MNTN Incrementality Reporting enables marketers to measure conversions and revenue generated by Performance TV compared to outcomes they would have achieved without TV ads. Our transparent methodology ensures you can quickly understand and confidently act upon your data at no additional cost.
Here's what we'll review in this article:
Why Measure Incrementality?
Incrementality shows you the true value your Performance TV campaigns bring by comparing outcomes between groups exposed to your ads and those who were not. This reveals the incremental impact your advertising has on conversions and revenue, guiding better investment decisions and optimizing campaign performance.
How Incrementality is Measured
Here's a step-by-step overview of our methodology:
Creating Holdout Groups: MNTN automatically holds back ads from 10% of your targeted audience to form a control group. Both exposed and holdout groups come from the same intent-based audience pools, ensuring accurate and unbiased comparisons.
Audience Exposure: Your campaign serves ads to a targeted group (Exposed group).
Measuring Responses:
Exposed Group: Conversions and revenue generated from households that saw your ad.
Control Group: Conversions and revenue from households that didn't see your ad.
Scaling the Control Group: At month's end, we scale the holdout group's results to match the exposed group's size, ensuring a fair and accurate comparison.
Calculating Incremental Results: Control group results are subtracted from exposed group results to calculate incremental conversions and revenue.
Measuring Incremental Metrics: Your total ad spend is used to calculate incremental metrics, including incremental CPA and incremental ROAS.
Why MNTN Uses This Methodology
MNTN’s Incrementality methodology is built around three core principles:
Industry Standard Alignment: Matches methodologies used by other performance marketing channels for consistency across platforms.
Audience Consistency: Ensures holdout groups accurately reflect your targeted audience’s intent.
Minimized Performance Impact: Holding out just 10% of your audience minimizes the impact on overall performance.
💡Important Note: Your 10% holdout group households are excluded from your audience proactively. Your scaling factor will be based on the actual households reached against your audience throughout the month, so your scaling ratio can be lower than 10:1.
Eligibility Criteria
To access Incrementality Reporting, ensure you meet the following:
Campaign Type: Incrementality is measured exclusively for Prospecting campaigns.
Conversion Pixel: The MNTN conversion pixel must be placed and active on your site.
Incrementality Data Refresh
Incrementality data appears in your Reporting UI the month after launching eligible Prospecting campaigns. Incrementality data updates within the first 15 days of every month, reflecting the prior month's performance.
How to Read Your Incrementality Report
The Incrementality Dashboard is divided into three main sections: Exposed, Results, and Control. The report also provides comparisons and results between the Exposed and Control group for the following performance metrics: Households Reached, Incremental Conversions, Incremental Revenue, Incremental ROAS, Incremental CPA. Each section provides crucial insights to help you understand your campaign's performance clearly.
Step 1: Households Reached
Exposed (Left): Shows the total number of households that saw your ads.
Results (Middle): Confirms total households reached, along with how many were held out for control.
Control (Right): Displays the exact number of households held out (10% of your targeted audience).
Step 2: Conversions
Exposed: Actual conversions from households that saw your ads.
Results: Your incremental conversions (Exposed conversions minus Control conversions).
Control: Estimated conversions your campaign might have generated without ads, scaled up from actual holdout results.
Step 3: Revenue
Exposed: Actual revenue from conversions by households that saw your ads.
Results: Incremental revenue calculated by subtracting Control revenue from Exposed revenue.
Control: Estimated revenue your campaign might have earned without TV ads, scaled from actual holdout revenue.
Step 4: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Exposed: The actual ROAS from your campaign spend.
Results: Your incremental ROAS, calculated by dividing Incremental Revenue by your ad spend.
Control: Estimated ROAS based on the scaled control revenue.
Step 5: CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
Exposed: The actual CPA based on your campaign spend.
Results: Your incremental CPA, calculated by dividing your ad spend by incremental conversions.
Control: Estimated CPA based on scaled control conversions.
Each metric clearly shows how much additional value your Performance TV campaign is delivering compared to results you might have achieved without TV ads, allowing you to easily optimize your future campaign strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How will my control group generate if I’m activating multiple campaigns?
How will my control group generate if I’m activating multiple campaigns?
Each campaign generates a unique control group based on its total available target audience. These are combined into a single prospecting-level control group, which is scaled monthly according to the total reach of your campaigns.
Example: Let’s say you’re targeting a total audience of 5,000,000 total households across two campaigns:
Campaign A:
MNTN Matched, high intent: 1,000,000 households
MNTN Matched, medium intent: 3,000,000 households
Campaign B:
CRM List: 1,000,000 households
With a 10% holdout, your control group would include 500,000 total households:
100,000 households - MNTN Matched, high intent
300,000 households - MNTN Matched, medium intent
100,000 households - CRM List
Now, let’s say your campaigns reached a total of 1,500,000 households:
900,000 households - MNTN Matched, high intent
300,000 households - MNTN Matched, medium intent
300,000 households - CRM List
Since your control group was 500,000 households, and your exposed campaigns reached 1,500,000 households, we multiply the control group’s results by 3 to estimate what they would look like if the group had been the same size as your exposed audience. This gives us a fair way to compare results and see the true impact of your campaign.
How are the control group audiences selected?
How are the control group audiences selected?
Marketers using MNTN Matched will have control groups that uniquely isolate 10% of the total available audience size. This control group will mirror the intent you are targeting.
Other audience control groups, such as CRM lists or interest-based targeting, are drawn as a randomized sample of 10% of their total available audience size.
Example: If you’re using MNTN Matched targeting high intent and medium intent audiences, then your control group will include high intent and medium households.
Will my control group always scale by 10 since my control group held out 10% of my audience?
Will my control group always scale by 10 since my control group held out 10% of my audience?
No. Your control group will scale at the end of the month based on your actual reached audience size (exposed group), not your total available audience size.
Example:
Let’s say you’re targeting a total available audience size of 5,000,000 total households.
With a 10% holdout, your control group would include 500,000 total households.
Now, let’s say your campaigns reached a total of 1,500,000 households.
Since your control group was 500,000 households, and your exposed campaigns reached 1,500,000 households, we multiply the control group’s results by 3 to estimate what the results would look like if the group had been the same size as your exposed audience. This gives us a fair way to compare results and see the true impact of your campaign.
How often does my control group update?
How often does my control group update?
MNTN automatically sets up a control group when you first create your prospecting audience—before your campaign starts. This group is updated daily to make sure comparisons stay accurate. For example, if a household shows high intent one day but not the next, it’s removed and replaced with one that still shows high intent.
If I launch a new campaign and/or change my audience mid-month, how does this affect my control group?
If I launch a new campaign and/or change my audience mid-month, how does this affect my control group?
In this example, the control group changes mid-month. Anytime your audience changes, the control group adjusts accordingly. At the end of the month, the total number of unique households from both control groups is combined to calculate your scaling factor.
Example:
Your control group is 100,000 households for the first half of the month.
Mid-month, you update your audience, and the new control group includes 200,000 different households.
By the end of the month, the total control group is 300,000 unique households.
Lets say your total exposed group was 900,000 households throughout the month. In this case, your scaling factor would be 3:1.
I’m using MNTN Matched for my audience, and MM automatically excludes site visitors and converters from the past 30 days. Does that mean my control group has the same exclusions?
I’m using MNTN Matched for my audience, and MM automatically excludes site visitors and converters from the past 30 days. Does that mean my control group has the same exclusions?
Yes! When opting into MM, your control group is pulled from the same total available audience. This would mean that your control group excludes site visitors and converters from the past 30 days