42 Marketing Attribution Statistics, Trends, and Data Points for 2026

Marketing attribution is the practice of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that influenced it. This briefing compiles verified statistics on attribution-model adoption, the shift from last-click to multi-touch measurement, the collapse of user-level tracking after the cookie reversals of 2024 and 2025, the resurgence of marketing mix modeling (MMM), and the persistent gap between marketers’ confidence in return on investment (ROI) and their ability to actually measure it. Every number below carries a year, a geography, and a named source, and vendor-reported or self-reported figures are flagged so editors can weigh them appropriately.

Executive Summary

• 84% of global marketers said they were extremely or very confident in their ROI measurement capabilities in the December 2023 survey wave, up from 69% a year earlier, yet only 38% measured traditional and digital marketing together holistically (Source: Nielsen, 2024 Annual Marketing Report, ~2,000 global marketers).
• 27.6% of US brand and agency marketers named marketing mix modeling the most reliable measurement methodology, and 46.9% planned to increase MMM investment over the next year (Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025).
• In the 2020 Demand Gen Report benchmark, single-touch last-touch (33%) and single-touch first-touch (29%) remained the most common B2B attribution methods, even though 43% of B2B marketers called multi-touch attribution important (Source: Demand Gen Report, Marketing Measurement and Attribution Survey, US, via Webbiquity).
• Google confirmed on July 22, 2024 that it would not deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome, then retired most Privacy Sandbox APIs in 2025, ending a six-year replacement effort (Source: Google Privacy Sandbox; Digital Commerce 360, 2024).
• The average marketing budget held at 7.7% of total company revenue in both 2024 and 2025, and 59% of CMOs reported insufficient budget to execute strategy in 2025 (Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey, global).
• 45% of organizations identified lack of expertise as a barrier to acting on MMM insights, and MMM leaders were nearly three times as likely as laggards to integrate MMM into decisions (Source: Harvard Business Review study sponsored by Google, via EMARKETER, 2025-2026).
• Digital channels accounted for roughly 61% of total marketing spend in 2025, up from a 50:50 traditional-to-digital split reported by Nielsen a year earlier (Source: Gartner, 2025; Nielsen, 2024).

Key Findings

• 84% of global marketers reported being extremely or very confident in their ROI measurement in the December 2023 wave, versus 69% in December 2022 (Source: Nielsen, 2024 Annual Marketing Report, global).
• Only 38% of global marketers evaluated the holistic ROI of marketing by measuring traditional and digital together in the 2024 report (Source: Nielsen, 2024, global).
• In the prior 2023 report, just under 70% of marketers believed they had the right technology to measure aggregate ROI, but per-channel confidence fell to 61% or lower, and to 49% for podcasts and 50% for connected TV (Source: Nielsen, 2023 Annual Marketing Report, global).
• 62% of marketers used multiple measurement tools for cross-media measurement in the 2023 report, complicating holistic measurement (Source: Nielsen, 2023, global).
• 27.6% of US brand and agency marketers rated MMM the most reliable measurement methodology in 2025 (Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025, US).
• 46.9% of US brand and agency marketers planned to increase MMM investment over the next year (Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025, US).
• Single-touch last-touch (33%) was the most common B2B attribution method, followed by single-touch first-touch (29%) (Source: Demand Gen Report, US, via Webbiquity).
• 43% of B2B marketers said multi-touch attribution is important, but reported struggling to measure it (Source: Demand Gen Report, US, via Webbiquity).
• 63% of B2B marketers struggled to measure and track activity between funnel stages, and 60% struggled to measure cross-channel and cross-campaign impact (Source: Demand Gen Report, US, via Webbiquity).
• The average marketing budget was 7.7% of total company revenue in 2025, unchanged from 2024, after dropping to 7.7% in 2024 (Source: Gartner, 2025; Gartner, 2024, global).
• 59% of CMOs reported insufficient budget to execute their 2025 strategy, down five points from 2024 (Source: Gartner, 2025, global).
• Digital channels represented 61.1% of total marketing spend in 2025 (Source: Gartner, 2025, global).
• Google announced on July 22, 2024 it would not roll out third-party cookie deprecation in Chrome, ending a five-year plan (Source: Digital Commerce 360, 2024).
• Google retired the Topics API, Attribution Reporting API, Protected Audience and most other Privacy Sandbox technologies in 2025, citing low adoption (Source: Google Privacy Sandbox, 2025).
• The UK Competition and Markets Authority reported that publisher revenue fell roughly 30% when using Privacy Sandbox tools instead of third-party cookies in 2025 testing (Source: AdExchanger citing the UK CMA, 2025, UK).

