Play the long game, it also boosts short term results
- samkarow
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
‼️Performance reporting can be dangerously misleading.
Not because the data is wrong, but because the measurement window is too short.
If we only optimize what happens immediately, we undervalue what happens weeks and months later. This is especially common in paid search, where short attribution windows can hide long-term effects and push budgets in the wrong direction.
Two blind spots drive this:
1️⃣ Short-term optimization can leave major value unmeasured
Google × WARC research finds that marketers focused primarily on short-term performance gains may miss up to half of total potential returns. This creates a gap where real impact is happening, but performance reports fail to capture it.
When pizza chain Domino’s shifted their YouTube strategy to run brand awareness campaigns concurrently with performance campaigns they identified a 45% increase in overall ROI from the video platform. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/marketing-strategies/video/dominos-media-mix-modelling-youtube-ads
2️⃣ Most media ROI happens after the typical attribution window
Nielsen long-term studies commissioned by Google show returns in the first 4 months are roughly equal to returns generated in the following 20 months (the 4/20 rule). See the first image below.
And when measurement expands to include those sustained effects, outcomes look completely different. WARC research shows average short-term profit return on investment is 1.87X ROAS, but rises to 4.11x ROAS once long-term effects are included.
-> Better measurement does not just change the report. It changes the decisions.
When teams only measure what happens immediately, they systematically underinvest in what drives compounding returns. A performance mindset is still important, but it needs a measurement system to capture the full value of media over time.
This is the lens we use at Effective when building media performance reporting: Helping teams set the right attribution horizon and measure paid search impact in a way that supports both efficiency today and growth over time.
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