I’m so excited to kick off this new episode of Champions of Performance Marketing!
This time I’m sitting down with someone who brings a unique mix of experience to the table… Katie Mulliken spent almost four years at TikTok, working with major retail brands and learning how algorithms actually work.
Before that? Disney.
Now she’s at NewsBreak, helping advertisers reach an audience most media buyers overlook.
And here’s the thing… NewsBreak isn’t just another native platform. It’s the #1 local news app in the US, pulling content from 98% of American publishers.
The audience? Homeowners aged 45 and above are the primary decision-makers in their households. These are the individuals who make purchases such as insurance, home services, supplements, and finance offers.
Katie breaks down exactly how to structure campaigns for success… including the simple 1-2-3 formula that gets you through the learning phase fast.
She explains why broad targeting beats segmentation every time, which creative formats actually convert, and why your TikTok and Meta ads might already be winners on NewsBreak.
She also shares something I didn’t expect… weekends are where the magic happens. Lower CPMs, lower CPAs, higher volume. Most advertisers miss this completely.
Whether you’re already running native ads or looking to diversify beyond Meta and Google, this one’s packed with actionable insights.
Let’s dive in!
Listen to the episode on our Spotify channel
Or watch it on the CPV channel on YouTube
Q: Let’s start with the basics. What is your experience in performance marketing, and how did you start? What are you doing now at NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: I actually came originally from Disney, doing advertising operations for linear TV. That got me started in media, entertainment, and advertising.
From there, I worked in AdOps at TikTok for almost four years, doing a lot of the higher-ticket product trafficking like brand missions, hashtag challenges, and things like that. I also worked with large retail brands across the board, CPG clients, auto, and similar verticals. It was a really good segue into ad manager platforms, self-serve ad platforms, and performance marketing overall.
Now I’m working with NewsBreak, which is great. They are a newer, smaller, but really fast-growing company. For anyone unfamiliar with NewsBreak, it’s the number one local news app in the US.
First and foremost, the NewsBreak app functions as a news aggregator, sourcing local news content directly from 98% of US publishers. The platform really looks at what users are reading and how they’re interacting with the algorithm and then heavily gives content recommendations based on user activity. It then shows them ads that they’re most likely to convert on based on all their behavior.
NewsBreak is a really good traffic source for high-converting performance marketing campaigns.
Q: The type of traffic that NewsBreak offers, for someone who hasn’t tested it yet, is native ads, right?
Katie Mulliken: We are in this space that’s somewhat between native and social, almost like a bridge between the two. With the algorithm optimizations and ad manager setup, I’d say it’s very similar to a social ad platform, similar to TikTok or Meta. The unlimited placement strategy and the creative content within the app closely resemble those of other native platforms, where creative styles are simpler and match the surrounding content, such as news articles or educational and informative advertising.
Q: In terms of particular verticals or types of offers that perform especially well on NewsBreak right now, what can you share?
Katie Mulliken: The core NewsBreak audience uses a local news app, so they’re in the habit of consuming information about their local area and community. The core audience is the majority of homeowners aged 45+, with a slight female skew.
We like to say that if you put it into one or two people, it would be the mom or dad of the household who lives in the Midwest US, has kids, owns their car and home, and is a decision-maker for the household.
With that, things that do really well include health and wellness, Nutra, pain relief, weight loss, home, auto, and life insurance, final expense, finance, credit scores, and bank offers.
Home services are always very popular on the platform because we have so many homeowners, and we offer services like gutters, roofing, and solar. Additionally, e-commerce products related to the home, yard, kitchen gadgets, gifts, supplements, and similar items are also popular.
So, something that is needed for an established family. I’d say finance, lead gen, and e-commerce are the three main categories across the board.
Q: So if someone wants to get started on NewsBreak today, what do they need to know about the process, from getting approved to launching the first campaign?
Katie Mulliken: We are a self-serve ad platform, so advertisers can come in and do everything themselves.
There’s no contract or anything they need to sign to get started. I recommend including as much business information as possible when registering your account so you’ll be approved quickly. Your business is verified, and you’re ready to go.
Q: So you have to have a business?
Katie Mulliken: You don’t need to have a business. If you do, then I would use that information when signing up because you’ll just go through really easily.
Whereas if you don’t have a legal business, you can definitely still run on NewsBreak. We have tons of independent media buyers and affiliates. They’ll just put in the information that they do have available.
