$42.1 Million USD spent on YouTube ads last year.

For an IQ test + "brain training" app.

Let's check the traffic stats snapshot here:

I had to triple-check that number.

Forty million spent over the past year, on YouTube ads alone. Two hundred twenty-four different video creatives.

Again that's just YouTube—they're also running thousands of Facebook ads too:

For a quiz that tells you how smart you are.

So I went through the entire funnel, screenshot by screenshot, to figure out what they know that justifies burning $400K every single day.

Here's the thing. It's not magic. It's just... really well-engineered psychology. And once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Their top performer is 30 seconds long. UGC style: a young woman in what looks like her bathroom, talking to camera. Nothing fancy.

Here's the #1 YouTube ad video:

The creative title in their ad platform reads "CR vid99 v1 SC62 EN FB 1920x1080." Translation: version 1 of creative 99, script 62, English, Facebook format. They're testing at industrial scale.

Let's take a look at the video itself.

Here's how those 30 seconds work:

She rattles off IQ ranges: 85-115 is average, 115-145 is high, above 145 is genius. Sounds educational, right?

Nope. She's setting anchors. Before you even know what she's selling, you've already started mentally placing yourself on that scale. Most people think they're above average. That's the hook.

"You can take this 2-minute IQ test."

Two minutes. Remember that. It matters later.

The screen shows someone getting a 116—just above average, not quite high. Attainable. Aspirational. Perfect.

Social sharing hook, "thousands of people" social proof, comment-your-score engagement bait. Standard direct response stuff, executed cleanly.

The ad promises 2 minutes. The actual funnel takes closer to 8 minutes.

(Definitely some sunk cost fallacy at play for me as I got deeper into the quiz...)

Okay this is where MyIQ when wild with HeyGen or some other AI tool to clone this winner across multiple languages/geos:

Same ad. Same presenter. Same hand gestures. This time? In Spanish:

The result?

$1.6M in estimated adspend. (Including $254k in the past 30 days...)

But they didn't stop there...

They did the same process to hit 7-figure+ spends on AI clones of this ad in other languages like Russian. And German. And Spanish. And Italian.

Each time, $1M+ in adspend. New markets unlocked, one after another.

So you click. You land. And the funnel doesn't start with an IQ question.

It starts with a bit of expectiation-setting pre bullets:

…and then:

"Are you male or female?"

Seems innocent. But that's your first commitment. You've made a decision. You've started. Psychologically, you're now slightly more likely to finish.

Below the gender buttons: "Today's average IQ score: 110"

The benchmark from the ad, reinforced before you answer anything.

Then come the easy questions:

"I like to solve complex problems" — Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree

"I prefer learning through hands-on experience" — Same scale

These aren't IQ questions. They're softballs designed to get you nodding along.

Quiz funnel OG Ryan Levesque used to call these "Greasing the Groove" questions.

Easy yeses. Friction reducers. The real test comes later.

But notice the colors: green for agree, red for disagree. Even the UI is nudging you toward positive self-identification. Subtle, but it's there.

After the personality fluff, the format changes. Hard.

You're looking at a 2x2 grid of shapes with one missing. Six options below. Timer running.

This is Raven's Progressive Matrices—an actual psychometric format used in real IQ testing since 1936. The funnel borrowed legitimacy from actual cognitive science.

And it gets harder. 2x2 becomes 3x3. Simple patterns become multi-variable transformations.

By question 22, you're actually concentrating. The timer says you've been at this for 2+ minutes. The progress bar shows "Question 22 of 31."

Here's what's happening: every second you spend on a hard question increases your investment. The funnel knows this. The harder it feels, the more valuable your result seems.

Sunk cost, building in real-time.

Most quizzes make you wait until the end for any feedback. Not this one.

Screen 8, about 30 seconds in:

"You Are Doing Faster Than 91% of All Test Participants!"

You've answered like six questions. You're already "better than most." The progress bar disappears. Little illustration of someone climbing toward a flag.

Feels less like a test now, more like a game you're already ahead in.

Screen 17, about 90 seconds in:

"Your IQ Score is Yet Higher Than 87% of United States"

Now it's location-specific. More personal. More believable.

