The Third Pillar: Where OEM Advertising Fits in Your Performance Marketing Mix

– by Ashwin Shekhar, Co-Founder & CRO at AVOW

The list of channels in a mobile UA (user acquisition) brief looks almost identical to the one from five years ago. Meta. Google App Campaigns. Apple Search Ads. A programmatic layer for retargeting. Maybe TikTok. The lineup has barely shifted, even as the cost to run it has.

For agencies and in-house performance teams running those mixes, the question worth asking is not how to squeeze more out of what’s already on the slide. It’s what’s missing from it.

Mobile OEM advertising (Original Equipment Manufacturer) is the answer most teams haven’t fully tested. The practice involves running ads directly on smartphone manufacturers’ devices and app stores, reaching 1.85 billion daily active users on inventory that sits outside the Google and Meta auctions entirely. It runs on familiar performance models. It integrates with every major MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner). It has earned its place as the third pillar of any serious app marketing mix, alongside paid social and programmatic.

Key takeaways

• Mobile OEM advertising reaches 1.85 billion daily active users, covering 86% of the global Android base.
• The channel spans 100+ placements across alternative app stores, on-device display, branding, and Dynamic Preloads. It is not just preloads, and it is not just performance.
• Samsung and Xiaomi together cover 42% of the European mobile market. APAC is not the whole story.
• Modern OEM bidding has moved beyond fixed CPI toward oCPC (optimized cost per click) and ROAS-targeted models.
• Real benchmarks include 1,000% ROAS for Exness (fintech) in emerging markets, 23% eCPA reduction for Milanuncios (classifieds), and 8.5% Day 7 retention for Funvent Studios in casual gaming.
  

Why the channel mix needs a third pillar

The old playbook was simple. Run Meta for prospecting, Google App Campaigns for intent, layer programmatic for retargeting, optimize.

Three things broke that model in the last couple of years. iOS attribution gaps mean the data signal feeding those algorithms is thinner than it looks. Auction prices climbed as more advertisers chased the same finite inventory. Privacy changes restricted the audience definitions that made lookalikes useful in the first place.

Performance teams running aggressive budgets watched CPIs (cost per install) rise and ROAS (return on ad spend) slip even as creative quality went up. The channels were not broken. They were saturated.

Saturation is the case for diversification. Once a team is looking past the duopoly, the question becomes which alternative actually carries weight at scale.

What OEM advertising actually covers

Three myths still shape how performance teams think about this channel. Each one keeps real budget on the sidelines.

Myth one: OEM advertising is basically preloads.

It used to be. Today the channel covers 100+ placements across four product categories: alternative app stores, on-device display, branding placements, and Dynamic Preloads. Each does a different job in the funnel.

Myth two: OEM advertising only works for performance.

The on-device formats (lock screen, splash, push notifications, app vault) are also some of the most effective brand surfaces in mobile. They hold 100% Share of Voice during the placement, with no competitor sharing the moment. Brands like BingoPlus and Kumu run OEM specifically for brand visibility, not just last-click installs.

Myth three: OEM advertising is mostly an Asia story.

APAC is mature, but Samsung and Xiaomi together cover 42% of the European mobile market. Transsion holds 48% share across Africa. Vivo holds 18% share in India. The channel is global.

The three formats that matter most for a performance team:

• Alternative app stores (Galaxy Store, GetApps, AppGallery, V-Appstore): paid featuring, search ads, and category takeovers in environments with lower auction competition than Google Play. The EU Digital Markets Act is forcing these surfaces open further across Europe.
  
• On-device display: native ad placements on surfaces the duopoly never touches. The Minus-One Screen. Smart Folders. Lock Screen Magazine. Browser homepage feed. Each runs on performance bidding with hardware-level targeting signals (apps installed, app-open frequency, device tier).
  
• Dynamic Preloads (Google Play Auto Install, or PAI): app installs during the OOBE (Out-Of-Box Experience) when a user first connects their new device. Installs fire through the Google Play Store, so they show up in the existing MMP and feed Play Store rankings. Pure CPI model, opt-in at user level, no SDK work required.
  

Where OEM advertising fits alongside paid social and programmatic

The clearest analogy is how television used to slot alongside digital. Paid social didn’t disappear when teams started buying TV spots. TV ran for reach and brand-pull, digital for direct response. Both fed each other.

OEM works the same way against the duopoly.

Dynamic Preloads serve as the top-of-funnel install volume layer in markets where the OEM has scale: Xiaomi in EMEA and India, Samsung across LATAM and SEA, Transsion across Africa. The CPI is competitive and the users are net-new, because they were never in the Meta or Google audience pool to begin with. (For a sense of how that scale plays out by region and OEM, AVOW’s user reach calculator is a useful starting point.)

On-device display works as a behaviorally-targeted middle layer. The targeting signal is different from anything Meta or DV360 (Google’s Display & Video 360) provide. The OEM sees what apps are installed on the device, how often they open, time spent by category, and device tier. That allows competitor-app targeting, in-context, on the user’s own home screen.

Alt-app-store featuring functions as ASO (App Store Optimization) insurance. If 20% of European users are about to start downloading from Galaxy Store or AppGallery as a default (which is where the DMA is pointing), having presence there is no longer optional.

Does the data hold up?

The benchmarks have started to land. Exness, in fintech, hit 1,000% ROAS on OEM channels in key emerging markets. Joom (e-commerce) pulled 150% ROAS from setup-phase placements alone. Milanuncios, the Spanish classifieds marketplace, cut eCPA by 23% while growing its user base 30%. Funvent Studios held 8.5% Day 7 retention from OEM-acquired users in casual gaming, a number paid social rarely matches at scale. UK studio Tripledot, behind hits like Solitaire Cash and Woodoku, runs OEM as part of its core gaming UA mix.

The infrastructure checks out too. Every major MMP (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Singular, Kochava) has direct integrations with the OEM ad platforms. Fraud is structurally low because the inventory is on-device and first-party, with no SDK chain to spoof.

One caveat worth knowing: fixed CPI is no longer the right default. OEM bidding has moved toward oCPC and ROAS-adgroup models that win high-intent placements the algorithm wouldn’t otherwise serve. The first 7 to 14 days of any new campaign should be treated as a learning phase, exactly like a new Meta campaign.

Frequently asked questions