Scaling your monetisation efforts - Paul Childs from BidMachine

[Music] We're now joined by Paul Charles from Bid Machine. How are you doing today? All good, thanks James. Now, some people might not know who Bid Machine is and what it is you folks do. So, let them know what it is you're all about. So, we are a an ad exchange. So, essentially, we enable app developers to scale their monetization efforts. So, we work with publishers globally. We have offices in uh China, in Europe and USA and we are probably one of the fastest growing monetization solutions for gaming developers right now. Right. So when a client comes to you and is looking for your assistance, what's the kind of major complaint or issue that they are struggling with? Is it look I'm trying to get my game to the next level? I'm trying to scale this process. Is it dealing with different monetization systems in different countries for example where they use different payment options? What are the main problems and complaints? So, some of the main problems are a they

want to find another highquality partner. In other words, a new partner that can deliver them significant revenue streams that makes it worthwhile to integrate. Two, some look for diversification of spend. So, not just performance but also performance on branding. Third, direct demand. So, bringing high quality advertisers. That's super important because custom experience or user experience developers super super important. And I think finally, you know, pubs, we see ourselves as one of the fastest growing monetization options for publishers. They also from the pub side, they're also looking for um bringing on board credible partners that can complement their existing portfolio as well. Right. Okay. what what are the major challenges that they face beyond just the sort of you know visibility of it all because certainly with publishers a concern there are an astonishing number of apps and games out there and it's

very difficult to get noticed you've got the two major app stores uh certainly in the west and now we've got the things that are passing in the EU at the moment which is sort of disbanding that a little bit trying to break down that monopoly and make it easier to go direct to consumer web stores that sort of thing so that's a change in the monetization landscape a little bit have you seen seen an effect on the way that you know your clients are dealing with it or I haven't had much uh interaction or explored this to any great depth but look you've got two big ecosystems right Apple and and and Android diversification into smaller app stores or more third party app stores should encourage more uh app development should trigger innovation um should uh open up um more um innovate in innovative ways for things to happen. So at the moment you've got the control is held by two key large players. So anything that moves around

uh moving things more direct to consumer or smaller stores that may charge less fees etc. I think it's all around for the consumer bringing value to them and also fueling what I say see is like this huge booming ecosystem I mean most of us all of us use apps daily uh so anything that can encourage faster development innovation is positive well one of the things that was thrown around a lot last year and it's still a hot button issue is AI now I've been talking to folks like yourselves for years and Machine learning has been a part of what you do for a very long time. Targeted bidding, all that kind of thing that you guys are are working with. Do you find yourself getting tred with the kind of AI brush? Cuz now everything is called labeled AI. Even machine learning that's been in use for a decade, that's now AI. And you know, people have had misgivings about it and people get a bit wary of it at times. Have you noticed a shift in the way people approach the technology or is it

just business as usual? Look, there are companies that put AI front and center in their coms. Um, for us, yes, it's it's we we do talk about it, but not it's not a main theme. I think by now, most companies, it should be a hygiene factor. So, to be successful now, most companies should have what I call sophisticated AI as part of their core business. Um there are companies now who are moving toward towards more advanced AI like Gen AI um models etc. So my kind of wrap up on this is it should be it should be part of a company's now core business if they want to be successful in at monetization and also use acquisition too. Okay. And you mentioned you've got quite a global reach. What are the challenges you face in individual markets like working you know within the western system or in Europe is obviously very different to working in Mina or with China or anything like that. Do you have

to have a a certain amount of specialtity in the rules and regulations of each region and the monetization practices and are you able to do that from one location or do you have like remote offices or how does it work for you? That's a good question. I think you know with US or the Americas and Europe or EMIA um you can more or less it's kind of one I think common way of doing business so to speak where obviously there are challenges are with China particularly China out so most companies not just us but most of our competitors my competitors are opening offices in China that's deal with a the cultural differences they communicate via we chat they don't have websites they have we chat pages you. It's all based on relationships, meeting and knowing people. So, having a physical presence in China is key for success. But aside from that, um aside from that, I think generally most uh most uh regions operate by simul.

We noticed when we started going out to the main region and hosting conferences in in Jordan and places like that where they for example work quite a lot with cash still and that's a very different system in terms of just not everybody has a credit card and therefore you have to incorporate different kinds of monetization methods. Do you find that something that you have to explain to clients or do they where they come in and you need to provide these alternative payment options if you're going to monetize effectively? That's a good question. I haven't come across that yet to be honest that point. Yeah. Hopefully it means that they're very well educated and they didn't need to ask the question. That's fantastic. Well, you've come to a physical event today and obviously we're we're talking now. You mentioned the necessity for physical communication and relationships in places like China. Do you think that there is a fundamental difference in interacting with people in the west as well? Is there a benefit to these kind of events versus Zoom calls and conferences? And you know, I I've got a great motto and this is the following. You monetize relationships.

That's one of the key things in business development and sales. So being here, you get to speak to existing people, new people, and each conversation builds upon the previous one. I think in a world postco, we've got to have these interactions. So from a sales perspective and BD perspective, it's all about not who you know, but who you know, what you know, and how there can be trust to kind of work together. And that's physical connections are important. Excellent. And 2025 going forward, obviously we've had a bit of a on a shaky few years for the first time really in the games industry and we're hoping that things will start to pick up. How is it looking for for you? Are you launching new initiatives this year? Are you working with different clients? What's the plan or the things you're excited about kind of going forward? You know, for us this year is a couple of things. um focus on some key initiatives as a business, execute extremely well

and continue to connect more and more new app developers to help them monetize and also focus on things addressing some of the gaps. So things like ad formats, how we can improve optimizations, uh and from a business operations perspective, we're going to start focusing on, you know, things like QBRS uh more practically and working with our top 20, top 30 partners on demand and supply side. [Music]