Mobile ad and app monetization company Tapjoy names Jeff Drobick as CEO

Mobile ad and app monetization company Tapjoy announced that Jeff Drobick will take over as president and CEO, succeeding former Disney executive Steve Wadsworth, who ran things for seven years.

Wadsworth will become chair of San Francisco-based Tapjoy’s board. Drobick has served as chief product officer (CPO) of Tapjoy since 2013, driving the company’s overall product vision and strategy while overseeing its product management, design, engineering, devops, and data science teams. He takes over a company with 250 employees and a reach that connects 800 million monthly active users to ads.

Prior to Tapjoy, Drobick served as CEO of Geeknet Media and also spent nearly 12 years at eBay, where he held positions such as vice president of customer service technology. Prior to eBay, he spent nearly eight years in Accenture’s global technology practice.

As Tapjoy’s CPO, Drobick worked closely with Wadsworth to lead the company through a period of innovation. He helped Tapjoy become the leader in mobile opt-in and value exchange advertising and claim significant market share in the areas of app monetization, rewarded video, rich media, and programmatic advertising. Drobick’s appointment to CEO ensures a seamless transition and continued oversight of the product initiatives and commercial outreach fueling Tapjoy’s momentum, the company said.

“It is a great honor to follow in Steve’s footsteps as we continue to drive innovation and growth for mobile publishers seeking better monetization and advertisers seeking a highly engaged audience,” said Drobick. “We have a great leadership team and passionate employees helping our customers reach about 800 million consumers every month. That’s pretty remarkable, and the partnership across our commercial, technical, and functional teams is a key driver behind the results. I’m also excited to continue working with Steve as chairman, and as CEO I will carry forward our mission, vision, and values for our customers and shareholders.”

Steve Wadsworth served as CEO of Tapjoy from 2012. He was previously president of Disney Interactive Media Group and chief financial officer of the Walt Disney Internet Group. Wadsworth oversaw the company’s acquisitions of 5Rocks, a mobile marketing automation and analytics company, and Tapdaq, an advertising mediation and app monetization platform.

 

“I am very proud of what the team has accomplished over the years as we established ourselves as a leader in mobile advertising and app monetization,” said Wadsworth. “The ecosystem is maturing rapidly, and with Tapjoy poised to release a number of new innovations, now is the right time for Jeff to take over. He is a great leader with exceptional vision, and he was the obvious choice to serve as our next CEO. I have the fullest confidence in him and the team to continue driving the industry forward and creating value for all of our customers, partners, and stakeholders.”

Wadsworth will take over as chair from Warren Jenson, who will remain on as an independent board member. Jenson is currently president, CFO, and executive MD of International at LiveRamp. He has previously held senior leadership positions at Electronic Arts, Amazon.com, and National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

Tapjoy also announced today the expanded responsibilities and promotions of several executives, including Shannon Jessup to global chief revenue officer; Benjamin Chen to senior vice president and general manager of global developer relations; Sarah Chafer to senior vice president of global performance; Emily McInerney to global vice president of marketing; Surendra Pathak to senior vice president of platform engineering; and Moonsik Kang to senior vice president of engineering.

Founded in 2007, Tapjoy aims to use its Maximum Impact Platform to drive real monetization for the world’s top brands and highest-grossing app developers, Drobick said in an email.

“Tapjoy pioneered the first meaningful rewarded ad product for freemium mobile publishers, where consumers could engage with relevant offers as a value exchange for currency. We take great pride in our deep expertise in freemium app monetization and high engagement advertising,” Drobick said. “Over the past six years, we completed two successful acquisitions to expand our products. In 2014, we acquired 5Rocks to add analytics and marketing automation to our platform. In 2018, we acquired Tapdaq to add mediation — a critical part of a complete LTV platform. Both teams are amazing and matched well with Tapjoy’s vision and culture.”

Going forward, he said the Offerwall product, which lets users choose a way to monetize — such as viewing a video ad — in exchange for virtual goods in a mobile game or app, will see a number of advances in 2019. He pointed particularly to demand products, consumer experience, and machine learning to drive continued gains in monetization rates for publishers and performance for advertisers.