Once you’re signed up, the first step would be to install the pixel and postback if you’re able to. Even if you’re not planning to launch for a little bit, having it installed on your page will help start collecting some data.
Q: Are there any common reasons for campaigns to get rejected or for accounts to be rejected on Newsbreak?
Katie Mulliken: For ads to get rejected, our ad policy is pretty straightforward. It mirrors a lot of other similar platforms: nothing too violent, graphic, or with crazy, misleading claims, things like that. One nuance we do have is that since we are a news app, we don’t allow anything to say “breaking news” if you’re going to run on NewsBreak.
But otherwise, it’s pretty similar to any other platform.
We want as many advertisers as possible to have the opportunity to work with NewsBreak and succeed. So we’re not trying to limit anyone in any way.
Q: Can you tell me what a well-structured campaign looks like on NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: We suggest one campaign, two ad sets, and then three to five ads within each ad set. So you could say it’s like a one-two-three structure: one campaign, two ad sets, and three to five ads per ad set. Just note to separate vertical and horizontal creatives into different ad sets.
Our learning phase is on the ad set level. It’s about 20 conversions, ideally within two to four days. To get through that learning phase quickly, we suggest running an ad set with the max conversion bid type.
This works to deliver as many conversions as possible within the daily budget so that advertisers can get the 20 conversions needed to pass the learning phase quicker and then have more potential to scale up faster from there.
Target CPA is a slightly more conservative bid type; the ad set won’t spend if it doesn’t find users to convert at the goal CPA. So our initial campaign setup would be maximum conversion, fully broad targeting.
Age and gender, dayparting, and similar factors significantly limit the algorithm’s ability to collect data. We strongly advise allowing the algorithm to function naturally. The algorithm performs better when it is given the freedom to operate without restrictions.
Q: So the first campaign should be broad targeting with no gender limitation or device or interest targeting?
Katie Mulliken: That’s our recommendation, yes. And then, down the line, you can pull audience insight reports to see whether there are specific age groups, locations, genders, or similar segments you want to target in the future.
However, initial data collection is very helpful for the algorithm, especially when starting.
Q: That initial collection, do you mean to have broad targeting, or do you mean the pixel that is running on your website?
Katie Mulliken: Both. Regarding data collection, we recommend using both pixel and postback. It collects as much data as possible and ensures that the data is accurate when comparing the two methods.
Broad targeting allows it to collect data from other groups or demographics that you may have limited access to when targeting is layered in.
Data collection is critical and sets your campaign up for success.
Q: And once you collect 20 conversions, you can scale it up?
Katie Mulliken: Yes. If you’re happy with the performance of max conversion after the learning phase, you can scale up by simply increasing the budget by 20% to 50% every two days or so.
If CPA starts to spike as you increase the budget, you can add a frequency cap of 2 or 3 per day. Alternatively, you can switch the bid type to target CPA.
Many advertisers will run a target CPA and a max conversion ad set in the same campaign to balance volume and CPA control.
Q: What are the elements that can drive higher CTRs or better engagement? What makes a great creative on NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: We do support image and video. We recommend testing both types of creatives, as they perform about 50-50 on the platform and cover all in-app placements.
For video, we tend to see vertical 9×16 UGC-style perform best. For images, we typically see that a 16×9 horizontal format performs best, especially for basic images with minimal text.
We observe that these creatives are associated with both high click-through rates (CTRs) and high conversion rates (CVRs). Overall, videos generally have slightly higher conversion rates.
Here is more about the power of creatives on Newsbreak:
Q: You said that UGC-style videos are better than AI-generated or professionally created videos?
Katie Mulliken: Yeah, in general, I’d say our user base connects more with UGC-style videos because they feel more authentic and provide social proof, as people prefer seeing someone else do it rather than AI-generated content.
I would just try to use AI in a way that feels really authentic rather than a cartoon-looking image or video.
So more real-style ads than cartoon-style or drawings or something, that would be our recommendation.
And NewsBreak also has an immersive video placement. This feature is a tab within the app that displays the entire screen as vertical video or image content, enabling continuous scrolling.
People repurpose many videos from TikTok, Reels, and other sources and just post them to NewsBreak. So that’s a good tip.
We operate in the space between social media and native advertising. Therefore, content that performs well on either social media or native platforms generally performs well on NewsBreak as well.
Q: What about in terms of compliance, since we’re talking about creatives? You mentioned that you don’t accept the phrase “breaking news” because you are a news app. What other things should advertisers pay attention to?
