If you’re a marketer, you already know that budgets are tight. That’s why every media dollar spent must drive profitable return, especially as you prepare for the biggest moments of the year like Holiday. But, how do you measure the holistic impact of these channel investments?

Your Holistic Measurement Solution

We’ve got the answer: Enterprise Marketing Return (EMR). EMR is the holistic metric our experts use to understand the impact of their channel investments on retailers’ revenue, customers, and brand.

While the result may seem like magic, we calculate a channel’s EMR by incorporating four key components: online and offline revenue, future customer value, incrementality, and profitability. If you’re tired of wasting budget, it’s time to release ROAS from your vocabulary and fully embrace EMR.

The Paid Media 2024 Power Rankings

Now revealing: the 2024 EMR Power Rankings. These rankings were calculated using real brand data to determine the paid media channels that are driving the highest returns for marketers. Use these power rankings to determine which channels are right for your brand. Then, get in touch with our experts to craft your customized media strategy.

But wait! We’ve got a few notes on how to read the EMR Power Rankings:

1. Rankings are based on three EMR components and scored on a scale of 0-100: online sales, offline sales, and future customer value
2. Adjusting for scale and diminishing returns, a weighted average is calculated
3. The higher the score, the stronger that channel or tactic is in driving EMR or a specific component of EMR

Curious how these compare to last year’s results? Check out last year’s rankings here.

The Big Movers

We all know there were some major developments in paid media marketing this past year. So, which channels experienced the biggest surge or dip?

TikTok and Influencer: The Popular Kids

As TikTok and Influencer marketing increases in popularity, their rankings have also increased. While each channel is still fairly new, we’re increasingly able to pressure test their value with larger budgets. Plus, these channels will continue to increase in efficiency as they become more solidified within the market.

Influencer and TikTok are also causing broader marketing shifts. Longer creative lead times are pushing marketers to reinvent the marketing planning cycle. Yet, as shown in our Power Rankings with TikTok at #5 and Influencer at #7, the value of these channels is worth the time. Both channels are strong alternatives to the traditional Meta social and Google search channels that typically dominate digital budgets. Plus, they’re a great starting place to diversify your budget.

Retail Media: On the Verge

An increasing number of brands are catching on that retail media is worth the investment. As the industry grows, our experts have a stronger ability to measure the channel’s returns and validate the accuracy of said returns.

Retail media is on the verge. Expect it to continually increase in value within the media measurement landscape. Just like TikTok and Influencer, we’ll be able to better pressure test its value over time. While it’s currently ranked low at #15 in the EMR Power Rankings, it rose in the rankings YoY by four spots—more than any other channel. And, we anticipate its ranking to continue rising.

Search: It Depends

Search tactics span the EMR Power Rankings spectrum. While Bing Paid Search lands the lowest in our rankings at #16, Google Non-Brand Search ranks at a comfortable position of #2. Google PLA and Google Brand Search can be found in between these two. But what’s behind these numbers?

• Spend within Non-Brand Search is down for main retailers. However, this has led to an increase in efficiency. Search teams have gained a better understanding of its incrementality and the role Non-Brand Search plays within the consumer journey. So, by lowering spend, they’ve optimized their target audience.
• While Google PLA landed at #4 in the rankings, spend has continued to rise. In return, efficiency has slightly decreased as retailers learn how to squeeze the most value out of PMax. Not to worry, PLA is still one of the strongest and most efficient e-commerce channels given its scalability.
• Lastly, Brand Search’s incrementality remains low. Why? The answer is pretty simple. Most consumers searching for Brand terms are already expected to buy through organic search or other methods.

Traditional Channels: Phasing Out

It probably isn’t much of a surprise that traditional non-digital channels are decreasing in value as an increasing number of consumers shop online. Here’s the scoop:

• Linear TV (ranked at #20) is being phased out of many households in favor of streaming.
• Direct Mail (ranked at #17) is decreasing in value. Fewer consumers are signing up for these programs and instead, are opting to receive content through digital sources, such as social, instead.

Overall, their historical impact in driving in-store sales is slipping. Now, digital video channels are rising to the challenge, driving more significant in-store traffic. The switch to video investment from Linear TV is being cemented by stronger revenue returns and its central role in the media mix as a store traffic driver.

Offline and Online’s Big Winners

Before you go, we’re gifting you with one more resource: the biggest e-commerce and in-store sales drivers. Depending on your business, these top-ranked channels may need to be your focus for the remainder of 2024.

Take Action, Marketers

Time to take action. In your next strategy meeting, pull up these EMR Power Rankings to help you make informed decisions. If you’re getting stuck, help us help you exceed your goals! Ovative can help your brand close the gap in your current marketing measurement and maximize your enterprise impact as you head into the remainder of the year. Connect with our experts to ensure your marketing is reaching its full potential!