Attribution Model Adoption: Last-Click Versus Multi-Touch

Attribution-model choice reveals a gap between what marketers say they value and what they actually deploy. Multi-touch attribution (MTA) distributes conversion credit across several touchpoints, while last-click and first-click assign all credit to a single interaction. Survey evidence from B2B benchmarks shows single-touch models still dominating in practice.

Single-touch last-touch was the most common B2B attribution method at 33%, according to the Demand Gen Report Marketing Measurement and Attribution Survey (US, via Webbiquity). Single-touch first-touch followed at 29% (Source: Demand Gen Report). At the same time, 43% of B2B marketers called multi-touch attribution important but reported difficulty measuring it, a direct signal of the value-versus-execution gap. Ruler Analytics, an attribution vendor, reports on its own blog that 75% of companies use multi-touch attribution models and that 57.9% of marketers use an attribution software tool; both figures are vendor-published and self-reported, so treat them as directional rather than authoritative (Source: Ruler Analytics). The contradiction between Ruler’s 75% MTA-adoption claim and Demand Gen Report’s finding that single-touch models remain most common illustrates why vendor benchmarks and independent B2B surveys should not be pooled.

Measurement Challenges After the Cookie Reversal

User-level tracking has become less reliable as browsers restrict identifiers, and the anticipated cookie-replacement framework never arrived. This section documents the regulatory sequence and the measurement pain it left behind.

Google announced on July 22, 2024 that it would not deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome, reversing a plan first floated in 2019 (Source: Digital Commerce 360, 2024). In 2025, Google went further and retired most Privacy Sandbox APIs, including the Topics API and Attribution Reporting API, citing low adoption (Source: Google Privacy Sandbox, 2025). The UK CMA found publisher revenue dropped about 30% when Privacy Sandbox tools replaced third-party cookies in testing (Source: AdExchanger citing UK CMA, 2025). On the marketer side, 63% struggled to track activity between funnel stages and 60% could not measure cross-channel impact in the Demand Gen Report survey (Source: Demand Gen Report). The net effect is that cookies survived, but the ecosystem no longer trusts user-level attribution enough to rely on it alone.

The Resurgence of Marketing Mix Modeling

Marketing mix modeling uses aggregated, historical data and statistical modeling to estimate each channel’s contribution to outcomes. Because it does not depend on user-level identifiers, MMM is structurally suited to a privacy-restricted environment, which explains renewed investment.

27.6% of US brand and agency marketers named MMM the most reliable measurement methodology in 2025, and 46.9% planned to increase MMM investment over the next year (Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025). Adoption still faces execution hurdles: 45% of organizations cited lack of expertise as a barrier to acting on MMM insights, 51% of MMM leaders prioritized improving data quality versus 36% of laggards, and leaders were nearly three times as likely as laggards to embed MMM into decisions (Source: HBR study sponsored by Google, via EMARKETER). Note that this HBR study was sponsored by Google, a vendor of open-source MMM tooling, so the framing may favor MMM adoption. Gartner also observes that third-party data deprecation and open-source software packages have driven a surge in MMM providers, which can overwhelm CMOs choosing a vendor (Source: Gartner, Marketing Mix Modeling guide, 2025).

Confidence Versus Reality in ROI Measurement

The most consistent theme across independent surveys is a confidence-reality gap: marketers report high confidence in measurement while acknowledging they cannot execute holistic ROI evaluation.

84% of global marketers reported being extremely or very confident in ROI measurement in the December 2023 wave, a sharp rise from 69% a year earlier (Source: Nielsen, 2024). Yet only 38% actually measured traditional and digital marketing together (Source: Nielsen, 2024). The earlier report found per-channel ROI confidence at 61% or lower, dropping to 49% for podcasts and 50% for connected TV, and 62% of marketers juggling multiple measurement tools (Source: Nielsen, 2023). The rising headline-confidence figure alongside a flat 38% holistic-measurement rate suggests self-reported confidence outpaced measurement practice.

Budgets, Channels, and Spending Context

Attribution decisions do not happen in a vacuum; they are shaped by shrinking budgets and a digital-heavy channel mix that concentrates measurable spend online.

Marketing budgets held flat at 7.7% of company revenue in 2025, matching 2024 (Source: Gartner, 2025). 59% of CMOs reported insufficient budget to execute strategy in 2025 (Source: Gartner, 2025). Digital channels made up 61.1% of total marketing spend in 2025 (Source: Gartner, 2025). In the Nielsen 2024 report, marketers planned to allocate more than 63% of media spend to digital and 70% planned to prioritize performance marketing over brand building, while 72% expected bigger ad budgets, up from 64% year over year (Source: Nielsen, 2024). The Gartner and Nielsen budget-direction figures diverge partly because Gartner surveys CMOs while Nielsen surveys marketers managing budgets of $1 million or more, so the samples are not directly comparable.

