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Last Updated: May 18, 2026

AD PLATFORMS · AXON

Axon 101

Foundational knowledge for everyone touching Axon at Tierra — what AppLovin is, how Axon works, and what makes it different from Meta or Google.

Introduction to AppLovin + Axon

What is AppLovin?

AppLovin is a mobile technology company based in Palo Alto, California. Tierra is a premier partner of AppLovin, and poised to be the #1 AppLovin advertiser in the world.

AppLovin owns and operates a number of products, but when we talk about AppLovin, what we usually mean is their mobile app advertising platform: Axon.

What is Axon?

Axon (aka AXON AI) is AppLovin's AI-powered advertising platform. Key facts:

  • Runs ads primarily on mobile apps — games and lifestyle / utility apps
  • Examples: Candy Crush, Subway Surfers, Words With Friends, Helix Jump, Eatventure, Clockmaker, Wordscapes, Picsart, Amerigo, SmartNews, Daily Yoga
  • Reaches users while they're actively using their phones
  • Instead of manual targeting, Axon automatically learns which audiences, creatives, and placements perform best

Brief history

Period What happened
2012 Founded with $4MM in early funding
2012–2020 Began acquiring ad networks, analytics tools, game studios, and publishing networks
2021 IPO
2024 Q4 Launched ecommerce pilot program, only available to large advertisers ($30MM+ gross annual revenue)
2025 Massively increased ecommerce push. Feb: sold off mobile gaming arm (Lion Studios). Oct: opened doors to new advertisers via referral codes + international expansion

AppLovin-owned app examples

  • PeopleFun — Wordscapes, Word Stacks, Wordscapes Search
  • Lion Studios — Army Commander, Mr Bullet, Ink Inc., Happy Glass, Slap Kings
  • Machine Zone — Game of War: Fire Age, Mobile Strike, Final Fantasy XV
  • Belka Games — Clockmaker, Solitaire Cruise, Bermuda Adventures
  • Magic Tavern — Project Makeover
  • Clipwire Games — Bingo Story
  • Firecraft Studios — Matchington Mansion
  • Redemption Games — Sweet Escapes
  • Geewa — Smashing Four

Key Tierra POCs at AppLovin

Name Role
Adam Foroughi CEO
Cathy Sun Ecommerce VP — manages press, leads ecommerce division
Gareth Domingo Ecommerce Director — agency lead
Dan Sebanc Ecommerce Analyst / Account Manager — day-to-day support rep

Why this matters

  • Reaching 150 million people per day. Not per month, not per week — per day.
  • The network has grown so much that they reached a billion dollar run rate just from ecommerce spend.
  • It's the fastest growing ad platform for DTC brands and allows measurable performance at scale.
  • Better-fit clients: Axon is NOT meant for small "champagne taste on a beer budget" clients.
  • Incremental growth: Unlike taking over a client's Google or Meta traffic, Axon gets them new customers from a platform they're not already on.
  • Blue ocean: Competition is minimal across other agencies — Tierra is at the front of the line.
  • Solid relationship: AppLovin has told us we're their top agency.

Axon Platform Basics

How to access

Access to Axon is shared between all users on our Master Account.

Login at https://ads.axon.ai/auth/login using the "AppLovin (All Clients)" login from Bitwarden (admin@tierraagency.com).

Account timezone

All Axon accounts are based in UTC. The best time to launch new campaigns and creative sets is 12am UTC:

Daylight savings Pacific Eastern
Nov–Mar 4pm PST 7pm EST
Mar–Nov 5pm PDT 8pm EDT

Billing

  • Clients supply a credit card for billing
  • Card is charged daily based on the previous day's spend
  • Postpay is available but requires a rep to make the change
  • All Axon accounts have a daily card payment limit — transactions above this limit will be declined
  • The total account budget needs to be at least $100 less than the daily card payment limit to prevent the account locking due to payment issues

See Axon's billing documentation for full details.

Key integrations

Glossary

Term Meaning
Asset Either a video or endcard used in a creative set
Checkouts / Checkout Revenue What the platform calls purchases (visible in dashboard columns)
Creative Set An ad in the platform made up of a combination of video and endcard assets. Destination URL & tracking parameters set at campaign or creative set level. Brand assets (logo, brand name, description, CTA button) can also be set at either level
CPM Bidding Like Meta, Axon charges per 1,000 impressions. CPM is an early indicator of ad resonance — higher CPMs may indicate ads aren't working well
CPP (Cost Per Purchase) Campaign bidding goal that optimizes performance to get sales at or below a specific CPA target
D0 / D1 / D3 / D7 / D28 Attribution windows. The number indicates the number of days after an initial 24 hour period. D0 = 1 day post-click, D1 = 2 days, D3 = 4 days, etc.
Endcard An image, animated image, or HTML file that appears after the video has finished playing
ROAS Campaign bidding goal that optimizes performance to get revenue at or above a specific ROAS target
Target Events Events other than purchase. Relic of when Axon allowed lead gen events — visible in dashboard columns but not currently used

New Client Onboarding

BizDev notes

Tierra fields new clients from referrals, word of mouth, advertiser communities, and social media. As of 10/1/2025, new Axon advertisers require a referral code to go live. Tierra has access to these codes — a key differentiator vs. other agencies.

