Few events reflect the pulse of the mobile ecosystem quite like ChinaJoy. Now in its 22nd year, it continues to serve as a global convergence point for gaming, app developers, and ad tech innovators. But this year felt different, not just in size, but in substance.
From lively exhibition halls to packed private meetings and networking lounges, the most passionate conversations weren’t just about the next big gaming title, they were about monetization, efficiency, and growth.
One of the most noticeable shifts was the increase in international participation. We saw more global companies, platforms, and mobile leaders on the ground than ever before, reinforcing the strategic weight of the Greater China market in shaping the future of mobile gaming and app monetization.
The conversations I had during ChinaJoy weren’t surface-level, but strategic discussions with heads of monetization, DSP partners, and business leaders. Three take aways stood out after a high-energy week:
- The next wave of growth will be driven by brand demand, especially eCommerce, and those who are ready to capture it
- SDK-direct is no longer optional; it’s the monetization standard that underpins control, quality, and buyer trust
- Curation is not just industry chatter, it’s the next evolution of mobile monetization strategy
While China is leading these developments, the these shifts are already underway globally. What we saw in Shanghai wasn’t just a regional story, it was a preview of where mobile monetization is headed everywhere.
Performance Pressure and the Rise of eCommerce Brand Budgets
The mobile app ecosystem is under mounting commercial and competitive pressure. User acquisition costs continue to rise, audience retention is more difficult, and monetization based solely on performance installs no longer delivers the full picture. In response, many publishers and app developers are exploring new revenue streams, especially from brand and eCommerce advertisers. Publishers are leaning into brand-aligned ad experiences, not just to drive revenue, but because these campaigns enhance the user experience through richer creative and reduced ad fatigue.
Major eCommerce advertisers like Temu and Shein took center stage in many of our conversations. Their rapid expansion, starting in China and extending worldwide, is energizing supply partners across regions and formats, from APAC to the Americas. This isn’t just a regional expansion. It’s a global signal: brand budgets and performance goals are converging fast in mobile.
At PubMatic, we empower mobile publishers with a leading programmatic platform that provides scaled access to premium demand from top global brands and eCommerce advertisers. Our omnichannel reach helps publishers diversify revenue while delivering high-impact, user-friendly ad experiences.
A Supply Chain Built for Transparency and Control
Another key theme that resonated across our meetings was efficiency; both in how ads are delivered and how value flows through the programmatic supply chain.
Monetization used to be about driving volume. Today, platforms and DSPs are placing far greater emphasis on transparency, signal quality, and direct supply paths. SDK-direct refers to a setup where a publisher’s software development kit integrates directly with a demand partner’s platform, removing intermediaries. This approach gives publishers greater control over the ad experience and auction logic, and gives buyers stronger confidence in placement quality, pricing transparency, and performance.
We heard repeatedly from DSPs and agency buyers that clean, efficient paths win. Long, multi-hop supply chains aren’t keeping pace with evolving performance goals or bidder efficiency standards. This marked shift away from scale-at-any-cost is pushing the industry toward simpler, more accountable infrastructure, which we see accelerating beyond China across core mobile-first markets.
PubMatic has been devoted to creating an end-to-end platform that streamlines the entire programmatic advertising supply chain, that connects advertisers, agencies, publishers and data partners all in one place to deliver greater efficiency, ease of use and better performance outcomes.
Curation is the New Currency in Mobile
In nearly every conversation, whether on booth floors or behind closed doors, one word kept surfacing: curation.
With greater pressure on ROAS and a complex privacy environment, both buyers and platforms are aligning around the need for high-impact, tightly tailored buying environments. Curation combines the scale of programmatic with the targeting precision once exclusive to walled gardens, using everything from first-party behavioral data to contextual signals and identity resolution.
It’s easy to mistake curation for a trend. But based on the conversations we had at ChinaJoy, it’s clear that curation is becoming foundational. Advertisers want contextual relevance. Publishers want higher yields. And when executed right, curation delivers both.
PubMatic has also been at the forefront of curation, launching Connect in 2022 as a fully integrated audience platform that simplifies the creation and management of curated campaigns. Advertisers using data via Connect see real results, while many publishers opted into PubMatic’s curation tools have seen up to 5% incremental daily deal revenue uplift, with some publishers seeing as much as 10%+ increase.
A Week of Real Conversations and Shared Vision
PubMatic was proud to be deeply involved in ChinaJoy this year. We hosted a VIP dinner and a dedicated meeting lounge, co-hosted one of the week’s most talked-about afterparties, spoke at a prominent forum on the global strategy of Chinese gaming publishers, and anchored our presence with a booth.
For me, the most valuable moments were the meetings with long-time PubMatic partners, meaningful conversations between sessions, and toasting new ideas at our party. Those touchpoints confirmed what we’ve long believed: that real innovation happens when you bring together strong technology, empowered publishers, and shared ambition.
I left ChinaJoy feeling inspired by what is possible and more optimistic in our direction.