Katie Mulliken: I would note that headlines should be clear, benefit-driven, and curiosity-inducing, with a strong call to action, such as “learn more” or “shop now.”
Using tones that are informational and also conversational, like news content or blog styles, where someone is reading about someone who feels like them and acts like them, and then may make a purchase or something that encourages a similar user to do the same.
We also recommend using the dynamic headlines on the ad level. They will vary based on the user’s city, state, or device type.
And after using Dynamic Headlines in your ads, you can also include dynamic insertion in your landing pages to increase user trust and have the ads match the landing page.
Q: So those are text dynamics added to the ad. Do you support any other ad formats like GIFs?
Katie Mulliken: Yes, on the ad level, we also support GIFs. I want to note that playable ads are something we’re starting to test. More advertisers are using them, so if you have playable ads, NewsBreak is a great place to test them right now. There’s not as much competition in that area.
Q: Is the playable ads feature available for everybody to try out?
Katie Mulliken: I believe it’s going to be public very soon. If people are interested in testing it right now, they can just reach out to us, and we’re happy to put the feature on their account for the time being.
Q: What about the budget? What’s a good starting budget for someone who wants to test NewsBreak for the first time?
Katie Mulliken: The minimum budget, I believe, is $30 a day. That said, it depends on your product’s price point or conversion rate. We recommend a daily budget of five to ten times your goal CPA to achieve five to ten conversions per day, which will get you the 20 conversions needed to pass the learning phase in just a few days.
However, if your CPA is $300, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting with a $3,000 budget, which is 10 times that amount. We would likely recommend starting at around $75 to $1,000 per day. I recommend starting with a minimum budget of around $75 per day, then increasing it based on your product’s price point.
If they have a $100 or $150 product and start with a $30 budget, the algorithm will flag that there isn’t enough budget to find performance.
That being said, I don’t want to tell people to spend money; that’s not what we’re looking for. We’re providing tools to help you succeed. If you’re going to test three times with a $30 budget, you might as well go once with $90 and succeed the first time.
Q: What about creative fatigue? Is that an issue on NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: With NewsBreak, we don’t have as much creative fatigue as some other platforms.
Some advertisers are finding success scaling the same creative for weeks or even months at a time.
Given the audience skews slightly older, they’re not as much the click-through generation as on some other ad platforms. They’re in a mindset of consuming information, with a lot in front of them before they make decisions. This allows people to scale their efforts over time.
Q: How does creative fatigue on NewsBreak compare to TikTok, where ads need to be refreshed constantly?
Katie Mulliken: I would say TikTok and NewsBreak creatives are similar in the sense that the algorithms prefer this native-feel content.
At TikTok, they used to say, “Don’t make ads, make TikToks.” Although this isn’t directly applicable to NewsBreak, the same sentiment is really there.
But one difference is volume. TikTok advertisers spend a lot of time testing a lot of creatives, have very high volume, and kill losers fast. In contrast, NewsBreak experiences slightly less creative fatigue. If you find something working, really focus on scaling it up rather than duplicating and relaunching it.
For TikTok, it’s entertainment first, impulse-driven.
NewsBreak provides more information first and in context.
Q: You talk about scaling. What signals do you look for before pushing the budget harder?
Katie Mulliken: I think the first thing is to get through the learning phase, avoid making too many edits or scaling up while your ad is still gathering information, and then let it optimize from there. Make sure you’re past the learning phase.
If CPA is where you want it, or even slightly above, I think that’s acceptable. If it’s exponentially higher than you’d like, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend scaling up.
We find that using multiple creatives within each ad set helps you achieve higher conversion volume and scale up.
If you only have one ad, you may still achieve success, but as you scale up, that ad may experience creative fatigue over time. If you have a few in there, the algorithm will optimize accordingly.
Q: What are the important metrics advertisers should pay attention to in order to spot a winning campaign early on?
Katie Mulliken: I think CPA is definitely the number one. Our algorithm optimizes on CPA, so that’s really what is most important. We bid on CPC, so it’s important, but not as important for the algorithm learning. High CTR and high CR are both beneficial.
If you see a high CR coupled with a low CTR, it’s an indication to test new creatives.
If you have a high CTR and low CR, we recommend testing a new landing page. That means people are clicking the ad but aren’t converting once they arrive.
Q: Are there any tips for when advertisers are not sure if they should scale or not?
