The 7 metrics that actually matter in paid media

ROAS has been the default performance metric for a decade. In 2026, it's the single biggest reason otherwise-smart brands go out of business.

Here are the seven metrics we actually track for every client, in priority order:

1. Contribution margin per customer. What's left after COGS, ad spend, payment fees, shipping, and returns. Everything else is noise.

2. Payback period. How many days until a new customer's revenue repays their acquisition cost. Under 30 is great, under 60 is fine, over 90 is a problem.

3. Incrementality. Of the revenue you're attributing to ads, how much would have happened anyway. We run geo holdouts to measure this quarterly.

4. LTV by cohort. Not blended LTV. Cohort LTV, by acquisition month and channel.

5. Creative velocity. Number of unique creatives tested per week. Below 4, the account goes stale.

6. MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio). Total revenue / total marketing spend. The boardroom metric.

7. CAC-to-LTV ratio. Aim for 1:3 minimum. Below that and unit economics break.

If your agency reports are full of impressions, CTRs and positions, get a new agency.