Nearly 60% of marketers are under-investing in profitable channels because they need better measurement tools, Emarketer and AppsFlyer research reveals.
More than half (58%) of marketers are leaving potentially lucrative investments on the table because the channels in question require better measurement.
Research from Emarketer and Appsflyer has revealed that if marketers can’t prove a channel works, even if it reaches customers, then the channel goes “untapped”, and the brand misses out on potential revenue.
Marketers are not confident in their measurement abilities, and when asked to rate their confidence in attribution by channel (on a scale of 1-5), desktop and web advertising scored 3.6 and connected TV (CTV) achieved a 3.1.
Social media (50%) and CTV or streaming video (47%) were ranked as the primary blind spots for marketers.
The under-confidence continues when it comes to mobile advertising measurement with 93% of brand and agency leaders recognising the need for mobile-grade measurement. Around a quarter (24%) are actively working on this, alongside a further 23.6% who have at least partially applied these measurement approaches, and 14.7% have done so for most or all channels.
Adspend across mobile app installs and in-app both saw double-digit rises in 2024, and are expected to continue to see steady growth. In-app adspend saw a 16.9% rise in 2024, with 12.7% and 12% year-on-year (YoY) growth in 2025 and 2026.
The Emarketer and AppsFlyer research points to mobile as an example of measurement difficulties, with the vertical operating “under the most adversarial conditions” before it “built infrastructure to handle them,” said Ran Avrahamy, chief marketing officer at AppsFlyer.
This includes multi-methodology signal hierarchies, privacy-safe attribution, and fraud validation – all helping accurately measure when the environment limits what can be seen.
“Mobile apps operated under constraints that no other digital channel faced at the same intensity. The rising investment in this channel is proof that it’s working,” added Avrahamy.
Pressure to prove
Just under half of organisations (49.7%) reported being under significant pressure to demonstrate clear return-on-investment, with 29.9% under ‘extreme’ pressure.
Nevertheless, businesses are reluctant to invest in digital channels where outcomes aren’t easily provable.
Marketers are waiting for AI upgrades to help them with measurements, which could see underrepresented channels get a 5.6% bump in spend, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
There are AI tools currently available, but according to Emarketer and AppsFlyer report, marketers have concerns with the data quality (22%), explainability (18%), tool maturity (17%), and data standardisation (15%).
The tools themselves, however, are not seen as a problem with 41% of respondents saying they are ‘somewhat more confident’ in overall marketing measurement with the increased adoption of AI tools. And a further 19.1% said they were ‘significantly more confident’ that AI has made measurement clearer.
Marketers are losing out on potentially fruitful channels as they wait for AI measurement tools to mature, or to become a more reliable method of attribution.
Yory Wurmser, principal analyst, advertising, media and technology, EMARKETER, said: “Privacy regulations and a fragmented media ecosystem have made measurement more complex.
“Even when you can identify a user, it’s often hard to track them as they pass through a variety of touchpoints leading to an ultimate purchase.”
