PGC Helsinki 2026: what we said on stage, and what one more network takes

On 20 and 21 October we were at PGC Helsinki, with a stand and a talk. Our CEO, Ivan Trancik, spoke on the Monetiser track on the first morning, to a full room, and Jam Allinson and Sean Parmenter ran stand G2 with him for both days. It is also where we launched SuperScale Media, our managed UA service powered by the SuperScale Stack.

The talk

Ivan's talk was called "What $100M of Measured UA Spend Says About Where Profit Lives". He started with the market. Mobile games spent $25 billion on user acquisition in 2025, on AppsFlyer's measured basis. Gaming apps worked with an average of 5.3 ad partners, down from 6 the year before (Adjust). In the spend we measure, five big channels take most of the budget. Beyond them are 35+ networks, in eight kinds: rewarded and offerwall, in-app ad networks, programmatic DSPs, retargeting, OEM and on-device, connected TV, social and community, and App Store search.

When we ask publishing executives and UA leads why they don't spend beyond the top five, these are the answers we hear:

  • "Google and Meta already cover most of it."
  • "The inventory is too small."
  • "The return is lower."
  • "It's too much work for too little reward."
  • "We tried one or two. They didn't work, so we stick to the top five."

Ivan answered with one global launch from our own data, where we added networks beyond the usual channels. Some of them brought back more 30-day revenue per dollar than Meta and Google, and some brought back less. We think the winners come down to less competition. Few advertisers spend beyond the top five, so the ones that do aren't bidding against everyone else.

What one more network takes

Ivan's explanation for why so few publishers go further is the work. This is what adding one network takes:

  1. Pick one of 35+ networks.
  2. Legal, procurement and a security review.
  3. A credit line and billing.
  4. Technical integration: MMP links and events.
  5. Creative for its formats.
  6. Reporting and data quality.
  7. Running it day to day.
  8. Picked the wrong one? Back to step 1.

Any step can stall, and the long tail means doing it thirty times. In Ivan's view, that work is what keeps the networks beyond the top five uncrowded. It was Jam's favourite slide of the talk.

SuperScale Media

Ivan closed by launching SuperScale Media, three years in the building and a year in production. It takes those eight steps off the publisher's side. Your spend runs through SuperScale's own network agreements — one IO, 35+ networks. Onboarding is a tracking link, not an integration project. We verify every network on real spend before a client's budget goes there, and it runs fully managed or hybrid. What used to take 12–18 months per network now takes days.

Ivan's last line: "Instead of months onboarding networks one by one, start today."

From the room and the stand

Halfway through, Ivan pointed Jam out in the audience, so people knew who to find afterwards. When the talk ended, they caught Jam and Ivan on the way out or walked straight over to the stand with more questions.

One question from the room was when to start adding networks. The studio that asked it came to the stand afterwards. They spend five figures a month on Meta and Google, they were sold on adding networks, and they wanted to know why they'd do it with us rather than on their own. Jam's answer went back to the eight steps. On your own, you meet every one of them, network after network. With us, we tell you which networks to test first, and onboarding is a tracking link.

What's next

The talk was recorded, and Steel Media will publish it in its video library. We'll add the link here when it is out. Ivan will be back in Helsinki for Slush in November.

If we didn't meet in Helsinki, see how SuperScale Media works, or set up your workspace and we'll tell you which networks to test first.

Sources

SuperScale

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