How much revenue are your platforms claiming?
Enter what each ad platform reported for a period, and the revenue you actually recorded for the same period. The comparison takes thirty seconds and runs entirely in your browser.
Three reasons the totals disagree.
Each platform credits itself with the same sale
A customer who clicks a Google ad, later sees a Meta remarketing ad, and then purchases will typically appear as a conversion in both platforms’ reporting. Add the platform numbers together and the total routinely exceeds the revenue the company actually recorded. Both platforms are reporting accurately against their own definition of a conversion.
Attribution settings flatter the reporter
Attribution windows set how long after an ad interaction a sale still counts. View-through conversions credit ads that were only displayed. Both are configured inside each platform. Widen the window and reported performance improves with no change in the business.
Privacy changes made the numbers modelled
A meaningful share of conversions never reaches the platforms as observed events, and the platforms fill the gap with statistical modelling. Modelled figures can be reasonable estimates. They are not records, and you cannot audit them from the dashboard that displays them.
Whatever your ratio, the response is the same reconciliation. Compare the platform reports against the revenue line, check the definitions underneath them, and decide which number the business runs on. Done independently, that work is an independent marketing audit.
The methodology, and the four questions to ask next.
Asked before typing numbers in.
Is anything I enter stored or sent anywhere?
The calculation runs entirely in your browser, and the revenue figures never leave the page. If you request the emailed report, the contact details on that form are transmitted. If you tick the box, the single calculated percentage goes with them so the guidance can be written to your result. Nothing else is sent.
Does a ratio above 100% mean a platform is lying?
No. The overlap is structural: each platform answers “what revenue did ads on my platform touch?”, and several platforms can truthfully touch the same sale. A ratio above 100% tells you the reports need reconciling.
What does it mean if my platforms claim less than I recorded?
Usually under-tracking: conversion signal lost to privacy changes or tracking gaps. It can also be revenue arriving through channels the platforms never see, such as organic, direct, referral and repeat customers. It is worth understanding either way, because budget decisions lean on these numbers.
Where should the “actual revenue” figure come from?
Your source of truth: the accounting system or the revenue line the board sees, for the same period as the platform figures. The comparison only means something when both sides cover the same dates.
Let’s talk about what’s next.
For executive advisory, fractional CMO, AI search strategy or speaking enquiries.
sam@sampark.com.au