90% of the clients already know their top marketing / media channels with out MMM. So why MMM?

One Interesting fact that we observed in all the MMM projects that we have delivered so far (almost 350+ Models) is that – Almost 90% of our clients had figured out what their top drivers of the KPI were !! It is characterized by high spends on this channel repeatedly.

I am sure other vendors and would have noticed the same too.

So the obvious question becomes:

If clients already know their top performing channels, why do they need MMM?

Ans: Because knowing ‘what works’ is very different from knowing ‘how much it works’.

Most teams arrive at their top channels through experience, intuition, observing competitors and trial and error. They know which channels move the needle. What they don’t know is:

▪️How much each channel truly contributes
▪️Whether the contribution justifies the spend
▪️Where diminishing returns actually begin

This is where MMM becomes useful.

MMM quantifies the extent of contribution and this naturally brings us to saturation curves.

If you observe, the lead channel/s always are always larger, its scale is larger, its impact more visible, and it often appears to reach a clear plateau before others.

Which leads to an another important question:

Should you continue operating near the saturation point of your lead channel?

The answer is a bit grey and nuanced.

📌 Scenario: The lead channel does most of the heavy lifting

If the lead channel drives the majority of revenue, conversions, or leads and alternative channels show weaker ROAS or marginal ROAS, then operating close to the plateau can still be rational.

Yes, marginal returns are declining. But the absolute contribution remains high.

Reducing spend purely because marginal efficiency drops can be dangerous if other channels are not strong enough to compensate for the lost volume.

As I often say:
“Revenue gives you a fighting chance to have profit.”

If you pull back too aggressively from the lead channel, revenue can fall faster than efficiency improves and weaker channels rarely fill that gap immediately.

MMM just points you to where saturation exists. It is up to the vendor and client to make a nuanced decision based on business reality.