Talking Trends is a new series of short interviews where we’ll be chatting with our fellow industry folk about the trends and opportunities they’re seeing in the app economy, and how the solutions they’re building empower app makers.

For the first installment of this series, we talked with Adam Ben-David, Head of Publisher Operations at Supersonic. Supersonic helps developers monetize their apps and advertisers to acquire new users effectively. Adam shares his views on the challenges of the market and why he thinks serialized content might be the key to success in the app stores.

Why was Supersonic created?

Supersonic was born with an overarching agenda to help developers grow their businesses. Every facet of the company and team member is passionately focused on this goal. It’s woven into our DNA.

The power and reach of mobile is disruptive. It has paved the way for developers to reach global audiences at the click of a button. But as the landscape becomes increasingly competitive and cluttered, managing growth becomes an issue for many. We believe the mobile community would be nothing without the developers that support it. We do our part by empowering them with the tools to help maximize and sustain revenue. Through Supersonic’s Supply Side Platform and Ad Mediation platform, developers are boosting their advertising and user acquisition efforts across all their applications — generating fresh, new monetization opportunities.

We work with some of the largest app publishers in the industry, but even our smallest indie developers report success and growth. This is exactly why we were created.

What challenges keep you up at night?

We are constantly thinking of new ways to help our partners build bigger and better products. May it be new and engaging ad formats or deeper insight into acquiring quality users, we consistently push the envelope in making the developer’s life a much easier one.

At Supersonic, we like to look at the app development process as you would a diamond. A well cut diamond has multiple faces – each equal in importance and reliant on one another to form a full stone. Monetization is just one face of that diamond. User acquisition another. What really keeps us up at night is challenging ourselves to become a contributing factor to the rest of the developer’s life cycle.

How does Supersonic utilize data to empower developers?

Supersonic’s Mediation Platform collects and optimizes data across hundreds of demand sources, helping our users monetize more intelligently. Real-time ad network analysis and automated reports allow developers to be informed of their campaigns while reaching maximum fill and revenue.

Developers even empower us with data. We analyze then optimize first-party information collected through our developer base and plug it back into our platform. This allows us to create better user-targeting schemes that result in higher engagement and acquisition.

Lastly, what trends occurring right now in the app store ecosystem are most exciting to you, and how do you think they will pan out?

We’re currently seeing a rise of serialized content in the app store. Developers realize the loyalty that comes from users who are engaged through a consistent brand. A familiar and consistent design encourages users to look for similar titles, keeping them active within their sub app store ecosystem. The Angry Bird Series does this well.

We’re also experiencing huge adoption of rewarded ads in F2P apps. Rewarded ads offer end users premium content in exchange for viewing an ad in full length. These formats are re-energizing the F2P model. As IAPs decline, developers look for novel ways to generate revenue while exchanging digital goods for users to explore deeper app content. Many of our developers report increased user retention and LTV after the introduction of rewarded video ads.

Thanks to Adam for providing us with insights. Supersonic is one of the 20+ ad networks we’re integrated with. See the full list here.

Adam Ben-David is the Head of Publisher Operations at Supersonic where he helps developers utilize Supersonic’s monetization tools to build and grow their app businesses.