Articles

Where operators share what actually works.

Articles is where Signal & Noise’s thinking goes deeper. This section features original, operator-level perspectives from Rio Longacre, Brett House, and a curated group of contributing experts across AdTech, MarTech, media, and AI. The focus isn’t hot takes or recycled trend pieces—it’s firsthand insight from people building, operating, and fixing real systems. Expect clear points of view, practical frameworks, and thoughtful analysis designed to cut through the noise and help practitioners understand what actually matters now—and what’s coming next.

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Articles

New thinking and practical insights fresh from the Signal & Noise editorial desk.

Browse all episodes below. Newest appear first.

Ad Fraud: The Crime That Thrives Because We Let It

Digital advertising was built on the promise of precision at scale — or, as AdExchanger once put it, “incredibly precise, hypertargeted, zero-waste campaigns with massive reach.” Nearly 30 years in, we’ve certainly mastered the scale and hypertargeting. Billions of impressions fire every day across millions of sites, apps, and screens, delivered in milliseconds by algorithms operating at speeds and volumes far beyond human capacity. Zero waste, however, remains a pipe dream.

Brett House

Jan 22 min read

The Rise of AppLovin: The Most Valuable and Most Controversial Company in AdTech

AppLovin is an AdTech anomaly: a company that started in Silicon Valley as a mobile-app monetization shop, grew up in relative obscurity in the shady underworld of mobile gaming, and then — almost overnight — become the most valuable pure-play AdTech company on the planet. The company’s fifteen-year climb from obscure growth-tool provider to industry titan reads like a parable of reinvention. Like any company whose stock ticker resembles a hockey stick, AppLovin has attracted

Brett House

Jan 29 min read

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