Marketing mix modeling is a statistical analysis that breaks down total revenue into contributions from each marketing channel, including channels that don't show up in attribution reports like linear TV and offline. Use it when you need to make strategic budget allocation decisions across the full program.
Attribution tracks individual user journeys and assigns credit to touchpoints within them. MMM analyzes aggregate spend and revenue patterns over time to estimate channel contributions at the program level. Attribution informs tactical decisions and channel-level optimization. MMM is built for strategic decisions: total budget allocation, brand versus performance split, and long-term channel investment.
Typically two to three years of weekly spend and revenue data across all channels, plus relevant external variables like seasonality, pricing, and competitive activity. Less data produces models with wider confidence intervals and less reliable channel-level estimates. Thrive assesses data readiness at the start of every engagement.
MMM analyzes historical aggregate data to estimate long-term channel contributions. Incrementality testing runs controlled experiments in real time to measure causal impact at the campaign level. They answer different questions at different time horizons. Used together, they make each other more reliable.
