Media mix modeling (MMM) helps brands understand how marketing investments affect results. It originally focused on high-reach channels such as network television, print and radio to assess brand impact and audience reach. Valued for their reliability and ease of measurement, these existing channels have been key drivers of brand awareness and conversions. However, the modern consumer journey is now more complex and fragmented.
That’s why brands need to rethink their media strategies and redefine how success is measured. Consider a wider range of media channels and include touchpoints such as:
Here’s why you should adopt new strategies that embrace emerging channels and how to focus on the entire customer experience to achieve meaningful results.
Questioning existing measures and broadening the view
MMM has traditionally focused on broad visibility, relying on metrics such as reach, impressions and cost. He assumed that chains with a wider reach automatically produced better results. Within this framework, the reach and channels considered the most effective and efficient contributors to results have been prioritized, while other platforms have often been neglected due to difficulties in proving their impact. This has left emerging channels underfunded, despite their highly engaged audiences.
However, not all impressions have the same impact, even if their number seems comparable. For example:
Linear TV impressions are averaged across broad demographics. Digital video impressions are counted per individual user.
Ad formats affect engagement differently: a 15-second streaming pre-roll video is more engaging than a static display ad. To effectively measure marketing success, consider not only reach, but also the quality and context in which each channel engages its audience.
Emerging media offers excellent opportunities for brand engagement, reaching both broad and niche audiences. Video games, for example, have grown significantly over the past decade, especially during the pandemic, and are now reaching a wider audience. It allows you to target people based on their lifestyle and interests, making it an effective way to reach specific and diverse groups.
Consumers are deeply engaged in these experiences, but the challenge of connecting them to traditional attribution models leads to underinvestment. Many view these channels as secondary rather than central to the media mix.
Think of these channels as part of an overall strategy rather than separate investments. By understanding how different channels, especially newer ones, work together, you can better influence awareness, consideration and conversion, providing a clearer picture of the entire customer journey.
Conversion data should include both direct and indirect metrics, giving credit to channels that contributed to an ad’s impact, even indirectly. Instead of relying solely on last-touch attribution, use multiple attribution models to better understand the role of each channel in shaping consumer behavior.
Dig Deeper: Open the complete customer journey with advanced marketing measurement models
A bottom-up strategy driven by consumer journeys
As data regulations evolve and cookies disappear, MMMs are expected to evolve toward a bottom-up strategy focused on real-world consumer journeys. Understand where, when and how consumers spend their time and use this information to guide media planning. This involves looking at the types of media consumers interact with and the amount of time they spend on each channel. This also includes assessing your brand’s share of voice in these spaces. These factors (time spent and share of voice) are essential in deciding where and how much to invest for maximum impact.
Let’s take DOOH as an example. Often treated as a subset of out-of-home (OOH), it includes locations such as in-store screens, gas station screens, cinema screens, and elevator monitors. These locations are perfect for engaging consumers in contexts where they are more attentive, such as during moments of high dwell time. Combined with digital or audio campaigns, DOOH can build awareness in environments where consumers are more focused on the brand message.
Streaming audio, podcasts and games deliver highly personalized and immersive experiences. These platforms are an integral part of consumers’ daily lives, and treating them as optional misses a key opportunity to connect with a captive audience. Include these channels in broader campaigns alongside digital, social and traditional media, using their unique strengths to achieve better results.
Reassessing the investment: prioritizing the consumer journey
Reevaluate your traditional media allocations. Instead of focusing solely on established channels once considered the primary drivers of success, consider how consumer behavior is evolving and which touchpoints best align with that behavior. Modern MMM models should prioritize areas where consumers spend their time and attention, not just what is easiest to measure.
Balance your ad spend based on quality of engagement, time spent on platforms, and share of voice. This doesn’t mean abandoning familiar channels, but rather combining them with newer, high-impact opportunities for better results.
Qualitative consumer research, such as focus groups, panels, and surveys, helps you align media spend with customer experience. For example, with podcasts, this research can show whether listeners prefer host-read ads or embedded advertorials.
Dig Deeper: Measuring the impact of marketing: from indicators to growth
Shaping a multi-channel future
The consumer journey is no longer a simple, linear journey but a complex network of touchpoints. To achieve this, MMM must go beyond traditional metrics and well-known channels. Brands today need strategies that combine emerging and established channels, guided by insights into consumer behavior, time spent on platforms, and how channels work together.
By focusing on a bottom-up, consumer-first approach, your brand can have a greater impact, reaching audiences where attention is highest and adding value at every touchpoint. In this fragmented landscape, understand what really resonates with consumers. A media mix model that goes beyond single-channel attribution and considers how channels complement each other can create seamless, engaging experiences, build loyalty and drive results every step of the way.
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