Account access

  1. Once a client signs, use our Access Guide to have them make a new account and give us account access.
  2. Reach out to our account rep (currently Dan Sebanc) in the #applovin-tierra Slack channel and request the account be added to his management.

New account launch requirements

Billing: Client adds card to account directly.

Pixel: - Shopify clients: Use the Axon app and connect event key (docs). Client connects the event key from their end. If they're not tech-savvy, support them over a screenshare. - Non-Shopify clients: Have our dev team install via GTM.

Creative assets: - Client provides full set of assets including top Meta ads, logos, etc. - Project Manager adds all assets to GDrive folder.

KPI Goals: - Client chooses CPA or ROAS as KPI goal, plus a target. They cannot choose other goals (New Customer ROAS, AOV, etc.) — Axon can only optimize towards CPA or ROAS. - Goals must be established ahead of the client kickoff. - If not, give client 1 week post-kickoff to provide. After that, assume a goal based on an account baseline.

Catalog: Three setup methods — - Shopify App — recommended for all Shopify clients - Inferred from pixel — for non-Shopify clients or headless Shopify (check with dev team first) - CSV File Import — for clients using Feedonomics, DataFeedWatch, etc. The only method that lets you adjust fields like title, image

See Axon's dynamic product ads docs.

Landing pages / Offers: Top performing landers and offer links shared with Tierra and QA'd by the Media Buyer once pixels are placed.

Reporting: - Always use Triple Whale unless client demands otherwise - Client makes a Triple Whale account and shares access with Tierra - Either client or Tierra can integrate Axon with Triple Whale - Media Buyer verifies Triple Whale URL parameters are set up (check the "Triple Whale" box in campaign settings)

Additional URL parameters: - Confirm with the client what other URL parameters are required for tracking - See Axon URL Macros

Branding components in Axon: - Brand logo image - Brand name - Brand description - CTA button label - CTA button color

For specs and requirements, see the Branding section in How To Build Axon Creative.

Policy considerations: Determine whether any disclaimer terms are needed on creative (THC, FDA, etc.). Review AppLovin's policies for demand partners, especially Content Restrictions.

Pixels, Targeting, & Optimization

Pixels & conversion tracking

Every account has a unique alphanumeric Event Key identifying which account is firing events.

Required events:

  • Purchase
  • Page View
  • View Item
  • Begin Checkout
  • Add to Cart

Specific events may also need: Image URL, Price, Item category (uses Google Product Taxonomy). See pixel events and objects.

Install the Axon Pixel Helper Chrome Extension — lets you monitor pixel activity on any page, perfect for confirming events fire as intended.

Targeting capabilities

Unlike Meta or Google Ads, Axon doesn't allow much targeting:

  • ❌ Cannot target specific audiences
  • ❌ Cannot upload customer lists for lookalike or exclusion audiences
  • ✅ Geo targeting — country (international targeting is new); for US traffic, can target by state

How optimization works

Since targeting options are limited, optimization comes from:

AI Modeling — the vast majority of optimization comes from Axon's machine learning algorithm. Feeding the system accurate performance data + following Tierra's standard process for launching and testing creative is the best way to get optimal performance.

Manual optimization levers:

Lever What it does
Offer / Landing Page CRO Keep funnel congruence and increase CVR
Ad Creative Leverage new creative to target the right audience
Geo Target Mostly US traffic, but can cut states less likely to convert
Budget Lower budgets generally target lower-funnel users (remarketing). Often better performance targeting existing customers at lower budgets
Goal Type (CPP vs ROAS) CPP minimizes cost per purchase. ROAS maximizes revenue. Match client's KPI but worth testing both per account
Goal Target Your CPA / ROAS target. Goal can throttle spend pacing when actual performance is much worse than target. Set looser goals so the campaign spends freely. Changing the goal target isn't a significant performance lever — just spend pacing
Day Target (D0 vs D7) D7 optimizes for conversions within first 196 hours from click (better for products needing more consideration). D0 only optimizes for customers likely to convert within first 24 hours. Start with D0 for faster matured performance data — D7 matures after ~2 weeks. Test which drives better performance

Support & Community

AppLovin support rep

Dan Sebanc is our agency rep. Reach out in #applovin-tierra Slack channel for policy questions, performance optimizations, unusual account performance, etc.

Check internally first

Be mindful to check with the Tierra team internally before reaching out — don't ask questions that have already been answered.

Telegram group: AppLovin Masters

Run by performance marketing veteran Maor Benaim (friend of Tierra). Great for discussing performance with other advertisers doing similar testing.

Confidentiality

NEVER share specific client info in this group — no client names, performance numbers, or screenshots. Don't give away the keys to the castle.

The group is also a great space for Tierra to be knowledge leaders and identify new client opportunities. To be added, reach out to Alex or Brennan.

Tierra-built community

Coming soon — Tierra-managed Slack workspace similar to the Telegram group. Planned for Q4 2025.