two & a half gamers – The Mistplay Audience Network: Smartest UA Expansion of 2026! 3X reach, same quality

Summary

Rewarded UA used to be a test bed. In 2026, it’s a third of your UA spend. Mistplay just made it easier to scale.

We sit down with the full Mistplay leadership team — Tricia (CEO), Aaron Thandi (CCO), and Mark “Bear” Bearman (GM, B2B) to unpack the launch of the Mistplay Audience Network. The conversation covers the state of rewarded UA in 2026, validating rewarded as a core channel, why the category is consolidating, what the MyAppFree acquisition actually unlocks for advertisers, and how the audience network expands Mistplay reach to MyAppFree and Connected Rewards inventory with a single check-box.

If you’ve been treating rewarded UA as a tactical add-on rather than a core part of your stack, this episode is the wake-up call.

📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS

— AppsFlyer’s 2025 Performance Index validates what UA
managers already see in their dashboards: roughly one
third of the top UA sources are now rewarded. Three to
four years ago, rewarded was 1-3% of spend; today it’s
6-10% average and climbing.

— Matej’s own UA survey: rewarded UA is now 20-30% of
budget for most respondents, and 80% are planning to
increase it further next year. That makes it core, not
tactical.

— The Mistplay Audience Network = one campaign, three
inventory sources. The same Mistplay buying engine now
extends to MyAppFree and Connected Rewards (Mobvista)
inventory with a literal check-box. Tricia’s framing:
“same key, more doors.”

— Why MyAppFree matters specifically: brand advertisers
finally want value-exchange placements (not just gamers),
which means a third inventory stream that wasn’t
monetizable through gaming alone. This is genuinely new.

— The performance-quality bar isn’t being lowered to add
scale. Mark Bearman: a high-quality DAU/MAU ratio and
engagement filter still applies; the audience network
expands reach without compromising the cohort signal.

— Rewarded UA consolidation is real and rapid. Three to
five years ago, every studio was launching a rewarded
platform; now the market is consolidating around the
platforms with sustainable foundations. Tricia’s
intentional framing: “platforms our partners can count
on for trusted ROAS delivery.”

— Future direction: Mistplay is shifting from a closed
loyalty platform to a UA layer that handles discovery,
acquisition, AND retention as a continuous loop. The
audience network is the first piece of that vision.

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🎙️ HOSTS
Matej Lančarič — User Acquisition consultant
Felix Braberg — Ad Monetization consultant

🎤 GUESTS
Tricia — CEO, Mistplay
/ tricia-han-920649
Aaron — Chief Commercial Officer, Mistplay
/ aaronthandi
Mark “Bear” Bearman — GM, B2B Solutions, Mistplay
/ mwbearman13
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#mobilegaming #useracquisition #rewarded #mistplay
#liveops #f2p