Katie Mulliken: I would definitely look at the amount of conversions coming in, seeing that there are people interested and that it’s getting to be consistent.
After the learning phase, the algorithm will begin to stabilize. If you’re starting to see it become more consistent, that’s a good sign to scale up.
If you experience a day of high performance followed by several days of no performance, I recommend reevaluating the creatives and other components of the ad set before scaling up.
Q: So you would change headlines or something in creatives, or you would block some placements?
Katie Mulliken: I would say the creative, the actual asset, is more important for our algorithm than the headlines.
If you did have the option to do three different creatives versus just one creative with three different headlines, I’d recommend doing three different creatives.
Q: How important is conversion tracking? What happens if advertisers don’t send conversion data to the platform?
Katie Mulliken: If advertisers don’t send conversion data to the platform, they are probably not going to find the ideal success or where they want it to be. For full transparency, tracking is critical. The type and volume of data that returns to the platform are both very important.
The pixel is critical for broader data collection and retargeting. It collects a lot of front-end data, including page views and click events. On the other hand, postbacks significantly improve the accuracy of conversion data by tracking back-end events.
If you don’t pass back that data, the algorithm will think performance is poor. It’s going to stop spending.
Tracking is essential. Track as many parts of the user funnel as you can, page view, click button, submit form, add to cart, add payment information, complete payment, everything you’re able to pass back, you should.
Q: About your time on TikTok, how do campaigns on TikTok compare with NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: I would say there are many similarities: the algorithms prefer native-feeling content with a user-generated side that provides strong social proof. They work well on both NewsBreak and TikTok.
Broad targeting consistently outperforms over-segmentation or restrictive targeting. If the creativity is good and it works, the algorithm will find the users that are most likely to convert for you.
Some differences: TikTok is more entertainment-first, a click-through generation, whereas NewsBreak is more information-first.
Instead of stopping the scroll, it’s more about earning the click. If it feels like an article you’d read on NewsBreak, that’s a win if it’s an ad.
The ad platforms are pretty similar in the sense that you set up your event tracking, your payment method, broad targeting, and a few different creatives. I believe that the volume of creatives, the extent of testing, and the turnover rate, specifically how quickly you are terminating and relaunching campaigns and ad sets, are all faster on TikTok. On NewsBreak, once you start to find success, you’re really encouraged to focus on scaling it up rather than just relaunching it a bunch of different ways.
Q: Do you think in terms of verticals, there are differences between TikTok and NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: Yes. I’d say that because NewsBreak is a little older-skewing, things like finance, insurance, and home services do really well.
On TikTok, that definitely still exists, but at the same time, there’s a lot more quicker e-commerce, fast fashion, trending products, you know, a hair tie that lights up or something.
Consider the target audience of NewsBreak, which includes homeowners, parents, and car owners, who are more focused on practical matters than on creating the latest viral dance video.
Q: In terms of ad buying, what doesn’t translate well from TikTok to NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: I would say maybe some of the more younger-skewing retail or trending products. NewsBreak does have a lot of cosmetic stuff as well, but it’s more like anti-aging, wrinkle removers, things like that. TikTok might be a little more focused on cosmetics, such as lipsticks and other makeup, given the target audience.
In the NewsBreak app, mindset is a little different. It’s more information forward.
Q: Did you implement any AI optimization at NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: Yes, we use AI in a couple of different ways. One way we have recently implemented AI that has significantly helped us is in the creative approval process, which evaluates the creatives that are uploaded before they are approved. The process has accelerated significantly.
The time required for ad approval has decreased from one or two days to just a few hours, and in some cases, it can be as quick as a few minutes if the AI processes it immediately.
Additionally, the AI will evaluate various aspects of the creative content. If the headline is overly gimmicky, it might not be preferred. If it says, “You will lose four pounds in 10 days”, that’s a little misleading and might not even be possible.
AI boosts higher-quality, legitimate creatives that are highly trustworthy and provide a wealth of information on the website.
Q: But what if the ad says, “I lost four pounds in three days” or something?
Katie Mulliken: It could still be approved, but I would say that, in general, AI tends to view such claims as somewhat misleading.
Q: There should be some limits?
Katie Mulliken: Yes, there are. We still have human reviewers. If people notice something that doesn’t seem right, if an ad is wrongfully rejected, or if AI isn’t perfect, it is exponentially better, quicker, and more efficient. We’re still happy to take another look.