Original Synthesis

The following insights are derived by the author from the cited public datasets. They combine figures that were not originally reported together, and their limitations are stated plainly.

1. The Confidence-Execution Gap (Nielsen)

Subtracting the holistic-measurement rate from the confidence rate in the Nielsen 2024 report yields a 46-point gap (84% confident minus 38% who measure traditional and digital together). Inputs: Nielsen, 2024. Limitation: confidence and holistic-measurement are distinct survey questions, so the gap is a directional indicator of over-confidence, not a precise measure of any single marketer’s behavior.

2. Confidence Rose Faster Than Practice (Nielsen year-over-year)

Headline ROI-measurement confidence rose 15 points year over year (from 69% to 84%) between the December 2022 and December 2023 waves, while the holistic-measurement behavior stayed anchored near the high-30s. Inputs: Nielsen, 2024 and Nielsen, 2023. Limitation: the two reports use similar but not identical question wording and samples of about 2,000 marketers each, so the year-over-year delta is best read as a trend, not an exact panel comparison.

3. Stated Value Versus Deployed Model in B2B (Demand Gen Report)

Although 43% of B2B marketers call multi-touch attribution important, a combined 62% still deploy single-touch models (33% last-touch plus 29% first-touch sum to 62% before accounting for overlap). Inputs: Demand Gen Report. Limitation: respondents may use more than one model, so the 62% single-touch figure is an upper-bound illustration of single-touch prevalence rather than a mutually exclusive share.

Data Tables

Table 1: ROI Measurement Confidence, Nielsen Year Over Year

Sources: Nielsen, 2023; Nielsen, 2024. Global marketers, ~2,000 respondents per wave.

Table 2: B2B Attribution Model Usage and Challenges

Source: Demand Gen Report Marketing Measurement and Attribution Survey, US, via Webbiquity.

Table 3: MMM Adoption Signals, 2025

Sources: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025; HBR study sponsored by Google.

Charts to Build

• Chart title: “Confidence Versus Holistic Measurement, Nielsen.” Data needed: 84% confident, 38% measure holistically. Source: Nielsen 2024. Insight: the 46-point gap. Citation-worthy because it visualizes over-confidence in one image.
• Chart title: “ROI-Confidence Trend, 2022 to 2023.” Data needed: 69% then 84%. Source: Nielsen 2023 and 2024. Insight: confidence rising faster than practice. Citation-worthy as a clean two-point trend.
• Chart title: “B2B Attribution Model Mix.” Data needed: last-touch 33%, first-touch 29%, importance of MTA 43%. Source: Demand Gen Report. Insight: single-touch still dominates. Citation-worthy for the value-versus-deployment contrast.
• Chart title: “MMM Investment Intent.” Data needed: 27.6% most reliable, 46.9% increasing investment. Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion 2025. Insight: MMM momentum. Citation-worthy as evidence of the resurgence.
• Chart title: “Digital Share of Marketing Spend.” Data needed: 61.1% (Gartner 2025), 63%+ planned (Nielsen 2024). Source: Gartner, Nielsen. Insight: measurable spend concentrating online. Citation-worthy for channel-mix context.

Simple inline bar chart, ROI-confidence versus holistic measurement (Nielsen, 2024 report):

Source: Nielsen, 2024 Annual Marketing Report.

Methodology

Sources were selected for verifiability and provenance, prioritizing independent survey publishers (Nielsen, Gartner, EMARKETER, Demand Gen Report) over vendor blogs. Each statistic was traced to a named publisher, year, and geography, and every claim was checked against a live URL retrieved during research. Vendor-reported and self-reported figures (Ruler Analytics) and sponsored studies (the Google-sponsored HBR MMM study) are labeled as such so readers can discount for bias. Conflicting numbers were not blended; where Ruler’s vendor claim of 75% multi-touch adoption contradicts Demand Gen Report’s finding that single-touch models remain most common, both are shown with the contradiction noted. Derived insights in Original Synthesis are arithmetic combinations of already-published figures, with their limitations stated. Figures that could not be traced to a primary or clearly-cited secondary source (for example, several MMM growth percentages circulating on marketing blogs, such as a claimed 212% year-over-year adoption increase and a 27% dual-model adoption figure) were excluded. Some Gartner press-release pages returned HTTP 403 to automated fetching; the Gartner figures used here come directly from Gartner’s own press-release titles and summaries surfaced in search. Date of last update: July 2026.

Source Quality

Tier 1 (primary and official bodies): Google Privacy Sandbox official blog; UK Competition and Markets Authority (as reported by AdExchanger).

Tier 2 (credible market research and trade surveys): Nielsen Annual Marketing Reports (2023, 2024); Gartner CMO Spend Survey (2024, 2025) and Gartner marketing surveys; EMARKETER with TransUnion; Demand Gen Report Marketing Measurement and Attribution Survey.

