In a privacy-first world, platform ROAS is a liar. The "Scaling Operator" must graduate to Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) to make capital allocation decisions based on business health, not pixel errors.
January 29, 2026
A campaign might report a 1.5 ROAS (appearing to fail) but be driving significant branded search traffic that converts on Amazon or Google. If you pause that campaign based on the dashboard number, your total revenue collapses.
This is the danger of "In-Platform ROAS." It only sees what happens within its own walled garden.
To govern capital efficiency, Obra pivots the "Scaling Operator" to Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER).
• Formula: Total Revenue / Total Marketing Spend.
• Usage: Use ROAS for tactical decisions (Creative A vs. Creative B). Use MER for strategic decisions (Budget Setting).
If scaling Meta spend drops your ROAS from 3.0 to 2.0, but your MER remains stable at 4.0, the scale is profitable. The "lost" ROAS is simply showing up in other channels.
How do you prove it? The 2026 standard is Incrementality Testing (GeoLift).
• Method: Stop ads in a "Holdout Region" (e.g., Ohio). Keep ads running elsewhere.
• Analysis: Compare the total revenue drop in Ohio vs. the rest of the country. This reveals the true lift generated by your spend, independent of pixel tracking.
Stop optimizing for a number that isn't real.
Download the Technical Standard to learn how to calculate Incremental Lift and proper MER targets.
