SuperScale CEO reveals top 8 UA networks return only 25% of profit on $100 million spend
Summary
SuperScale measured over $100 million in mobile UA spend across networks.
The top 8 networks absorb roughly 50% of that spend.
Those same networks return only about 25% of total profit.
A roughly 30 network long tail delivers the remaining profit, per CEO Ivan Trancik.
01
Spend concentrates on networks that underperform on profit
Top 8 UA networks absorb about 50% of measured ad spend.
Those same networks return only about 25% of profit.
The gap holds across more than $100 million in UA spend.
"Mobile UA has consolidated onto a handful of networks - and that's exactly the problem."
02
The long tail carries the majority of profit
A roughly 30 network long tail delivers the remaining profit share.
That tail spans rewarded, OEM, on-device and creator-led channels.
Trancik calls this long tail undervalued despite its onboarding cost.
The majority of measured profit sits in that long tail.
03
Publishers stop exactly where profit begins
Most publishers run only four or five UA channels.
They assume the remaining networks are not worth the overhead.
"The mistake isn't bad buying - it's stopping exactly where the profitable half of the market begins."
04
Profit outranks ROAS and CPI as the deciding metric
Trancik rejects ROAS and CPI as reliable channel metrics.
SuperScale measures profit per channel, cohort by cohort instead.
"It's the only number that can't flatter you."
Proxy metrics can look strong while the P&L quietly disagrees.
05
The data comes from the vendor selling the fix
SuperScale is an AI publishing platform that automates UA management.
The $100 million dataset behind these figures is SuperScale's own measured spend.
Trancik frames the long tail's onboarding cost as a solvable operational problem.
Diversifying across 30 networks without added headcount is the service SuperScale sells.
What this means
For UA & Marketing: Carve a test budget from your largest network to fund tail-network pilots.
For Investors & VC: Add per-network margin breakdowns to diligence on mobile studios' UA efficiency claims.
For Service Vendors: Pitch independent cross-network profit audits to publishers weighing vendor-supplied UA benchmarks.
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