🧠 MVP UA template AXON: How to set up your Applovin for Success by Matej Lancaric

The AppLovin setup playbook. No micromanaging, no manual optimization, no bullshit. UA template for you! Applovin UA explained!Solo for episode three of the MVP UA Template series (after Facebook and Google), this time breaking down AppLovin / Axon end-to-end. Tracking setup, campaign structure, bidding, ROAS targets, the new CPM-vs-CPI billing change, creative strategy, the real Axon dashboard with real numbers from his own game, and the patience required to actually scale.The headline lesson: AppLovin is a beast, but it really matters what you feed it. Garbage MMP signals = garbage results. Playables aren't optional. And the geo-bucket strategy that works on Facebook and Google does NOT work here — worldwide campaign with geo targets is the only sensible setup.If you've been avoiding AppLovin because it feels like a black box, this is the episode that demystifies it.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Axon dashboard preview02:20 Why AppLovin and what this episode covers04:14 Budget, MMP signals, and the "garbage in, garbage out" rule07:42 Worldwide campaign + geo targets (NOT geo buckets)10:58 D7 vs D28 ROAS — which attribution window to pick12:57 CPM vs CPI billing — the new setting most teams miss14:40 Creative strategy: 80% playables, 60 new per month17:59 Push budgets hard when something works (30-50%)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS— AppLovin is not Facebook and not Google. The geo-bucket structure (US / Tier-1 / RoW) that works on those channels does NOT work here. Run ONE worldwide campaign, split by attribution window and platform only, and use geo-level ROAS targets to steer traffic — never geo-level budgets (they don't work the way you think).— Garbage MMP signals = garbage results. AppLovin doesn't know if you're sending the right event. If you're sending free trial signals labeled as subscriptions, AppLovin will optimize for free trials and your ROAS will look great in Singular while your real revenue dies.— Skip the CPI / D7 warm-up phase. AppLovin no longer requires it. Go straight to D7 or D28 ROAS, ideally D28 for higher quality and longer-cohort optimization. Pick D7 only if your payback period is short and cash flow matters more than cohort quality.— New CPM vs CPI billing setting: start with CPM (spends evenly across the day), then switch to CPI only after you have winning creatives identified and want to scale aggressively. CPM billing eliminates the old "budget capped in 2 hours" problem.— Playables are non-negotiable. 80-90% of spend should go to playables. Top-grossing games ship 60+ new playables per month — that's the bar. Video length: 30-60 seconds, best results in the 45-59 second window. No hook needed on AppLovin (user must watch 30+ seconds anyway).This episode is brought to you by Potensus — the premium ad network with direct deals to Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, and Vodafone (no programmatic middlemen), partnered with PlayableMaker for native gaming creative formats. Head to potensus.com to get started.📌 MVP UA TEMPLATE SERIES1. Facebook setup2. Google setup3. AppLovin setup - you are hereFull AppLovin setup guide linked in show notes.#mobilegaming #useracquisition #applovin #axon #mvpua #liveops #f2pJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SAMatej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.me---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected]