Business strategy · October 2026
Views without installs? 9 talks on creator app marketing
Paying creators for app videos and getting views without installs? Superwall Podcast guests from Cal AI, Halo AI, Jungle and SideShift share what converts.
You paid a creator. The video got views. The installs never came.
Guests on The Superwall Podcast, hosted by Joseph Choi, keep running into that gap. Superwall makes paywall software for mobile apps, so the guests are consumer app founders and the people who run their creator programs.
Lots of views. Where are the installs?
Alfie Dickens learned it on Cal AI. Cooking videos looked perfect for a calorie tracker, and they did badly.
Jay Raavi once had a 300,000-view video with 174 likes. Now he judges a format by how many people keep watching.
Start small, then pay for what works
Never paid a creator? Start with Nick Lawton's $2,000 test budget. He co-founded SideShift, a creator marketplace, so he sees what other apps spend.
Dillion Verma skipped variety altogether. Halo AI ran one format across 85 creators.
Some of this will make you uncomfortable. Evan Yadegari bought followers for his outreach accounts at 14. Matt Espinoza clones winning videos and seeds Reddit threads to shape AI answers. They both say so on the record.
Bring your last campaign
Pull up the numbers from your last creator video before you listen. Who watched it? Who installed? What did you pay?
Pick one change a guest made, and try it on your next deal.
If nobody has paid yet, start with the Superwall founders on launching and selling.
In this playlist
Nick Lawton's UGC plan: $2,000 to test, then paid ads
Starting from nothing? Nick Lawton of SideShift budgets $2,000 to $4,000 for month one, and waits for a 5% engagement rate before buying ads.
8 min read6 min listen
Jay Raavi runs 60 UGC creators for his app on his own
Jay Raavi runs 60 to 70 creators for Nomadtable with no team. He tests every format himself first, and checks how many viewers stay past 3 seconds.
8 min read8 min listen
Halo AI hit $300K a month in 45 days with one video format
Halo AI ran one video format, over and over. Dillion Verma explains why 29 of 30 creators chose a $20 base with view bonuses.
7 min read6 min listen
Cal AI emailed 220,000 creators. Alfie Dickens explains why
Cal AI contacted about 220,000 creators. Alfie Dickens explains the view clause that kept each deal profitable, and why cooking videos flopped.
7 min read6 min listen
A 14-year-old's app hack: 500 DMs a day and bought followers
Evan Yadegari was 14 when Locked passed $14,000 a month. His team sent 500 DMs a day from accounts with bought followers.
7 min read6 min listen
Julian Alvarez on what one creator's videos did for Jungle
One medical student's videos took Jungle from $2,000 to almost $15,000 a month. Julian Alvarez explains why the team then worked on the app's first minute.
8 min read7 min listen
Canyon Pergande on growing an app in a tiny niche
Canyon Pergande says to start in the niche that looks too small. Think knitting, ballet or MMA, then the audiences next door.
8 min read7 min listen
What 743 app founders taught Joseph Choi about growth
Host Joseph Choi has talked to 743 app founders. He puts paid ad margins at 10% to 30%, and mass creator content at 50% to 80%.
7 min read7 min listen
Matt Espinoza on cloning viral videos for app growth
Clover builds about 90% of each campaign from copies of proven videos. Matt Espinoza also shows how Reddit comments end up in AI search answers.
8 min read7 min listen