Q: What’s your best advice for someone just starting now on NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: I would recommend choosing a product that aligns well with the audience, such as home, automotive, e-commerce, health, and wellness. Keep the audience in mind. Use broad targeting and a budget large enough to get through the learning phase quickly. You want to find excellent performance right away.
Pick an offer that aligns well with the audience, use broad targeting, have a few different creatives ready to launch, and integrate as many parts of the event funnel as you’re able to.
I would also note, as a quick tip, we tend to see better overall performance on weekends. We have many lead-gen advertisers with call centers that are closed on weekends. Overall, there’s less competition. CPMs are lower. CPAs can be lower as well. Volume is higher.
If you’re able to launch on Friday or Saturday, that’s recommended; take advantage of the strong weekend performance.
You can also have the ad set automatically increase spending for certain days of the week. I recommend doing that rather than making multiple edits right after launch.
Q: What should someone who is already running native ads on other platforms or social media know before they start testing NewsBreak?
Katie Mulliken: I think they should know that it’s similar. It’s just a new audience, a new traffic source.
It’s always beneficial to diversify. If one platform isn’t very successful for you, your ads might still be good.
You can definitely use many of the assets if you’re finding success elsewhere; just try them in NewsBreak. There’s a strong likelihood they will perform well there as well. I know on Meta, many people use a single ad set or ad group with a single ad, whereas on NewsBreak, I place a few different ads in each ad set.
Set yourself up for success right from the start.
Q: If you could solve a big challenge in the performance marketing space, what would that be?
Katie Mulliken: That’s a great question. I could talk about this all day. I’d say probably just across the board, in the industry overall, attribution is something that different ad platforms might attribute conversions slightly differently.
A cross-channel attribution you can trust and that accurately reflects reality would be very helpful.
So I’d love to find, and I don’t know if I’m the person for this, but just in general, someone to find a solution for a privacy-safe, cross-channel attribution that shows incrementality, not just the final conversion.
Additionally, it would be beneficial to ensure comparability across various platforms using different benchmarks. I think that could be helpful as well.
Q: Where can people find you?
Katie Mulliken: People can find me either on LinkedIn or you can just email me at kaitlin.mulliken@ newsbreak.com.
CONCLUSION
So here’s what stood out from my conversation with Katie…
NewsBreak occupies a unique space between native and social. The algorithm works like TikTok or Meta, but the audience behaves like traditional native users: they read, research, and make informed decisions. That’s a powerful combination.
The 1-2-3 campaign structure is simple but effective: one campaign, two ad sets, three to five creatives per ad set. Broad targeting. Allow the algorithm to carry out its task. Get through those 20 conversions in the learning phase, and then scale 20-50% every couple of days.
What really stood out to me was the creative fatigue point. On TikTok, you’re constantly churning out new videos. On NewsBreak? Katie says some advertisers scale the same creative for weeks or even months. That’s a game-changer for teams without massive creative resources.
And don’t sleep on weekends. Less competition means lower costs and higher volume. If possible, consider launching on a Friday or Saturday.
Here’s what to take away:
→ NewsBreak audience: 45+, homeowners, Midwest, decision-makers
→ Top verticals: health/wellness, insurance, finance, home services, e-commerce
→ Campaign structure: 1 campaign, 2 ad sets, 3-5 ads each
→ Learning phase: 20 conversions in 2-4 days using max conversion bid
→ Budget: minimum $75/day, ideally 5-10x your goal CPA
→ Creatives: UGC-style vertical video (9×16) and horizontal images (16×9) work best
→ TikTok and Meta ads often perform well on NewsBreak too
→ Tracking matters: use both pixel AND postback for best results
→ Weekend launches = lower CPMs and faster learning
If you’re looking to diversify your traffic sources and reach buyers who actually convert, NewsBreak deserves a serious test.
Want to watch the full conversation?
Check out the complete interview on our YouTube channel and don’t miss the other episodes of Champions of Performance Marketing where we sit down with the smartest minds in affiliate marketing, media buying, and performance advertising.
And if you’re ready to track your NewsBreak campaigns with real-time data and built it postback to pass conversions back to the algorithm…CPV Lab gives you the visibility you need to optimize faster and scale smarter.
Author: Julia Draghici
Julia is the CEO of CPV Lab and CPV One ad trackers. She has 15+ years experience in the software industry, from development to management. For more than 7 years she is helping marketers get the best out of their marketing campaigns by using a performant ad tracker. Passionate about entrepreneurship, business and performance marketing, Julia loves helping people!
