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Paid media analytics connects advertising spend with qualified leads and attributed sales. Follow a campaign-level method using advertising and CRM exports, explicit attribution rules and checks back to finance.
Paid media analytics compares campaign spend with leads and attributed sales under a stated set of rules. Join advertising and CRM summaries by campaign, align the dates, and reconcile both sides before ranking results. A campaign with inexpensive leads can still produce fewer signed sales than one with a higher lead cost.
Write down the paid channels included, the business outcome, the attribution rule and the observation date. Otherwise the spreadsheet can combine accurate figures that answer different questions.
For this walkthrough, a fictional US business reviews leads acquired in April 2026, with sales outcomes observed through May 31, 2026. It assigns each qualified lead to the last eligible paid click within 30 days before lead creation. A deal inherits that lead's campaign, and each deal is counted once. This is an illustrative business rule, not a claim about any platform's default settings.
Attribution means assigning credit to interactions along a customer's path; Google's attribution documentation describes that principle. Record the exact rule used in your export rather than assuming every advertising source assigns credit the same way.
The example's sales measure is net signed contract value, excluding tax and cancellations. It is not recognized accounting revenue or cash collected. Advertising spend includes recorded media charges after credits and excludes agency fees. Broader acquisition expenses belong in a separate customer acquisition cost review.
Keep a campaign mapping with a stable campaign ID, the readable name, the advertising account and the channel. Names can change; the identifier should preserve the match. Investigate an unmapped identifier rather than giving it an assumed channel.
Ask the advertising owner for a Spend sheet with campaign ID in column A, reporting month in B and net media spend in C. Ask sales operations for an Outcomes sheet with campaign ID in A, lead acquisition month in B, qualified lead count in C, closed sale count in D and net contract value in E.
The outcomes summary must already count each lead and deal under the agreed rule. Do not join every advertising interaction directly to every deal: that can repeat both spend and sales. Keep account contacts and individual lead details out of the review when aggregate summaries answer the question.
Create a Summary sheet with campaign ID in A and the acquisition month in K1, stored as the same month value used in the source sheets. Put net spend in B, qualified leads in C, closed sales in D and attributed contract value in E.
These formulas work in Excel and Google Sheets. For campaign ID in A2, enter:
B2 =SUMIFS(Spend!$C$2:$C$1000,Spend!$A$2:$A$1000,$A2,Spend!$B$2:$B$1000,$K$1)
C2 =SUMIFS(Outcomes!$C$2:$C$1000,Outcomes!$A$2:$A$1000,$A2,Outcomes!$B$2:$B$1000,$K$1)
D2 =SUMIFS(Outcomes!$D$2:$D$1000,Outcomes!$A$2:$A$1000,$A2,Outcomes!$B$2:$B$1000,$K$1)
E2 =SUMIFS(Outcomes!$E$2:$E$1000,Outcomes!$A$2:$A$1000,$A2,Outcomes!$B$2:$B$1000,$K$1)
Enter the expression after each cell label and fill down. Extend every range to cover the complete export. The Excel SUMIFS reference and Google Sheets SUMIFS reference document summing rows that meet multiple criteria. Covirage is not affiliated with Microsoft or Google.
The resulting worked summary is:
| Campaign | Net spend (USD) | Qualified leads | Closed sales | Attributed contract value (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search brand | 12,000 | 160 | 20 | 60,000 |
| Search nonbrand | 18,000 | 180 | 18 | 54,000 |
| Social prospecting | 15,000 | 250 | 10 | 30,000 |
| Retargeting | 5,000 | 100 | 12 | 36,000 |
| Total | 50,000 | 690 | 60 | 180,000 |
Add cost per qualified lead in F, lead-to-sale conversion in G and attributed contract value per media dollar in H:
F2 =IF(C2=0,"",B2/C2)
G2 =IF(C2=0,"",D2/C2)
H2 =IF(B2=0,"",E2/B2)
Use blank results for undefined ratios and flag zero denominators for review. Do not hide missing data by replacing it with zero.
| Campaign | Cost per qualified lead (USD) | Lead-to-sale conversion | Contract value / spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search brand | 75.00 | 12.50% | 5.00 |
| Search nonbrand | 100.00 | 10.00% | 3.00 |
| Social prospecting | 60.00 | 4.00% | 2.00 |
| Retargeting | 50.00 | 12.00% | 7.20 |
| Total | 72.46 | 8.70% | 3.60 |
Ratios are rounded to two decimal places after calculation. Calculate the total from summed inputs: 50,000 / 690 = $72.46 per qualified lead, 60 / 690 = 8.70% conversion, and 180,000 / 50,000 = 3.60 contract-value dollars per media dollar. Never average campaign ratios to produce these totals.
Social prospecting produces more qualified leads than either search campaign, but fewer closed sales. That warrants a sales-quality and follow-up review. Retargeting can receive credit late in a buying decision under this rule; its high ratio does not establish what would happen if prospecting stopped.
The advertising cost reconciliation should be explicit:
| Spend reconciliation | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Recorded gross media charges | 52,000 |
| Advertising credits | -2,000 |
| Net media spend | 50,000 |
The net figure equals the campaign total. Investigate timing differences between this export and finance before presenting the comparison as final.
For this same lead cohort and observation date, reconcile the CRM's net signed contract value:
| CRM reconciliation | Contract value (USD) |
|---|---|
| Assigned to paid campaigns | 180,000 |
| Without an eligible paid assignment | 20,000 |
| Total | 200,000 |
Keep the unassigned value visible. Reallocating it simply to make the campaign results look complete changes the measurement rule.
Also preserve the observation date. An April cohort measured immediately after month-end has had less time to close than the same cohort measured later. Google's attribution settings documentation explains how lookback windows and account time zones affect reporting comparisons. Your export review needs those settings written down.
Use social media marketing analytics for social-specific questions and media mix analysis to roll campaigns into comparable channels. Media and entertainment analytics covers the publisher's subscription, advertising revenue and content-cost perspective.
Bring a file or Google Sheet containing campaign spend, qualified leads, attributed sales and the reporting definitions used to prepare them. Covirage maps the columns; its tools compute and check campaign comparisons, and the external AI model explains the results with every figure traced to its rows. Create a free Covirage account and bring a sample of your own export.
See revenue driver analysis for the supporting approach to explaining business changes.
Use advertising costs by campaign and period, a campaign identifier mapping, and CRM summaries containing qualified leads, closed sales and contract value. Add credits and finance totals for reconciliation. If you report a lead cohort, include the acquisition period and the date through which outcomes were observed.
They can count different actions, apply different attribution windows, use different time zones or assign credit on different dates. A platform conversion might be a form submission, while the CRM counts a qualified lead or signed sale. Define the business event before comparing the totals.
No. That ratio compares recorded sales value with advertising cost. It does not deduct delivery costs, agency fees, sales compensation or other expenses, and attribution does not prove incremental sales. Use it as a defined campaign comparison alongside the company's separate profitability measures.