TransUnion Analysis Reveals Massive Performance Gap Between Best and Worst Audience Targeting Decisions

Core Insights - The analysis from TransUnion indicates that sophisticated targeting choices can significantly enhance return on ad spend (ROAS), with potential upsides reaching up to 9x [1][4][8] - The study reveals a performance gap based on audience targeting, where audiences with two optimal traits yield a 3.6x ROAS, and those with three optimal traits yield a 7.2x ROAS [2][4] - Conversely, sub-optimal targeting decisions can lead to severe declines in performance, with mistargeted campaigns experiencing a -90% ROAS [3][4] Targeting Analysis - The analysis evaluated 26 targeting attributes across six categories, including age, income, and neighborhood type, demonstrating that even minor variations can lead to significant changes in ROAS [6][10] - Marketers are encouraged to move beyond broad assumptions and explore precise combinations of targeting attributes to maximize performance [7][8] Methodology - The findings are based on Q4 2024 campaign data from 25 brands across five industries, analyzing a total spend of $1.5 billion and over 18.4 billion events across various media channels [10]