The Year of Outcomes: A Paradigm Shift in Advertising KPIs

As we march swiftly towards Q4, it’s clear that 2024 will go down as the “year of outcomes.”?

I feel safe in assuming at this week’s ProgIO–and Advertising Week in October–that outcomes will be top-of-mind. It was all anyone talked about at Cannes. In 50+ meetings about measurement, the common theme I heard was the declining interest in alt currencies and the increasing interest in outcomes.

Perhaps most importantly, the industry’s understanding of what an “outcome” is has expanded: the conversations were not just business outcomes (such as sales lift), but also behavioral outcomes (such as website and store visits) and brand outcomes (such as brand lift).

Want more proof of this outcome craze? A recent IAB study found business outcomes like sales are now the most important advertiser KPI, surpassing media measurement stalwarts like reach and frequency. In fact, 64% of social video buyers, 58% of online video buyers, and 54% of CTV buyers said they predominantly value business outcomes.

Roseann Montenes, head of strategic audience solutions and partnerships at A+E Networks, argues outcomes are the best determinant of advertising success.?

In addition, there is significant buzz around initiatives like “Paramount is Performance ,” where the entertainment company and streaming platform made a strong case for TV being “not just about metrics. It’s about driving outcomes.”

These initiatives make sense when you hear brands becoming full-throated in their demands for outcomes-based measurement. Meeting that demand, media companies are prioritizing outcomes in their sales strategy.?

It’s about time. But talking about outcomes requires a deeper look at what they are and why advertisers need to pay attention to each type.

Outcomes are no monolith

If the obvious long-term goal for businesses is selling their goods and services, is “sales lift” the only advertising outcome that matters? Well, saying the point of advertising is to drive sales is different than saying the point of each campaign–or each impression–is to drive sales. Counterintuitively, trying to drive sales with every single impression will lower the long-term growth of a business, because you’re underinvesting in generating future demand with brand-building impressions. Thus, we need to look deeper into behavioral and brand outcomes, which are often criminally overlooked. As measurement technologies improve, the industry can better trace the impact advertising has from the top of the funnel through the bottom of the funnel. This creates a holistic understanding of how campaigns drive consumers one step further, throughout the entire customer journey.

A necessary focus on brand building

Brand building remains a core component of any media strategy, even for DTC brands and performance marketers .

Simply put, consumers likely need to learn about a particular brand and its attributes to then move down the funnel before they consider purchasing and ultimately make a purchase. A farmer who wants to sell fruit must first plant the seeds to grow the tree that bears the fruit. An advertiser that wants to convert a buyer must first find and influence that individual to know about their products and consider buying them. That’s brand building.

But, brand investments no longer need to be unscientific. In 2020, McKinsey published a call-to-arms for “performance branding,” highlighting how new technologies could drive greater insights into customer behaviors at the top of the funnel. Advancements in measurement are making branding more quantifiable and more optimizable.

Therefore, brand builders no longer need to approximate their impact by the aforementioned reach and frequency and waiting a long time to see if sales ever followed suit. It is now possible to measure brand outcomes during live campaigns and then optimize the media in real time to drive greater outcomes. Brand advertising is moving from a “set it and forget it” mindset to a “turn the knobs every day” mindset.

Put another way, we’re finally capable of bringing science to the top of the funnel.

Outcomes-based measurement for upper-funnel campaigns is the future

If outcomes are top of mind for the industry, what are the most important takeaways for advertisers, agencies, and media companies??

• Brands should demand outcome measurement to justify their media investments. We are long past the days of reach and frequency–with some creative pre-testing sprinkled on top–as justifications for successful campaigns. Brands need and deserve more accurate in-flight outcome measurement to justify the millions they’re spending.

• Everyone should remember brand outcomes are indeed outcomes. In a world of choice, you cannot expect people to purchase goods and services immediately after hearing about a product for the first time. It takes nurturing (planting the seeds) to be able to eventually make a sale (picking the fruit).

• Media companies should also measure outcomes for the purpose of optimization. Media companies can no longer only rely on upper-funnel metrics like viewability and reach when their partners, advertisers, are demanding more accountability on brand-building campaigns. They should invest in the right outcome measurement that aligns with campaign goals, and regularly optimize campaigns in-flight to maximize those outcomes for their clients.