MediaRadar reports on Paid Social advertising activity via a third party data provider.
Coverage includes ad placements on Facebook, Instagram & X (fka, Twitter).
Data reporting for each platform is available from January 1st, 2024 onward.
TikTok coverage is available from June 1st, 2026 onward.
Ad Collection
Social platform ads are collected from an opt-in panel of hundreds of thousands of users located within the US. Personally identifiable information (PII) is not collected from the panelists.
Technology installed on mobile & desktop devices recognizes and collects each paid ad as it is served. An image of the ad is captured along with details about the post ID, type of post, advertiser identification and more.
Social ad monitoring spans mobile and desktop devices and includes ads served across mobile apps, mobile web, and desktop experiences where supported by each platform. Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) are monitored across both mobile and desktop devices, while Instagram and TikTok are monitored on mobile devices only.
Estimating Ad Impressions and Expenditures
In aggregate, the panel reflects the diversity of active users on each social platform providing a representative, stable view of the organic consumer journey. The collected ads represent a sample of ad impressions from the social platforms and can be projected to their respective universes.
Ad impressions and expenditures are estimated according to the following methodology for each social media platform:
Proprietary spend model: Our proprietary model calibrates estimates against industry benchmarks and rates, advertiser class, and creative format - enabling insight into the relative positions of brands within the ecosystem. Spend estimates are based on the estimated impressions for each ad, the ad type and estimated CPM rates sourced from third-party agency averages for each month, adjusted by ad type.
Impressions-based methodology: Impressions are a measure of exposure, whereas spend is a measure of value. Our model uses observed impressions and calibrates them with third-party rate information to value placements. This allows us to provide a consistent, relative measure of spend that reflects market dynamics.
Ad expenditures are calculated by applying differential CPMs (cost-per-thousand) to right-size social spend across platforms, ad formats, and categories, so spend reflects actual market conditions rather than generic assumptions.
MediaRadar Data Integration & Harmonization
Our spend values provide consistency across brands and campaigns by estimating brand value based on observed ad activity. While your actuals may differ from our estimates, our goal is to give you a holistic competitive view of the marketplace. The integration and harmonization of data into MediaRadar’s systems may result in variances. Key areas that affect the variances include:
Social data as of April 2026 go forward utilizes creative level classification. Prior to April 2026 we used a combination of human-validated classification and automated mapping to classify at the product level. Occasionally automated mapping can introduce edge cases where brand nuances are harder to capture.
Occurrences with broken creative may be omitted from MediaRadar’s systems until they can be reconciled.
Ad Types
In aggregate, the panel reflects the diversity of active users on each social platform. The collected ads represent a sample of ad impressions from the social platforms and can be projected to their respective universes.
Creative types collected from the newsfeed include: Video, Display, and Carousel within Feed & Reels ad placements.
Not currently collected: Instant Experiences (formerly Canvas), Facebook Stories, Slideshow, Marketplace, Right Column, Playables, Collection Units, nor ads from Messenger.
Creative types collected include: Video, Display and Carousel within Feed, Stories, and Reels ad placements.
Not currently collected: Influencer Activity & IGTV
X (fka Twitter)
Creative types collected include: Promoted Tweets comprising photo, video, link, and status.
Not currently collected: Promoted Trends & Accounts
TikTok
Creative types collected include, Video within Feed ad placements.
Paid Social House Advertising
Social platforms place some self-promotional or “house” advertising for which it books no revenue. The ad occurrences are measured, and expenditures are assigned for purposes of showing their fair market value. This activity is included in reports.
To access our full 360 Methodology, log in to the 360 platform and click on the Help Icon located at the bottom-right corner of the application.
A link to our full 360 Methodology can be found within the Help Menu.
If you have any additional questions, you can reach out to our Customer Support team at customersupport@mediaradar.com