Run a paid media waste recovery audit
A repeatable seven-step audit you can run against any account in a single afternoon. The output is a line-item view of what actually billed and what actually converted a human. Use it as a diagnostic before your next budget cycle or QBR.
By T.J. Muro
Published
Updated
Most paid media audits are performance reviews dressed up as diagnostics. This playbook is the version we actually run. It assumes platform reporting is the input, not the answer, and works backward from verified outcomes.
The sequence:
- Baseline delivery — reconcile impressions and clicks against independent verification.
- Isolate synthetic engagement — headless traffic, MFA inventory, and click patterns that never touch a real session.
- Rebuild attribution against first-party evidence, not platform self-report.
- Quantify recoverable spend and route it back into audiences that convert.
The attached 2026 Ad Waste Report includes the underperformance benchmarks we use to calibrate the audit against category norms.
Frequently asked questions
What are the steps of a paid media waste audit?
Check impressions and clicks against independent verification. Separate fake engagement. Rebuild attribution from your own evidence. Then measure the recoverable spend and move it to audiences that convert.
How is this different from a normal paid media audit?
It treats the platform's reporting as the starting point, not the answer.