The attribution solution: Eleven ways publishers can demonstrate impact to advertisers

Published: 23 Feb 2026

How do you prove the ROI on advertising? Premium publishers are increasingly looking beyond CTR and impressions in order to demonstrate the value of advertising in premium environments. But demonstrating attribution – and making sure your claims are bullet-proof – is a challenge in and of itself.

We’ve gathered expert advice from across the digital publishing industry to help you show your advertising partners where their money is going – and exactly how and why it’s delivering against their desired outcomes.

Prioritise impact, not just reporting metrics.

Publishers demonstrate attribution by proving impact, not just reporting metrics. The most credible way to do this is through controlled testing: holdout groups, matched-market comparisons, and brand or conversion lift studies that show measurable uplift. Beyond testing, publishers must reduce noise in their supply, so performance is consistent and explainable. Clearly packaged inventory, transparent quality standards, and stable signals help buyers understand what drove results. When performance can be repeated and verified, scepticism decreases. Attribution stops being a claim in a report and becomes evidence that advertising on premium publisher environments delivers real business outcomes.

Ronan Murphy, Country Manager UK, Pubstack

Demonstrate causality by triangulating proof points.

Scepticism around attribution often comes from over-reliance on last-click metrics and opaque reporting. Publishers can rebuild trust by focusing on evidence and demonstrating causality rather than simply claiming credit.

Start with the quality of exposure. Ads placed in trusted, relevant contextual environments tend to drive stronger attention and memorability, leading to more meaningful brand lift, which can be validated through incrementality testing and media mix modelling.

Publishers should triangulate proof: exposure data, attention metrics, and independent measurement. Comparing exposed and control audiences, and linking uplift to trusted environments, makes the impact more visible and credible.

Ben Pheloung, General Manager, Mantis

Focus on metrics that track brand building.

Attribution is about the distribution of credit. Who is most important when we buy something? Is it the shop designer who put the product right in front of us? Or is it the cashier that we gave our money to? Is it the promotion that told us the product is a good deal right now. Or is it maybe the persistent building of a brand that made the choice between competing products rather easy after all?

In this list everyone deserves credit. Premium publishers are especially good at helping the brand-building. Without it, competing brands will snatch most of the consumers’ money anyway.

This means publishers must demonstrate how brand awareness, consideration, preference and intent can be attributed to campaign exposure in their environment. They always win at this game. Others win at clicks, conversions, cheap ad inventory. But these things don’t mean much if other brands have made choosing them easier.

Anders Lithner, CEO, Brand Metrics

Combine robust data practices with transparent reporting.

In recent years, much of the industry’s ad spend has migrated to walled gardens. These platforms offer ease of scale; broad audience reach and the ability to link campaigns to business outcomes – often facilitated by persistent IDs. However, this convenience comes with a cost – limited transparency and platforms marking their own homework.

To win back sceptical advertisers and redirect spend from walled gardens to premium publisher environments, publishers must prove clear links between ad spend and business outcomes.

This requires a data-driven and transparent approach using first-party data, privacy-safe tools (like clean rooms), and clear attribution methodologies.

Demonstrating incrementality, ROI, and campaign success through detailed reporting, A/B testing, and case studies will build advertiser trust and show tangible performance impact. Ultimately, combining robust data practices with transparent reporting is key to proving advertising effectiveness and sustaining advertiser investment.

Catherine Murray, Head of Partner Services, Utiq

Champion incremental lift over passive metrics.

Attribution scepticism stems from a reliance on flawed signals. To restore buyer confidence, UK publishers must champion incremental lift over passive metrics. True value is found in the multi-touch journey: how big-screen storytelling builds a brand’s foundation, high-impact outstream video captures active attention within quality journalism, and native recommendations can nudge that primed audience toward action.

By measuring the cumulative effect across these touchpoints - rather than siloed clicks - we prove that premium editorial environments are the primary engine for growth in a post-cookie world. Success lies in proving that the media placement itself was the catalyst for the result.

Kyle Staib, Head of Publisher Partner Management, Northern Europe, Teads

Run controlled experiments to quantify true lift.

