Scaling Your Ecom Brand Beyond Meta: The Rise of Native Ads & AppLovin – with Val Shah

Still scaling with just Facebook and Google? You're leaving money on the table.

In this episode, I sit down with Val Shah, one of the top media buyers in the game, to break down how eCommerce brands are scaling outside the Meta-Google duopoly—using native advertising platforms like Taboola, Outbrain, Revcontent, MGID, and the explosive rise of AppLovin, the mobile in-app ad network dominating in 2025.

Val shares:

✅ His exact testing strategy for native ads

✅ The realistic benchmarks for ROI and why most brands give up too early

✅ How to structure high-converting advertorial funnels

✅ The truth about AppLovin's $10K ad credit and who qualifies

✅ Geo-scaling tips (Canada, UK, Germany, LatAm)

✅ VSLs vs. advertorials in performance marketing

✅ Why native ads are the biggest untapped traffic source for eCommerce in 2025

✅ What brands like Ridge Wallet are doing right

This is the ultimate guide to scaling with native ads, from beginner to advanced.

🎯 If you're spending $1K+/day on Facebook and want to scale smarter, this is your blueprint to omnichannel growth.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro – Why Native Ads Are 2025’s Biggest Opportunity

02:06 Val’s Background: How He Got Into Media Buying

05:29 From Tech Jobs to Launching a Native-Ads Agency

06:39 What Exactly Are Publishers & Native Widgets?

10:15 How Much Traffic Do Yahoo, AOL & Other Majors Deliver?

12:07 Native vs. Facebook: Better for Lead-Gen or E-Com?

13:52 How Big Can You Scale on Native in Q4?

15:08 What Skills Give You an Edge in Media Buying?

16:06 Choosing the Right Native Platform for Your Offer

18:18 Testing Budgets: Taboola/Outbrain vs. Revcontent/MGID

19:28 Beginner Pitfalls & Why You Need a Rep

20:33 When Should Brands Add Native After Meta & Google?

21:50 Building High-Converting Ad + Advertorial Funnels

22:52 What If the Offer Is Already Saturated?

23:48 Which Geos Perform Best Right Now?

26:17 Localising Creatives for International Scaling

28:23 Why Pre-Sale Advertorials Are Mandatory on Native

29:31 The –50 % ROI Benchmark: Does Your Offer Have Legs?

31:47 Are VSL Funnels Still Dominating Health & Nutra?

33:27 Where to Find Killer VSL Examples

35:03 Best Ad-Spy Tools for Native & App Campaigns

36:05 Yahoo × Taboola 30-Year Deal Explained

37:15 What Is AppLovin & How Is It Different from Native?

40:18 MoPub Acquisition: AppLovin’s Targeting Edge

42:29 Who Qualifies for AppLovin’s $10K Ad Credit?

44:14 Winning Products & Impulse Buys on AppLovin

45:51 Funnel Structures & Compliance on AppLovin

47:54 Hooking Gamers: Creative Best Practices

49:22 First Tests & Optimisations on AppLovin

49:55 Is Omnichannel Marketing the Future of E-Com?

51:31 The Modern Media-Buying Stack in 2025

52:07 Where to Follow Val & Join the Native Hub Community

53:12 Outro & Subscribe for Weekly Growth Insights

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