DISQO advertising benchmarks
The most robust full-funnel cross-channel normative benchmarks in the industry
Why marketers need benchmarks
Reveal how campaigns truly perform
Get a grounded baseline view of performance to see how campaign results compare to what is typical in the market.
Optimize media strategies
Pinpoint where campaigns excel or fall short, with a reference point for continuous testing and iteration to systematically improve campaigns over time.
Stay ahead of shifts in consumer and media behavior
Track how the market evolves, helping adapt to new platforms, formats, and audience expectations in real time.
Set clear goals
Define expectations across teams by defining what strong outcomes look like for a brand, a category, and a specific media strategy.
Defend and grow budget
Provide the proof needed to justify investments, protect high-performing channels, and ensure dollars flow to tactics that truly work.
Understand competitive positioning
Reveal how performance stacks up with category and industry norms, with clarity on where you lead and where you can improve against competitors.
What questions benchmarks answer
- How does my performance compare to what’s typical in the market?
- What do “good” results really look like for a brand like mine?
- Which channels are most effective on driving site visitation?
- Are we pacing with the category or falling behind?
- How do our campaigns stack up to industry competitors?
- What should I expect from my campaigns by demographic?
- Are we focused on the right advertising KPIs for how people buy in our category?
- Which channels play the biggest role in shaping purchase decisions?
- Which channels play the biggest role in driving awareness?
- Is this channel delivering enough impact to warrant more, less, or the same investment?
- What do “good” results look like based on how well known my brand is in the market?
Explore DISQO benchmarks
DISQO Benchmarks cover eight attitudinal metrics, including awareness, familiarity, favorability, consideration, and purchase intent, as well as nine behavioral metrics, such as site visits, searches, and e-commerce activity for brands and their competitive set, providing a comprehensive, full-funnel view of ad performance.
DISQO Reports
- CTV
- Social media
- Brand maturity
- Category, industry, & sub-industry
For DISQO clients
- Online channels
- Offline channels
- Category, industry, & sub-industry
- Brand maturity
- Digital frequency
- Audience
- Demographic (age, gender)
DISQO's channel benchmarks
- Assess and index campaign impact by channel against the benchmark.
- Match channel strengths to your goals—driving awareness, building intent, or influencing action.
- Plan and optimize future campaigns, understanding what success looks like.
Category and industry benchmarks
- Set lift goals that match your category’s realities, like consideration length, price point, and how buyers respond to advertising.
- Compare your position to a composite of competitors across categories like Goods, Services, and more to quantify over- and underperformance.
- Use sub-industry norms in areas like Health & Beauty, Pet, and Travel to see which metrics typically move, by how much, and what defines success.
Brand maturity
benchmarks
- Set the right KPI targets based on how well-known your brand is in the market.
- Compare apples to apples within your maturity cohort to see true over- and underperformance across attitudinal and behavioral metrics.
- Understand the metrics that matter most, based on your brand's maturity progression, and when to focus on specific lift metrics.
Why use DISQO Benchmarks?
DISQO Benchmarks help marketers understand performance, align on goals, optimize media strategies, and maximize advertising ROI.
Consistent methodology
Captures attitudinal and behavioral metrics in one benchmark set, so you see impact across the entire funnel.
No blind spots across channels
Get insights across otherwise gated platforms and channels that represent real consumer ad exposure.
Highly relevant & recent data
Updated with data from thousands of recent campaigns that reflect current consumer behavior and modern media mixes.
Used by 500+ Fortune 2000 brands and 150+ agencies and media partners
In their own words
DISQO Benchmarks bring objectivity, comparability, and confidence to cross-channel measurement. They help show how advertising truly influences consumer behavior with an ability to connect brand and performance outcomes within a single framework that aligns with how we plan and measure through the funnel.
Laura Williams
Director of Campaign Effectiveness
Benchmarks frequently asked questions
How often are DISQO’s benchmarks updated?
Benchmarks are updated twice a year to reflect the most recent shifts in media, consumer behavior, and campaign performance. This cadence ensures marketers work with modern, grounded reference points rather than outdated historical norms.
Are benchmarks predictive or descriptive?
Benchmarks are descriptive, not predictive. They show how campaigns have performed across categories, channels, and brand maturity levels. They give context for evaluating lift, but they are not a forecast of what any individual campaign will achieve.
Can I get benchmarks for niche audiences or formats?
Yes. DISQO clients can access deeper cuts of the data, including norms for specific audiences, categories, channels, and formats. When scale allows (minimum of fifteen campaigns per cut), we provide tailored benchmarks that reflect the nuances of your media strategy.
What is the minimum sample required for reliable comparisons?
A benchmark requires at least fifteen campaigns to ensure statistical reliability. We also require representation across at least three distinct brands, with no single brand making up more than half of the dataset.
What should I keep in mind when interpreting benchmark numbers?
Benchmarks are summary statistics, not guarantees. Lift distributions are not normal, and both low performance (including results at or below zero) and outsized performance (two to three times above the benchmark) occur regularly. Benchmarks help you understand where your results sit relative to the market, but they cannot substitute for campaign-specific context.
How does DISQO measure the impact of advertising for benchmarks?
DISQO’s benchmarks are built on person-level, deterministic measurement. Millions of opted-in consumers share their opinions and digital behaviors, allowing us to isolate true ad exposure and connect it directly to attitudes and actions across channels.
What are Brand Lift and Outcomes Lift, and how do they work?
Both use a matched-control and exposed design:
- The exposed group includes people who demonstrably saw the ad.
- The control group mirrors that audience based on demographics and prior behaviors.
- Brand Lift reflects attitudinal changes measured through surveys.
- Outcomes Lift reflects behavioral changes observed during the campaign and seven days after.
- Lift is the difference between exposed and control.
This approach reveals the incremental impact of advertising with clarity and consistency.
How is incremental lift calculated for benchmarks?
Both use a matched-control and exposed design:
- The exposed group includes people who demonstrably saw the ad.
- The control group mirrors that audience based on demographics and prior behaviors.
- Brand Lift reflects attitudinal changes measured through surveys.
- Outcomes Lift reflects behavioral changes observed during the campaign and seven days after.
- Lift is the difference between exposed and control.
This approach reveals the incremental impact of advertising with clarity and consistency.
Why does DISQO use median rather than mean in benchmark calculations?
The median guards against skew. Ad lift distributions are not normal, and extreme highs or lows can distort averages. The median ensures benchmarks reflect a stable center point that marketers can rely on for comparisons.