A recent paper from the marketing research company EMARKETER, “MMM Trends 2026”, reports that capabilities in Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) are improving across the marketing ecosystem. The report goes on to conclude that, while this trend is positive, many advertisers could do more to close the gap between receiving the insights generated by MMM and then going on to take action.
The study draws four, principal conclusions:
1. MMM is moving from a measurement tool to one used to make decisions. Signal loss from the decline of user-level data, media fragmentation, and ROI pressure have all made MMM more important, but many brands still use it to explain the past, not shape the future.
2. Access to MMM has expanded faster than marketers’ ability to use its conclusions. Open-source tools and AI have made MMM more accessible and affordable, but many brands still lack the in-house expertise to use it effectively and unlock its full value.
3. Ad measurement is becoming a system, not a single method. MMM, incrementality testing, and attribution work best together, but integrating them remains challenging.
4. Most organisations are not yet set up to act on MMM’s faster, more automated capabilities. MMM can now support faster decision-making, but adoption of agentic solutions remains limited by data quality, governance, and the need for human oversight.
More accessible, not simpler
In Ebiquity’s Marketing Effectiveness practice, we see these shifts first hand through our work with many of the world’s leading advertisers. As our practice has grown over the past 3 decades, so too have the sophistication of our clients and their expectations of what MMM can deliver.
We have also seen rapid growth in self-service tools aiming to deliver MMM solutions for the marketing community. These include open-source models such as Google’s Meridian and Meta’s Robyn, which have lowered the barrier to entry and helped to drive wider adoption of MMM.
Ultimately, this is positive for the industry, but fully in-house marketing effectiveness models are not universally the right fit. Most businesses have either strong coding and data skills or deep media expertise, but it is less common to see both combined in a way that supports a successful, sustained programme without some form of external support. Increasingly, our work with clients extends beyond fully outsourced modelling to include hybrid in-house solutions, capability building, and support in setting up internal effectiveness programmes.
Nick Pugh, Chief Marketing Effectiveness Officer stated:
“MMM adoption is no longer the main challenge. In our upcoming Ebiquity & WFA Paid Media Effectiveness Handbook, around eight in ten advertisers say they now run MMM, but only a third do so continuously. More tellingly, just 15.4% say effectiveness outputs are the primary driver of budget decisions. That is the gap brands now need to close: moving from having measurement to using it consistently to manage investment.”
Tying investment to outcomes
Marketing is being held to ever higher standards of financial performance and commercial impact, and CFOs increasingly require CMOs to tie investment directly to business outcomes. In a Harvard Business Review survey reported in the EMARKETER paper, ROI was said to be the main reason for brands’ increasing reliance on MMM (chosen by 68% of respondents), followed by channel complexity (54%), and tighter budgets (53%).
Yet commercial accountability also depends on shared understanding. Early findings from the forthcoming Ebiquity & WFA Paid Media Effectiveness Handbook finds that only 13.5% of organisations say marketing and finance are fully aligned on what effectiveness means, underlining the need for measurement outputs that can be understood, trusted, and acted on beyond the marketing team.
Bridging the actionability gap
Almost nine in ten of those surveyed in the HBR poll said that MMM was “important for gaining data-driven insights”. However, the research also showed that fewer than a third of marketers can convert insights derived from MMM into timely and impactful actions.
This actionability gap – the gap between sourcing data-driven, evidence-based insights from MMM and then applying these insights prospectively – reflects our own experience, too. Our upcoming Ebiquity & WFA Paid Media Effectiveness Handbook points to the same conclusion: the main barriers to acting on measurement are often commercial and organisational, rather than purely technical. Short-term commercial pressure is the most commonly cited barrier, followed by insights arriving too late for planning cycles.
Using MMM to develop media strategy and allocate the most appropriate budget for campaigns and channels requires technical skill, experience, and cross-sectoral perspective. These capabilities are not always available in client-side teams, a challenge that is amplified when marketing, finance, procurement, and commercial teams are under competing pressures. This is why the most effective MMM programmes are rarely just modelling exercises. They depend on the right combination of analytical rigour, media expertise, governance, and organisational buy-in.
As EMARKETER notes: “MMM still requires data science expertise to calibrate priors, validate outputs, and avoid models that produce convincing, but misleading, results.” Greater access to MMM tools does not remove the need for experienced judgement in how models are built, interpreted, and applied.
Summing up
MMM is the most powerful way to understand what drives performance across markets, brands, and channels. Yet competitive advantage no longer comes from generating insights alone. It comes from turning those insights into decisions that improve marketing effectiveness and accelerate growth, in a way that stands up to commercial scrutiny. We have found that this is delivered with most impact through a partnership between forward thinking brand teams and external analytical expertise.
Our Effectiveness Practice combines rigorous econometric modelling with deep media knowledge and independent consultancy judgement. That combination brings clarity, improving marketing effectiveness and advertising ROI. We provide always-on integrated measurement to interpret what truly integrated data can tell you. This enables us to align all parties around the levers that matter and explain why performance shifts. It is how we translate results into insights and insights into decisions that stand up to scrutiny in the boardroom.
Join us in Cannes for an exclusive first look at insights from the upcoming Ebiquity & WFA Paid Media Effectiveness Handbook.
