The ROAS roast — replacing outdated AdTech and surveillance targeting
A field guide to what is actually broken about ROAS as a decision metric, and the deterministic system replacing surveillance-era targeting.
By T.J. Muro
Published
Updated
The ROAS roast
ROAS was a useful shortcut when the click-to-conversion path was short, third-party cookies were reliable, and audiences were addressable. None of those conditions hold anymore.
This playbook roasts the metric on the record, then walks through what to measure instead — verified reach, cost per verified engagement, and cost per qualified pipeline — and how to replace surveillance-era targeting with deterministic, first-party activation.
Download the full PDF for the frameworks, benchmarks, and swap-in metrics.
Frequently asked questions
Why is ROAS misleading?
It worked when the path from click to conversion was short, cookies were reliable and audiences were reachable. None of those conditions hold anymore.
What should replace ROAS?
Verified reach, cost per verified engagement, and cost per qualified pipeline.