Marketing ROI Benchmarks 2026: What's Good, What's Great, What's Broken

Everyone wants to know: "Is my ROAS good?" The honest answer is that it depends on about 15 variables. But benchmarks are still useful as sanity checks. If your Google Ads ROAS is 1.5x and the industry average is 5x, something is wrong. If your Meta ROAS is 3x and the average is 2.5x, you are doing fine.

Here are 2026 benchmarks based on aggregated MMM data, not platform-reported numbers. Platform-reported ROAS is typically 1.5-3x higher than MMM-measured ROAS because platforms over-attribute. These numbers reflect actual incremental returns.

ROAS Benchmarks by Channel (MMM-Measured)

Google Branded Search ROAS looks amazing because it captures people who already decided to buy. It is not really "generating" those sales. If you judge channel efficiency purely by ROAS, you will over-invest in brand search and under-invest in awareness channels that actually create the demand.

Benchmarks by Industry

SaaS looks great on ROAS because of high LTV. A $200 CAC on a customer worth $5,000 is a 25x return. But SaaS also spends more on marketing as a percentage of revenue because growth is everything in the subscription model.

Company Size Matters More Than You Think

Companies spending $50K-$200K/month on ads typically see 15-30% higher ROAS than companies spending $500K+. Why? Smaller companies have not yet saturated their best channels. They are still picking the low-hanging fruit in Google Search and Meta retargeting.

At $1M+/month, you are forced into upper-funnel channels (TV, YouTube, programmatic) where returns are inherently lower per dollar. Your blended ROAS drops even though your total revenue and market share grow. This is normal. It is not a sign of bad performance.

Why Benchmarks Can Mislead

A 3x ROAS means nothing without context. If your gross margin is 70% (SaaS), 3x ROAS is great. If your gross margin is 30% (e-commerce), 3x ROAS barely breaks even after fulfillment and overhead. The same number, two completely different situations.

Benchmarks also do not account for channel mix. A brand that is 80% branded search will have amazing blended ROAS. A brand that is 50% YouTube and TikTok will have lower blended ROAS but is building long-term demand. Comparing their numbers side-by-side is meaningless.

The right benchmark is your own historical data. Are you improving quarter over quarter? Is your marginal ROAS (on the last dollar spent per channel) above your profitability threshold? That is what matters. See how your channels stack up in a sample MMM report.