Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Revenue generated per dollar of advertising spend, typically attributed via last-click or MTA models.
“For every dollar spent on ads, how much revenue came back?”
Whether ad spend is generating attributed revenue above the breakeven threshold.
The incremental/causal contribution of the ad spend — platform-reported attribution tends to over-credit paid channels versus true incrementality.
Numerator
Attributed Revenue
Denominator
Ad Spend
Example
A campaign spends $50,000 and drives $200,000 in attributed revenue. ROAS = $200,000 / $50,000 = 4.0x.
Recommended visualization: Bar chart by channel with target ROAS line
Platform-reported ROAS (e.g., Meta's in-platform attribution) will typically read higher than MTA or incrementality-adjusted ROAS. Always label which attribution model produced the number.
- Reconcile attributed revenue against actual completed/non-refunded orders
- Check for attribution window mismatches between platforms being compared
- Comparing platform-reported ROAS across Meta, Google, and TikTok as if they used the same attribution logic
- Chasing high ROAS on branded/retargeting spend that would have converted anyway
Get a conversational, stakeholder-friendly explanation of this KPI, generated on demand.