Axon by AppLovin: A Scalable DTC Channel?

AppLovin’s rapid rise created uncertainty for marketers deciding whether it was a scalable opportunity or a short-term distraction.

Without consistent, cross-channel measurement, businesses struggled to compare AppLovin’s performance to Meta and other established platforms.

The key challenge was separating true performance from early-stage efficiency that could shift as adoption increased.

Northbeam enabled businesses to evaluate AppLovin using conservative, clicks-only multi-touch attribution, providing a consistent baseline for comparison across channels.

With metrics like ROAS, nROAS, new customer percentage, and new visit rate, businesses are now able to assess AppLovin’s role in both acquisition and reactivation while benchmarking against historical performance on Meta, TikTok, and other platforms.

Quantitative impact

• 45% higher ROAS than Meta in early tests
• 85% of AppLovin-attributed purchases from new customers
• Over $10M in tracked AppLovin spend across Northbeam customers

Qualitative impact

• Objective evaluation of AppLovin beyond social media buzz
• Clear understanding of where AppLovin excels, and where to watch for saturation
• Confidence to test, scale cautiously, or deprioritize based on real data

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