Budget allocation across channels
Nicklas Segatz Mortensen · Growth Hacker · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads Nerd · 8 July 2026 · 6 min.
01The problem with allocating on silo ROAS
The intuitive method — move budget toward the channel with the highest ROAS — is a trap. Each platform credits itself for the same sales with its own generous windows, so the sum of their reported revenue exceeds what actually came in. Allocate by silo ROAS, and you move budget toward the channel that's best at taking credit, not the one that creates the most value.
The result is often that retargeting and brand searches get fed at the expense of the demand-generating top of funnel — after which the top of funnel gets cut, demand dries up, and the whole machine seizes up while the dashboard still looks fine.
Sådan virker det
Hver platform tilskriver sig de samme salg — lagt sammen bliver det 130 % af den faktiske omsætning. MER ignorerer attribution og måler den samlede omsætning mod det samlede forbrug.
02Steer by the total, test with lift
The honest yardstick is MER: total revenue against total spend, without attribution. Allocate the budget, and watch whether MER holds or rises as you move money around or scale. If MER falls, you bought revenue you'd have gotten anyway — no matter how flattering the silo ROAS looks.
For the bigger decisions, you supplement with incrementality tests: turn a channel off in a geo group and measure the real effect. The combination — MER continuously, lift tests occasionally — gives an allocation basis no single platform can inflate.
03A practical order of operations
In practice: set MER as the top-level steering metric, use POAS and contribution margin to optimize within each channel, and reserve lift tests for the expensive questions (is brand incremental? is the top of funnel pulling its weight?). Scale as long as the total holds, and don't chase the prettiest number in a single account.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I just move budget to the channel with the highest ROAS?+
Because the platforms' ROAS double-counts the same sales. Allocate by silo ROAS and you reward the channel that's best at taking credit, not the one that creates the most real value — often at the expense of the top of funnel that drives demand.
What should I allocate budget by instead?+
By MER (total revenue against total spend) as the top-level steering metric, optimized with POAS within each channel, and validated with occasional incrementality tests. Scale as long as the total holds.
Related terms
Glossary
What is MER?
MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) is your total revenue divided by your total marketing spend across every channel. It ignores the platforms' own attribution and shows how efficiently the whole marketing machine is working.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is incrementality?
Incrementality is the added effect a marketing effort creates: the sales that happened only because the ad ran. Sales you'd have gotten anyway aren't incremental — whatever the platform credits.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is blended ROAS?
Blended ROAS is your total revenue divided by your total ad spend across every channel. Unlike platform ROAS, it isn't built on attribution and therefore can't be double-counted.
Read the entry →Glossary
What is attribution?
Attribution is the method that distributes the credit for a conversion across the touchpoints the customer met along the way. The model decides which channel gets the credit — and therefore where budget flows.
Read the entry →Budget allocation on MER is at the core of how Profit Forge steers across channels.
See Profit Forge →
Nicklas Segatz Mortensen
Growth Hacker · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads Nerd at Oaksmond
Growth hacker and fractional CMO with 10+ years' experience and hundreds of millions in managed ad spend behind him. Background from larger Danish and international scale-ups, and from the agency world.
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