Incrementality measurement platform Measured has secured a $21m (£17m) investment from Telescope Partners is to validate the true business impact of media investments for consumer brands.

At the same time, Measured has released the results of  a study to quantify the efficacy of $4.14bn in ad spend for more than 120 DTC brands. Results showed, on average, that 40 per cent of media investments are ineffective, and impact can vary vastly by channel, tactic, campaign, or ad set.

“Whether ad platforms are underreporting or overreporting conversions, the critical issue is that the results cannot be trusted,” said Measured CEO and Co-founder, Trevor Testwuide. “When controlled experiments are designed to be scientifically sound, the results are always reliable. Incrementality experimentation delivered by a neutral party can bring much-needed stability to brands reeling from the latest privacy changes. Telescope’s thoughtful approach and success rate building high-performing software companies makes them the ideal partner to help Measured accomplish that vision.”

The Measured tech stack includes unified media reporting with actionable insights; automated media experiments across prospecting, retargeting, and retention campaigns; and a marketing data warehouse purpose-built for DTC brands.

The company has also created an incrementality index, informed by data from thousands of experiments and updated with results from ongoing testing. By connecting directly to all of the brand’s available data sources and applying proprietary insights from the incrementality index, Measured said it can provide new customers with full-portfolio incrementality reporting in just two weeks. 

“Facebook is a critical channel for building awareness and attracting new Shinola customers, but after the Apple tracking restrictions went into effect, attribution reports from the platform didn’t look right,” said Joel Layton, VP Ecommerce for luxury lifestyle brand Shinola. “Measured revealed that our Facebook campaigns were indeed still delivering strong results and showed us how to allocate our budget for maximum contribution to sales.”