Tier 3 (reputable journalism and sponsored or vendor commentary): Digital Commerce 360; AdExchanger; Harvard Business Review sponsored content (Google-funded); Ruler Analytics (vendor, self-reported); Webbiquity (secondary summary of Demand Gen Report data).

Most Quotable Statistics

• “84% of global marketers said they were confident in ROI measurement, but only 38% measured traditional and digital together” (Nielsen, 2024).
• “ROI-measurement confidence jumped from 69% to 84% in a single year” (Nielsen, 2023 to 2024).
• “Single-touch last-touch, at 33%, is still the most common B2B attribution method” (Demand Gen Report).
• “46.9% of US marketers planned to increase marketing mix modeling investment” (EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025).
• “Publisher revenue fell about 30% under Privacy Sandbox tools versus third-party cookies” (UK CMA, 2025).

Data Limitations

Nielsen and Demand Gen Report samples differ (global marketers with $1M+ budgets versus US B2B marketers), so their figures are not directly comparable. Several widely-circulated MMM growth statistics could not be traced to primary sources and were excluded. Ruler Analytics figures are vendor self-reported. The HBR MMM study was sponsored by Google. Some Nielsen and Demand Gen figures come from the most recent report wave available at research time and may lag the current quarter. Gartner press-release pages were not machine-readable, so those numbers rely on Gartner’s own summaries as surfaced in search. Percentages across different surveys should not be summed.

Recommended Dataset Fields

For a downloadable CSV, include: statistic_name, value, unit, year, geography, publisher, report_name, source_url, source_tier, self_reported_flag, sponsored_flag, sample_size, notes.

Press Summary

Marketing attribution in 2026 is defined by a widening gap between confidence and capability. Nielsen found 84% of global marketers confident in their ROI measurement, up from 69% a year earlier, yet only 38% actually measured traditional and digital marketing together. In B2B, single-touch last-touch (33%) remains the most common attribution method even as 43% of marketers call multi-touch important, per Demand Gen Report. The measurement backdrop shifted twice: Google reversed third-party cookie deprecation in July 2024, then retired most Privacy Sandbox APIs in 2025, with the UK CMA reporting roughly 30% lower publisher revenue under the replacement tools. That signal loss has fueled a marketing mix modeling revival: 27.6% of US marketers now call MMM the most reliable methodology and 46.9% plan to increase MMM investment, according to EMARKETER and TransUnion. Budgets stayed flat at 7.7% of revenue, per Gartner, keeping measurement efficiency under pressure. See our research at CO Consulting for full context.

Suggested Headlines

• The 46-Point Gap: Why Marketing ROI Confidence Outruns Measurement
• Last-Click Refuses to Die: What B2B Attribution Data Really Shows
• After the Cookie Reversal, Marketing Mix Modeling Is Back
• 84% Confident, 38% Capable: The State of Attribution in 2026
• Flat Budgets, Fractured Measurement: Attribution Under Pressure

FAQ

How confident are marketers in ROI measurement?

84% of global marketers were extremely or very confident in the December 2023 wave, up from 69% a year earlier (Source: Nielsen, 2024).

What share of marketers measure ROI holistically?

Only 38% measured traditional and digital marketing together (Source: Nielsen, 2024).

What is the most common B2B attribution model?

Single-touch last-touch at 33%, followed by single-touch first-touch at 29% (Source: Demand Gen Report).

Do marketers value multi-touch attribution?

43% of B2B marketers said multi-touch attribution is important but reported struggling to measure it (Source: Demand Gen Report).

Did Google actually remove third-party cookies?

No. Google announced on July 22, 2024 it would not deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome (Source: Digital Commerce 360, 2024).

What happened to the Privacy Sandbox?

Google retired most Privacy Sandbox APIs, including Topics and Attribution Reporting, in 2025, citing low adoption (Source: Google Privacy Sandbox, 2025).

Is marketing mix modeling growing?

46.9% of US marketers planned to increase MMM investment, and 27.6% called it the most reliable methodology in 2025 (Source: EMARKETER / TransUnion, 2025).

What holds back MMM adoption?

45% of organizations cited lack of expertise as a barrier to acting on MMM insights (Source: HBR study sponsored by Google, via EMARKETER).

How much of marketing spend is digital?

Digital channels represented 61.1% of total marketing spend in 2025 (Source: Gartner, 2025).

What are marketing budgets as a share of revenue?

Marketing budgets held at 7.7% of company revenue in both 2024 and 2025 (Source: Gartner, 2025).

About This Research

CO Consulting is a research-driven growth-consulting firm publishing verified, journalist-citable data assets. If your team needs help translating attribution and measurement data into decisions, you can book a consultation.

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