More ads, shorter sessions

A product strategy question from a product manager interview, set at Pictaro, a fictional social media / ads company.

The question

Skills this case tests

A starting structure

Ad revenue = impressions × CPM, by surface (feed, stories, short video); impressions = users × sessions × session length × ad load

How to approach this case

Start by asking what the company is optimising for: this quarter's revenue, or long-term revenue and user value. Confirm how the experiment ran: how long, on how many users and how they were randomised. Break the revenue lift into impressions and price per impression, and check every ad surface, not only the feed. Then look past the averages. Check whether the effect is the same for light and heavy users, and ask which users bring in most of the revenue. Two weeks is short, so ask how the effect changes week by week and what past ad tests showed months later. Think about creators and advertisers too, since ads replace posts. A strong close gives Finance a clear answer in money, offers a safer option if you say no, and keeps a long-term holdout.

The full method for strategy, pricing and growth questions

After the mock interview you get scores on five skills, what to fix with quotes from your answers, and the ideal path for this case.