Everyone talks about Moloco DSP: some swear it’s the best traffic source, even better than Facebook, while others insist it’s just another overhyped trend that stopped performing long ago.

So what’s actually going on?
Is Moloco DSP still the “gold” of In-App traffic, or has its time passed?
This article is not about myths or emotions.
We broke down what really changed over the past year, why the market feels different, where teams lose ROI, and where others, on the contrary, collect the profits.
Only practice here — and honest conclusions: what works, what doesn’t, and whether it’s worth entering Moloco DSP in 2026.

What Actually Changed in Moloco DSP in 2025

If you ignore rumors and emotions, things are simpler than they look.
Moloco DSP in 2025 doesn’t just work as before — in many cases, it works even better: the algorithms didn’t break, the auction didn’t disappear, and the fundamental mechanics remain the same.

According to Statista, the mobile app market is expected to reach around $500 billion in revenue by 2028.

But yes — some changes did happen. And they relate not to Moloco DSP as a traffic source, but to the gambling-creative market in general. Competition in gambling increased dramatically: production quality has risen, videos became smoother and more polished, with effects, proper storytelling, and structured gameplay. What used to be made “on the knee” simply stops working today.

This is why it feels like Moloco DSP “changed.”
In reality, the entry bar changed.

Why People Say CPI in Moloco DSP Has Increased

Many teams complain that CPI “went up” in Moloco DSP.
But if you look at the numbers systematically, CPI has barely changed at all.

Its perceived “growth” comes from two factors:

Videos became more complex and technologically demanding.

The market no longer forgives average production. Winning videos today are full-fledged mini-games: transitions, effects, storytelling, and strong mechanics.
2. The app + video function as a single unit.
A weak icon or messy design kills conversion immediately — and CPI appears higher.

Why ROI Dropped for Some Teams in Moloco DSP

The reason is almost always the same — not the traffic source, but weak videos and attempts to run traffic using outdated approaches.

Moloco DSP algorithms didn’t become worse.
Everything depends on the approach and on how the team opens and tests new traffic sources. In our case, ROI drops often stem from rising CPI and outdated creative strategies.

Competition and GEO: Where It Became Hardest to Scale

Tier-1 remains the most competitive segment. It always has been: high payouts, high demand, and nearly every team wants to work with this audience through Moloco DSP and other In-App traffic sources.

Why?
Because your effort does not differ much between cheap GEOs and Tier-1, while payouts differ significantly.
Plus, approaches for Tier-1 countries are far more similar to each other than, say, approaches for Asia or Arabic GEOs. Concepts that perform perfectly in Tier-3 regions may fail completely here. And again: it all depends on your angles and how well they match the level of competition.

Why Old Videos No Longer Work in In-App and Moloco DSP

If in 2024 you could still “ride” with basic videos, store badges, and classic jittery slot animations, then by 2025 this no longer works in In-App traffic sources and Moloco DSP.
The audience demands better presentation.
Old approaches stopped generating clicks and retention because the market matured — and users grew tired of repetitive videos.

What exactly died:

direct store-badge videos — no longer build trust;
sharp, jittery animations;
low-quality spy-inspired videos;
repetitive, outdated slot sequences without visual engagement.

Why this happens:

The audience is oversaturated. Old game mechanics feel predictable and trigger no emotion.
CTR and CPI increase. Poor engagement means poor clickability.
Users respond better to gamified presentation: smooth transitions, micro-effects, the feeling of “I would also play this.”
The first seconds of the video = 50% of success.
A strong hook became mandatory. The best-performing videos start with an engaging hook and only then transition into the standard slot sequence.

What Moloco DSP Algorithms Consider a “High-Quality User” Today

Moloco DSP algorithms understand user quality with surprising precision.
If the system sees that certain publishers bring users who complete the target action (registration, deposit), and it detects what time of day such users most often appear, it begins allocating impressions to those apps specifically during those hours.

In other words, Moloco DSP adapts to real behavioral patterns:
who brings results → when that traffic appears → where the main spend should go.

How Launching in Moloco DSP Changed: Advertisers and Offers

You cannot say that Moloco DSP algorithms became “better” or “worse.”
Performance still depends not on a single factor, but on an entire system: videos, the offer, the app, the audience, the funnel, and proper testing. Results always come from the combination of these elements — not from algorithmic changes alone.
Advertisers became more loyal to In-App traffic overall.
More offers entered the market, yet KPI requirements increased as well. Advertisers want more expensive and more engaged users, and negotiating comfortable rates became harder.
The core issue for teams: delivering consistent high-quality traffic — which is not always easy in the In-App ecosystem.

A constant balance forms between:

traffic quality (what the advertiser needs),
and ROI (what media buyers need).

If you aim only for high quality, CPI skyrockets: advertisers are happy, but buyers are not.
If you aim only for ROI, quality drops, payouts drop, and the offer becomes unprofitable for the advertiser.
In Tier-1 this dilemma is especially sharp.
Experienced teams therefore use selective GEOs and offers that provide both: strong LTV for advertisers and workable ROI for buyers.

On average, though, one truth stands:
ROI at scale has become lower than before.
The market matured, approaches became more complex, and the era of “easy profit” truly ended.
Now, the winners are those who can navigate between quality, ROI, and stability.

