The Ledger #4: Ad Network Q4 Earnings Season Verdicts
By UA Ledger staff — Archive date: 2 min read
The Ledger #4 reads across an ad network Q4 earnings season split between AppLovin's strength and Unity's rebuild, plus reported Niantic-Scopely talks.
Two verdicts and one rumour: this fortnight's ad network Q4 earnings season split cleanly between a company pulling ahead and a company still rebuilding, with a reported acquisition process running alongside both and worth tracking however it ends.
The first verdict of ad network Q4 earnings season: AppLovin
AppLovin's Q4 results landed on 12 February. Revenue came in near $1.37B, reported up around 44% year on year. One release, two stories: the company used the same announcement to confirm it is selling its Apps games business to Tripledot Studios, in a deal reported in the region of $900M.
What it means for buyers: with no games portfolio left to manage as a distraction, AppLovin now has everything riding on AXON 2.0 as an ad product. Expect more money going into the platform's targeting and measurement, not less.
Unity's Grow network is still mid-rebuild
The second verdict of ad network Q4 earnings season came from Unity. Results on 20 February showed revenue around $457M. Inside that, Grow Solutions, home to the Unity Ads network, kept declining. CEO Matt Bromberg frames a rebuilt AI ad model as the turnaround story. The numbers have not caught up to that framing yet.
What it means for buyers: treat this as an unproven bet rather than a resolved comeback; keep testing at the current allocation and watch another quarter or two of results before moving real budget in either direction.
Niantic in reported talks to sell its games business to Scopely
Bloomberg reported this week that Niantic is in talks to sell its games portfolio, including Pokemon GO, to Scopely for a price said to be in the region of $3.5B, with Niantic's geospatial technology spun out separately.
What it means for buyers: none of this is official. Nobody should plan around it yet. If you compete for the same players or the same auction inventory as Niantic's titles, the most useful thing to do now is watch for any change in their UA or live-ops cadence while the talks run.
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