Screen 26, almost 4 minutes in:

"Top 4% in Logic so far!"

Third time around, they've given you a label. You're "a logic person" now. That sticks with you.

Here's the pattern: each praise screen is more specific than the last.

By the time you hit the paywall, you've been told three times you're exceptional.

That changes how you see yourself. And how likely (and how much) you're willing to pay.

Questions 29-31 aren't about patterns. They're about you:

Notice how A LOT of quiz funnels start off with the age question?

With $40M+ spent on this quiz, there's probably a data-backed rationale why this ordinary demographic question is buried so deep in the quiz. Here's one hypothesis:

Why are these at the END?

Think about it. At minute 6, you've:

Asking your age now? Zero friction. You're 90% done. Of course you'll finish.

Put these questions at the start and people bounce. Put them after 28 questions and they feel like formalities.

Timing matters more than the question itself.

You hit "Get My Results." Done, right?

Nope. Here comes the manufactured anticipation.

Screen 37: Social proof dump. "20,000,000+ MyIQ users worldwide." Testimonial. Media logos. Live counter.

They're selling you while you wait.

Screen 38: A popup that says "WARNING"—your results will reveal hidden strengths and areas for improvement.

WARNING. They're framing your IQ score like it's going to reveal something profound about you.

Screens 39-43: Animated progress bar. 14%... 39%... 81%...

But it's not just a spinner. There's a checklist ticking off: Memory ✓, Speed ✓, Reaction ✓, Logic (processing...)

And during the "wait"? Little engagement questions. "Do you like solving puzzles?" "Numbers or words?"

Even during the "wait," they keep you clicking. Never a chance to zone out and reconsider.

Screen 44: Email capture. But look—your results are RIGHT THERE. Blurred, but visible. Time: 6m 44s. "Faster than 91%." Strongest skill: Visual Perception.

Enter email to unlock.

The curiosity gap is at maximum. You can almost see your score. And you've invested 7 minutes. Who's walking away now?

The sales page is really more of a sequence—one psychological trigger after another, stacked vertically.

At the top:

Live notification: "Jennifer from California just unlocked her IQ results"

Countdown timer: "Offer expires in 6:29"

Celebrity IQ comparisons: Coco Chanel (162), Einstein (160), Steve Jobs (160)

Before you see a single price, you've absorbed FOMO, urgency, and aspirational anchoring.

The Hero:

"Your Score Is Ready!"

Your certificate is visible. Blurred, but visible. Curiosity at max.

The Pricing:

Trust stuff:

"Based on Stanford-Binet methodology." Media logos. Testimonials with specific names, ages, scores.

Looks legit.

Checkout:

Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, card. Every friction-reduction option. Timer still counting down.

You've been here 7 minutes. You've been told you're exceptional. The price is a dollar.

Easy to say yes to that at this point.

The funnel doesn't stop at conversion.

Activation: You get your score. IQ 129. Notice: not 116 (what the ad showed), not 110 (the "average" benchmark). Higher than both. Flattering, but not unbelievably high.

Sharing hooks: Certificate with your name. Social buttons for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. "Compare with friends" framing.

That certificate? People share it. LinkedIn, Twitter, wherever. Free advertising.

Churn kills subscription businesses.

So when you try and CANCEL that $1 trial to $29.99/mo subscription, here is MyIQ's Churn defense:

"Everything you've unlocked will disappear." Loss framing.

Then: 77% discount. $29.99 drops to $6.99/month.

Is the "2-minute" IQ score legit? Not sure.

But the psychology is real.

Here's what's also real:

The Numbers: 48.9 MILLION visits per month. Incredible.

Name ANY funnel doing this kind of volume right now?

That's MyIQ. One Web2App Quiz Funnel down.

Tomorrow we’re going to break down another web2app quiz funnel scaling right now.

Different category, same playbook analysis. Full funnel flow, ad creative breakdown, psychology triggers, economics.

And if you want to look at ALL the Web2App funnels we’re tracking?

It’s all inside Consumer App Index Pro:

Go here to see all the details on what’s inside Consumer App Index Pro.

If you're a DTC operator or Direct Response enthusiast, stay tuned for what we've got coming next.