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When the KPI is not revenue (total paid media contribution prior)
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When the KPI is not revenue, we recommend providing the value or an
estimate of revenue_per_kpi. Providing this means that incremental outcome is
in terms of monetary units (such as dollars), not KPI. Meridian defines ROI as
incremental outcome divided by spend. So when incremental outcome is in terms of
monetary units, ROI is a unitless quantity. This makes the default ROI priors a
reasonable choice for most use-cases.
However, sometimes there isn't a clear monetary unit associated with the KPI and
no reasonable revenue_per_kpi argument can be used. For example, the number of
free app installations where the lifetime value of an app installation isn't
known within a reasonable margin of error. In this scenario, we recommend using
custom priors. For more information, see Custom priors when outcome is not revenue.
If it is not possible to set a custom prior based on your use case, we
recommend using the default total paid media contribution prior.
When all of the following are true:
- The KPI is not revenue.
revenue_per_kpi is unavailable.media_prior_type is 'roi' and rf_prior_type is 'roi'.
The default ROI prior is not used and, instead, a common ROI prior is placed on
all channels such that the proportion of the KPI that is incremental due to all
paid media channels has a prior mean of 40% and standard deviation of 20%
(referred to as a "total paid media contribution prior"). In this case, ROI is
interpreted as incremental KPI units per spend unit. To set the prior mean and
standard deviation to something other than 40% and 20%, see Custom total paid
media contribution prior.
Note that Meridian will default to this
behavior when the KPI is not revenue and revenue_per_kpi is not set, so there
is no need to specify the ROI prior separately in the prior container. If a ROI
prior is explicitly set, then Meridian will use this over the default.
This "total paid media contribution prior" is not the same as channel-level
contribution priors. See
Set custom priors when outcome is not revenue
for a description of channel-level contribution priors.
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Last updated 2025-06-11 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-06-11 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eWhen the key performance indicator (KPI) is not revenue, providing a \u003ccode\u003erevenue_per_kpi\u003c/code\u003e estimate is recommended to express outcomes in monetary units for calculating a unitless return on investment (ROI).\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIf a monetary value for the KPI is unclear or unavailable, using custom priors is advised, especially in cases where a \u003ccode\u003erevenue_per_kpi\u003c/code\u003e is not applicable, like free app installations with unknown lifetime value.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhen the KPI isn't revenue, \u003ccode\u003erevenue_per_kpi\u003c/code\u003e is not available, and \u003ccode\u003epaid_media_prior_type\u003c/code\u003e is 'roi', a default "total paid media contribution prior" is used, setting a prior mean of 40% and standard deviation of 20% for the incremental KPI due to all paid media channels.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default total paid media contribution prior will be automatically used by the system when the KPI is not revenue and no \u003ccode\u003erevenue_per_kpi\u003c/code\u003e is provided unless a specific ROI prior is set.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["When a KPI is not revenue and `revenue_per_kpi` is unavailable, a \"total paid media contribution prior\" is used. This sets the incremental contribution of all paid media to have a prior mean of 40% and a standard deviation of 20% of the KPI. This assumes ROI is incremental KPI units per spend. Custom priors are recommended when no monetary value can be reasonably associated with the KPI. If custom priors are not used, then this prior will default.\n"],null,["# When the KPI is not revenue (total paid media contribution prior)\n\nWhen the KPI is not revenue, we recommend providing the value or an\nestimate of `revenue_per_kpi`. Providing this means that incremental outcome is\nin terms of monetary units (such as dollars), not KPI. Meridian defines ROI as\nincremental outcome divided by spend. So when incremental outcome is in terms of\nmonetary units, ROI is a unitless quantity. This makes the default ROI priors a\nreasonable choice for most use-cases.\n\nHowever, sometimes there isn't a clear monetary unit associated with the KPI and\nno reasonable `revenue_per_kpi` argument can be used. For example, the number of\nfree app installations where the lifetime value of an app installation isn't\nknown within a reasonable margin of error. In this scenario, we recommend using\ncustom priors. For more information, see [Custom priors when outcome is not revenue](/meridian/docs/advanced-modeling/unknown-revenue-kpi-custom).\n\nIf it is not possible to set a custom prior based on your use case, we\nrecommend using the default total paid media contribution prior.\n\nDefault total paid media contribution prior\n-------------------------------------------\n\nWhen all of the following are true:\n\n- The KPI is not revenue.\n- `revenue_per_kpi` is unavailable.\n- `media_prior_type` is `'roi'` and `rf_prior_type` is `'roi'`.\n\nThe default ROI prior is not used and, instead, a common ROI prior is placed on\nall channels such that the proportion of the KPI that is incremental due to all\npaid media channels has a prior mean of 40% and standard deviation of 20%\n(referred to as a \"total paid media contribution prior\"). In this case, ROI is\ninterpreted as incremental KPI units per spend unit. To set the prior mean and\nstandard deviation to something other than 40% and 20%, see [Custom total paid\nmedia contribution prior](/meridian/docs/advanced-modeling/unknown-revenue-kpi-custom#set-total-paid-media-contribution-prior).\n\nNote that Meridian will default to this\nbehavior when the KPI is not revenue and `revenue_per_kpi` is not set, so there\nis no need to specify the ROI prior separately in the prior container. If a ROI\nprior is explicitly set, then Meridian will use this over the default.\n\nThis \"total paid media contribution prior\" is not the same as channel-level\ncontribution priors. See\n[Set custom priors when outcome is not revenue](/meridian/docs/advanced-modeling/unknown-revenue-kpi-custom)\nfor a description of channel-level contribution priors."]]
