IAB Australia has released a Market Mix Modelling Landscape Report, providing marketers, ad agencies and media owners with much needed information on the different products and methodologies together with a marketers’ checklist. Prepared by IAB Australia’s Ad Effectiveness Council, the Report includes a directory of twelve active MMM vendors who employ a range of modelling techniques, from classical econometric models to modern Bayesian and machine learning approaches. The report outlines their methodologies, validation practices, data requirements, refresh cadences, and decision-support capabilities.
The Report also includes a structured eight stage checklist to guide marketers through the key considerations for MMM implementation. These cover strategic foundations, measurement framework, data readiness, stakeholder alignment, vendor and model selection, comparing and testing models, implementation and validation, and actionability and integration.
Natalie Stanbury, IAB Australia Research Director said, “When implemented thoughtfully, MMM enables marketers to optimise their investment, enhance strategic decision-making, and demonstrate the value of marketing in driving business growth. However, it’s essential that marketers find the right partner for their business needs and understand the differences in offerings available in market, researching and comparing MMM vendors based on their specific business needs and criteria.”
The Report notes that MMM should not be used in isolation, instead functioning as part of a broader measurement framework, working in tandem with attribution models, experimentation, and platform-specific analytics. It also advises marketers to approach MMM as process of continuous refinement and not as a one-off exercise. MMM requires resources, careful analytic design, robust implementation, model validation and expertise to interpret the results and apply the learnings to future plans.
IAB industry engagements have shown that with reduced signals and changes to privacy legislation, advertisers and agencies have increased their usage of measurement techniques such as MMM and experimentation. MMM is not a new technique but has experienced a revival and evolution in recent years. Outcome-based measurement provided by MMM ties media performance to the metrics that are crucial to a business’ growth. It enables marketers to assess the performance of their media investments with clearly defined financial related metrics while accounting for external influences such as pricing, promotions, competition, and economic conditions.
Dave Goodfellow, Head of Measurement Solutions, APAC at Pinterest commented “MMM offers the potential to transform marketing measurement, but realising this promise requires vigilance on several fronts—granular measurement across the media mix, high quality data flows, rigorous calibration, methodological scrutiny, and transparent partnership. By embracing these principles, advertisers can cut through complexity and chart a path to smarter, more effective cross channel media investment.”
The report was prepared by the IAB Australia Ad Effectiveness Council undertakes various activities to provide guidance to the industry on the best methods to assess the impact of marketing activities along with insight and inspiration to help marketers optimise their digital advertising investment. The Council includes representatives from media owners, data agencies, media agencies, research companies, tech vendors and advertisers. Its members include Amazon Ads, Audience Group, Azira, Carsales, Dentsu, DoubleVerify, Experian, Gain Theory, Google, IAS, InMobi, Innovid, iProspect, Kantar, Lifesight, LoopMe, Meta, Milton Data, Microsoft, Mutinex, Netflix, News Corp, Nielsen, On Device Research, Paramount, Pinterest, Prophet, REA Group, Ryvalmedia, SambaTV, Seven West Media, Stackadapt, Smartly, WPP Media and Yahoo.
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About the Interactive Advertising Bureau
IAB an independent industry association with nearly 9,000 members globally spanning media owners, publishers, technology companies, agencies, and advertisers. It works to align industry stakeholders to develop solutions for the issues faced by the market and develop standards that are integral to the operation of digital advertising.
As one of 45 IAB offices globally, the role of the IAB is to support sustainable and diverse investment in digital advertising across all platforms in Australia as well as demonstrating to marketers and agencies the many ways digital advertising can deliver on business objectives.