If you want to learn these navigation strategies — come talk to us. We can help.

Who Actually Succeeds in Moloco DSP: Newcomers or Large Teams

Here’s the truth:

Large teams confidently stay in profit because they know which offers work on specific GEOs, which angles live long, and how to maintain stable CPI in Moloco DSP.
Newcomers struggle, not because Moloco DSP is “hard,” but because they underestimate the volume of testing.

To see the real picture, a newcomer must:

test 2–3 offers at once;
launch 5 different angles;
try 5 different gameplay mechanics;
produce 25+ videos per testing cycle, not 3–4 “hopeful attempts”;
distinguish a strong video from a weak one — and treat this seriously.

Only then does Moloco DSP behave the way experienced teams describe it:
stable auction, strong optimization, and high profit potential.

The Myth “Moloco = Gold”: The Reality of Moloco DSP

Yes, Moloco DSP is still “gold.”
Not because the community says so — but because no other In-App source currently offers the same combination of volume, conversion, and stability. Budgets keep growing, more teams continue entering the source, and there is zero sign of “resource exhaustion.”

Can Unity, IronSource, or TikTok Outperform Moloco DSP in ROI?

Across the market — no.
Moloco DSP remains the leader in price–volume–conversion balance.

Why Some Teams Become Disappointed With Moloco DSP

Many teams expect Moloco DSP to “carry them to profit automatically,” hoping for easy results without deep analysis, testing, or angles. But free wins no longer exist in 2025.
If a funnel doesn’t work, it means the offer, the video, or the core mechanic wasn’t suitable.

This is not “Moloco went bad.”
This is an issue in the approach.

At the same time, the bigger picture shows: Moloco DSP volumes continue to grow, new teams enter the source constantly, and demand is not decreasing. If Moloco were truly “not working,” these numbers wouldn’t exist.

Winners are those who:

test multiple offers,
produce high-quality videos,
understand auction mechanics,
know how to work with exchange and inventory.

The Top 2 Settings That Most Often Kill Moloco DSP Campaigns

1. Extremely narrow targeting
When a media buyer adds too many restrictions — by schedule, OS, devices, narrow segments — the buying price immediately spikes.
The narrower the targeting, the more expensive the traffic, and the fewer maneuvering options the algorithm has.
2. Excessive blacklisting of exchange and inventory
A common mistake is throwing everything into the blacklist.
When too many exchanges and publishers are blocked, the algorithm “suffocates”: it simply has nothing to learn from.
Optimal is no more than 2–3 exchanges in the blacklist.
More is harmful.
If you disable the wrong platforms or do it too early, the algorithm loses high-quality traffic sources and starts buying worse.
This is one of the most common reasons campaigns go negative.

How to Analyze Moloco DSP Campaigns Without Burning Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

The fundamentals remain the same: analyze buying cost, registration cost, and deposit cost.

Across most GEOs, these metrics can now be requested through Profit Mentor — our AI bot developed at Profit Rental.

Profit Mentor compares your real metrics to current GEO benchmarks and highlights exactly where the problem lies:

the videos,
the inventory,
the exchange,
or the funnel overall.
This prevents wrong decisions — such as killing a campaign too early or dragging it into a deep minus.

Five Rules That Deliver Above-Market ROI in 2026

1. Constant testing of videos — and a lot of them.
Not 2–3 videos per week, but full batches of angles, especially for sources like Moloco DSP.
2. Work with offers: test at least 2–3 simultaneously.
Strong teams quickly cut what doesn’t perform.
3. High traffic quality → higher advertiser payouts.
If you deliver high LTV, you get the best terms.
4. Team scale matters.
Large volumes and a good reputation lead to better advertiser rates.
5. Don’t choke the algorithm with unnecessary settings.
Don’t narrow targeting too much, don’t blacklist everything, and don’t disable more than 2–3 exchanges — the algorithm needs room to learn.

Conclusion: Has Moloco DSP Died?

It’s more alive than ever.

Moloco DSP still delivers excellent results — but only for teams that:

analyze instead of “launch and pray,”
adapt to the market instead of using 2023 templates,
work with videos and data instead of trying to force performance with bids,
understand In-App logic instead of expecting Facebook-like behavior.

For those still living by old guides in 2026 — yes, Moloco DSP “died.”

But for teams that evolve and take a professional approach,
it remains one of the strongest and most profitable In-App traffic sources.

Should You Enter Moloco DSP in 2026?

Yes — the source still offers huge volume, strong conversion, and stable optimization.
But today, profit comes not to those who “hope,” but to those who:

test systematically,
produce proper videos,
understand how the auction works,
and use data for decisions.
If you want to run Moloco DSP without chaos, guessing, and negative tests — use Profit Mentor, our AI bot that:
compares your campaigns with GEO benchmarks,
highlights weak links,
tells you what to disable and what to scale,
analyzes videos, exchange, and inventory,
and saves significant budgets on tests that would never perform.

With Profit Mentor, you stop “shooting in the dark” and start operating like an experienced In-App team.
The tool is available to all clients.

You can rent a Moloco DSP agency account from us with full support and guidance — our goal is your profit, and we’ll take you to results.

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