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October 8, 2026

Executive Interview: Yaron Tomchin, CEO of Mobupps

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Yaron Tomchin, Executive QA

Leadership, AI, and the Next Era of Mobile Growth

Mobile growth is no longer a single-channel discipline. App discovery, user research, media exposure, conversion, retention, and monetization now happen across apps, web, CTV, OEM environments, and programmatic media. That has made measurement more complex and executive decision-making more demanding.

Earlier this week, Mobile Growth Association published an executive profile of Yaron Tomchin, CEO of Mobupps, focused on his approach to connected systems, outcome-driven growth, and the role of human judgment in an increasingly automated market.

In this follow-up Q&A, Tomchin goes deeper into the operating questions behind that profile: what mobile growth leaders still misunderstand, why incrementality matters, how cross-device behavior changes measurement, and where AI can support decision-making without replacing strategy.

Editor’s note: The interview appears in its original order. Responses received only light grammar edits. Product descriptions and company claims should be read as Tomchin’s and Mobupps’ stated perspective, not as independently verified performance claims.

1. After more than a decade building technology for app marketers, what do you believe most people still misunderstand about how mobile growth actually works today?

One of the biggest misconceptions is that mobile growth is buying more traffic. In reality, incremental growth comes from understanding where exactly along the user journey the real impact occurs.

Modern mobile growth lies in data, measurement, and optimization across multiple touchpoints. Savvy leaders are paying closer attention to user journeys across mobile apps, web environments, and increasingly connected platforms such as CTV.

Ideally, growth should be viewed as an integrated ecosystem in which media buying, creative strategy, data science, and technology infrastructure work together to drive measurable outcomes.

2. You’ve spent over 16 years in digital advertising and helped build Mobupps into a global ad-tech company. When you look at the mobile ecosystem today, what shifts stand out as the most transformative since you first entered the industry?

The most transformative shift has been the transition from scalable to intelligent solutions.

When I first entered the industry, the focus was largely on volume: more installs, more impressions, more reach. Nowadays, success is defined by quality, incrementality, and long-term value.

Another major transformation is the mobile ecosystem expansion. Mobile stopped being isolated. We now have the possibility to operate across mobile apps, web environments, connected TV, OEM inventory, and programmatic media, all of which create new opportunities for cross-device engagement.

Intelligent technologies help advertisers understand how users interact in these environments.

3. Many people working in mobile growth entered the industry during very different market conditions. What lessons from your early years in ad tech still guide how you make decisions today?

One of the enduring lessons in digital advertising is adaptability.

It is not a secret that the industry changes quickly. Innovations, AI, regulatory shifts, and platform policies are forcing companies to build flexible infrastructure and remain willing to evolve.

Another lesson is the importance of owning your technology stack. When you rely entirely on external tools, your ability to innovate becomes limited. Building proprietary technology gives you the flexibility to respond faster to industry changes and deliver more tailored solutions for advertisers and publishers.

4. The mobile advertising landscape has become more complex with privacy regulation, platform policy changes, and evolving attribution models. What has leadership required from you personally during these industry transitions?

Leadership in this environment requires long-term planning and resilience.

Regular privacy changes and platform policies force ad-tech companies to continually track, measure, and optimize performance metrics. Instead of reacting to every change, my advice is to focus on building privacy-compliant, transparent, and sustainable solutions.

We must always provide our teams and partners with the tools to adapt quickly.

5. You’ve emphasized the role of technology and automation in campaign performance. How do you balance human strategy with AI-driven optimization in modern mobile marketing?

AI is incredibly powerful for processing data and optimizing campaigns, but it still requires a human to guide and manage it.

Technology can identify patterns, automate repetitive tasks, and provide actionable insights, but humans bring context, creativity, and strategic direction.

The most effective approach is a hybrid one: AI handles the complexity of real-time optimization, while human teams focus on the high-value work that drives long-term business growth.

6. Mobupps has built its own infrastructure through platforms like MAFO, MobuppsX, and iRTB. What strategic gap in the industry pushed you to invest in proprietary technology rather than rely on existing tools?

The main gap we saw was the lack of a unified infrastructure that could meet advertisers’ and publishers’ needs across multiple channels and markets.

Advertisers deal with fragmented data sources, delayed reporting, and limited flexibility when analyzing campaign performance across GEOs, operating systems, and offers. Publishers often struggle with limited visibility into performance discrepancies, delayed reporting, and late detection of traffic quality issues that can impact revenue.

This separation creates inefficiencies and limits transparency. By building our own platforms, we are giving our partners the ability to make faster decisions, optimize proactively, and scale with confidence.

7. Advertisers today face increasing pressure to prove real performance and incrementality. From your perspective, what are marketers still misunderstanding about measurement in mobile growth?

Many marketers still focus too heavily on last-touch attribution, which does not always reflect the true value of marketing activity.

Incrementality is about understanding whether a campaign is actually acquiring new users and generating new revenue, or simply capturing existing demand.

Therefore, to effectively measure and identify real impact, marketers need to combine attribution data, advanced analytics, testing frameworks, and AI-driven modeling.

8. Mobupps operates globally and works with advertisers across multiple markets. What trends are you seeing internationally that the mobile advertising industry hasn’t fully recognized yet?

The importance of cross-market analytics is one trend that deserves more attention.

Diverse regions often develop unique marketing strategies and consumer behaviors. Therefore, companies can identify patterns and hidden opportunities by analyzing data across multiple geographies.

Another trend is the very rapid growth of certain industries such as iGaming and fintech, which are increasingly driving innovation in performance marketing and generating high profits.

9. Transparency and trust remain major themes in digital advertising. If you could change one thing about how the mobile advertising ecosystem operates today, what would it be?

I would like to see greater standardization and transparency in measurement and reporting across the industry.

When advertisers, publishers, and technology providers operate with different definitions of performance, it becomes difficult to evaluate results objectively.

Better transparency would help build stronger partnerships and ensure that marketing investments are aligned with real business outcomes.

10. Looking ahead three to five years, what do you believe will define the next era of mobile growth, and how is Mobupps preparing to help advertisers and publishers succeed in that environment?

The future era of mobile growth will be defined by agentic AI, data management platforms, and true cross-device interactions.

AI will actively help marketers create strategy by predicting performance, automating decisions, and unlocking new growth opportunities faster than any human. At the same time, a robust data management platform will become crucial, as advertisers need to unify signals across channels and build more accurate audience profiles in a privacy-first world.

We also see growth becoming increasingly cross-device. Users move between apps, websites, CTV, OEM inventories, and other digital touchpoints.

At Mobupps, we are investing time and knowledge in technologies that combine these experiences through AI-driven execution, proprietary data platforms, and incrementality measurement, helping clients scale performance across multiple channels with real growth.

Tomchin’s answers point to a broader change in mobile growth—one that reflects the approach outlined in his recent profile. His work centers on connecting fragmented signals, challenging traditional measures of performance, and using technology to support better decisions rather than replace human judgment. The next phase of app growth will not be defined by who can buy the most traffic or gather the most data. It will belong to the teams that can show what is actually creating lasting value. For marketers, that means looking beyond individual campaign metrics and building systems that connect acquisition, engagement, retention, and revenue across the entire customer journey.

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