Inside mobile's DTC moment: Control, margins, and the user relationship
Matt Tubergen is EVP of global strategy and partnerships at Digital Turbine.
At PGC London last week, the industry conversation centered on a defining opportunity for mobile apps: direct-to-consumer (DTC).
For over a decade, the mobile app economy operated under a strict duopoly. Apple and Google held the keys to discovery, installation, and monetisation, maintaining a closed-loop system that necessitated a "platform tax" of up to 30%. For developers, this was simply the cost of doing business.
However, the tide has turned. A wave of legal developments, from the Epic vs. Google ruling to the Digital Markets Act, has challenged the dominance of walled gardens.
We are entering a new era of DTC that spans distribution, monetisation and marketing; a model that restores control to the developers and prioritises the relationship between the creator and the user.
The evolution of alternative payments
As the primary point of friction in the store model, monetisation is the natural starting point for DTC. Solving for payments first allows developers to immediately reclaim margins and own the billing relationship.When third-party billing was first introduced, many predicted a period of fragmented "billing fatigue" for the user. Instead, we saw an acceleration of innovation.
“The shift to DTC isn’t only about saving fees; it’s about control.”
Matt Tubergen
Alternative payment rails enabled app developers to reclaim more than 20% of their margin, reinvesting it in user acquisition or live operations. However, these initial DTC efforts were often limited to external "web shops" that required users to leave an app to pay in a browser. While effective for margins, these shops can still create friction.
The industry is now moving toward inline payments. These integrated flows allow for seamless, secure transactions directly within the app experience, improving user experience while maintaining developer margins.
In 2025, legal mandates and increasing adoption proved that alternative payments were a structural shift, not just an experiment. This year, success means making direct payments feel naturally integrated. Keeping the experience inline ensures you don't break the flow of the app experience.
The strategic advantage: Why developers are moving
The shift to DTC isn’t only about saving fees; it’s about control. In five years, the share of top-grossing mobile games using direct channels has nearly quadrupled, climbing from 12% to 44%. This reflects a fundamental change in how developers approach scale as they move beyond simple acquisition toward owning the user journey.
DTC rebalances the relationship with the user. Developers can gain access to first-party data, enabling more personal, tailored communication, stronger retention strategies, and a clearer understanding of player behavior over time.
Just as critically, DTC expands how apps are discovered. Instead of fighting for visibility on app stores and paying high store revenue shares on UA-driven installs, developers can reach users through a variety of channels: on-device discovery, preloads and strategic partnerships.
This allows for "web-to-app" or "device-to-app" flows that bypass the friction of the traditional storefront, a route that proved to deliver better UA results for developers.
2026: The rise of the custom build
To fully capitalise on reclaimed margins, developers need to not only fix payments but also how users discover and get the app. This is because Apple and Google still claim up to 22% of revenue even when developers use alternative payment rails within the stores.
“Running UA for standalone DTC apps means a move toward ROAS precision.”
Matt Tubergen
Moving entirely outside of these ecosystems via custom "off-store" builds is the only way to avoid these persistent platform shares and reclaim 100% of revenue on Android and up to 95% on iOS.
As we move through 2026, these builds will become a standard part of every major publisher’s roadmap and an additional avenue for discovery. This is about diversifying the growth engine, not replacing primary stores.
Running UA for standalone DTC apps means a move toward ROAS precision. While owning the pipeline provides deeper data, it also requires developers to manage attribution and analytics on their own. This calls for more sophisticated frameworks that can operate outside the standard app store environment.
The new standard
DTC is no longer a luxury reserved for the biggest players like Playtika or Epic; it is becoming the definitive growth strategy for any developer looking to scale a post-gatekeeper world.
This moment is different from past cycles because the legal right to compete, the technology for seamless payments and the marketing frameworks for off-store UA have finally converged.
The developers who thrive in 2026 will be those who refuse to stay locked in. By taking ownership of their distribution and building a direct, unmediated line to their audience, they are protecting both their margins and their future.
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