Publishers can move the conversation from reporting clicks to proving incremental business impact. This means combining transparent data, robust testing, and clear storytelling around outcomes. First, align on an attribution model upfront (e.g., multi-touch or data driven) and ensure the advertiser can see how your inventory contributes across the funnel, not just on last click. Provide placement-level reporting, audience insights, and path-to-conversion views that show where your environments introduce, nurture, and close users. Second, run controlled tests: A/B or holdout experiments that compare exposed vs unexposed users to quantify true lift in conversions, revenue, or brand metrics. Even simple “ghost ad” or PSA tests can isolate incremental impact and turn opinion into evidence.

Third, package the results the right way: cost per incremental action, uplift vs baseline, and how reallocating budget into your properties improved overall ROAS, not just your own numbers. Finally, encourage independent verification through third party measurement and be open when results are mixed; this builds trust and longer-term partnerships.

Jason Iliou, Regional Publisher Director, EMEA at Taboola

Move beyond last click metrics to connect impressions to advertiser outcomes.

Attribution has long been contentious, particularly when advertisers rely on last click metrics that undervalue quality environments. Publishers can build trust and credibility by reframing the conversation around incrementality - measuring what actually changes as a result of exposure. By resolving digital and offline identifiers (such as IPs, hashed emails, or name/ address) into a single, privacy safe identity spine, publishers can connect impressions to advertiser first party data, third party transactional data, or sentiment outcomes. This enables robust exposed vs. control testing, demonstrating genuine lift over inferred performance. Proven incrementality - underpinned by robust identity resolution – offers the clearest evidence to sceptical clients that publisher media drives real business impact.

Danny Holmes, Consulting Partner, Media & Agency, Experian

Agree measurement frameworks with advertisers in advance.

Publishers can build attribution credibility through open and honest communication on audience makeup, inventory type, and brand metrics to set realistic expectations with Advertisers. As deterministic attribution remains structurally limited, publishers can alternatively demonstrate effectiveness through case studies conducted with advertiser clients. Sharing consistent, clearly defined performance data and agreeing on measurement frameworks in advance helps cultivate long-term advertiser relationships and reduces scepticism around the true impact of publisher media.

Thuy Ho, Senior Sales Manager, Relevant Digital

Bring performance, amplification, and brand lift into one reporting view.

Attribution becomes much easier to defend when everything is reported together. Instead of chasing last-click ROI, publishers should be able to show who they reached, how people engaged with the content, and what changed for the brand as a result.

When content performance, amplification and brand lift all sit in one reporting view, you can clearly demonstrate how your publisher environment has built attention, consideration and intent before conversion.

That’s what sceptical clients really need to see, proof that your environment and content moved their audience along the path to purchase. Framing attribution around effectiveness, not just efficiency, allows publishers to compete on their real strengths.

Tom Gunter, Co-Founder & Director of New Markets, Avid Collective

Incorporate attention metrics alongside core quality metrics.

It takes more than clicks to earn advertiser trust and spend – it also takes data. Core quality metrics like viewability, brand suitability and fraud and IVT are the minimum of expectations. They give buyers a clearer view of publisher inventory, establish premium value, and empower publishers to earn more of what their ad space is worth.

Incorporating attention metrics can make an even bigger impact. Publishers can use attention to showcase their engaged audiences and demonstrate a higher likelihood of positive outcomes. When combined, both quality and attention metrics can help publishers position themselves, not only as effective partners to their buyers, but as active contributors to their growth.

Anya Libova, Senior Publisher Sales Director, DoubleVerify

Help advertisers target their audience in the domains where they’re already active.

Last-touch attribution is a flawed measurement method that does not show the real impact of advertising on high-quality inventory. Instead of chasing a DSP metric over which they have little influence, premium publishers should demonstrate impact to their advertising clients in different ways.

At Anonymised, we are launching 'Audience Connections': a way for advertisers and publishers to see the overlap between their respective audiences. Advertisers can see the domains where their customers spend time, while publishers learn which brands their audiences are mostly connected with. Audience Connections provides a different way for publishers to demonstrate their value and to sceptical clients - one that focuses on the affinity with the brand's customers instead of obsessing over the last click.

Mattia Fosci, Founder & CEO, Anonymised