for such games was a craze similar to Pokémon GO, and that interest and demand has shrunk. However, I think there will always be consumer demand for quick dopamine hit games that only hypercasual can deliver.
In addition, ATT has damaged the monetisation models with lower CPMs, so the VC investment that funded so many hypercasual studios has also dried up.
So both supply of business type and lower consumer demand will result in a hypercasual space that’s one-third of its peak size in 2021.
What do you enjoy most about working in the mobile games industry?
The people. Mobile games and ad tech attracts some of the brightest minds in the world. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of my best friends and my wife through the industry.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received that you can pass on to others?
I’d encourage those “maybe” entrepreneurs with good ideas to take the first step. It’s always the hardest to quit your reliable stable job to pursue a risky no-guarantee outcome, but you only live once and most people who spin the dice end up landing a six, eventually.
Can people get in touch with you at the event? What sort of people would you like to connect with?
Any app advertiser would benefit from using our solutions for UA. I’d also happily mentor or give advice to anyone thinking of starting their own business. DM me on david@dataseat.com.
What is one way attendees can prepare for your discussion?
Prepare questions about SKAN and its possibilities and caveats. We hear a lot of “we couldn’t figure a proper SKAN configuration for us” kind of comments, so I would suggest, if you have tried setting up SKAN earlier and have any issues, prepare your practical questions.
Meet David Philippson at PG Connects London
Not only will you have the chance to see David Philippson take part in one of our panel debates, but you can also arrange to meet them at PG Connects London. Our online organiser MeetToMatch is free to all event attendees, connecting you directly with more than 2,500 decision makers from the global games industry.
As well as the 29-track conference schedule, the two-day event also features a series of side-events like The Very Big Indie Pitch, Publisher SpeedMatch, Investor Connector and a host of other networking opportunities all aimed at helping you level up your skills and business.
