Google unveils Meridian, an open-source Marketing Mix Model

Google has announced the launch of Meridian, its open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM) designed to empower marketers and data scientists to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Meridian is now available to everyone, accompanied by a partner program featuring over 20 trained and certified measurement partners.

Meridian offers a transparent, innovative, and actionable approach to MMM, enabling businesses to better allocate budgets in today's complex marketing landscape. The platform has been rigorously tested with hundreds of brands globally, incorporating feedback to ensure its effectiveness and usability.

"At Finder, our mission is to help people make better financial decisions, and we apply that approach to everything we do – including our own marketing," said Jennifer Snell, GM Marketing & Loyalty, Finder. "With Meridian, we now have much more confidence in our ability to measure the impact of our investments. This has moved us from investing time and resources into creating linear regression models from scratch, to an agile, best-in-class solution that our team can still own and manage. The insights we've gained have reinforced the additional value that YouTube drives beyond what's visible with standard conversion tracking."

Modern MMM for Today's Consumer Journeys

In today's multi-channel world, consumers engage with brands across various platforms and devices. MMMs provide a crucial understanding of how marketing efforts translate into real business outcomes. Meridian leverages established methodologies for budget allocation, considering all aspects of a business, including external factors like seasonality, pricing, and economics. By relying on aggregated data, Meridian ensures privacy-centric measurement.

Key Features and Benefits of Meridian:

• Uncover the True Value of Performance Media: Access the MMM Data Platform, including core MMM data for Google media and value-add

dimensions like Google Query volume, for more accurate insights, especially regarding paid search performance.
• Customizable to Your Needs: As an open-source framework, Meridian offers full transparency and control. Modify the code and model parameters to fit specific business requirements.
• Accurate Budget Decisions: Analyze campaign performance based on relevant KPIs, including sales, website visits, profit, and conversions. Run multiple optimization scenarios and incorporate non-media variables like pricing and promotions.
• Reach and Frequency Redefined: Account for reach and frequency, not just impressions, to maximize the impact of video investments.
• Experiments as Powerful Priors: Integrate incrementality experiment results as priors, regardless of channel or experiment, for more accurate and aligned outcomes.

Partner Program and Availability:

Google is also launching a partner program with select agencies and measurement vendors trained on Meridian best practices. These partners offer support, guidance, and tailored measurement solutions. Partners like Analytics Edge are ready to help marketers maximize the benefits of Meridian.

"Analytic Edge is excited to apply our extensive MMM experience and to partner with Google on Meridian," said Santosh Nair, Founder & Director, Analytic Edge. "Meridian integrates technical innovations to assess the indirect impact of search on marketing channels in the consumer journey. It enhances the measurement of 'Reach' and 'Frequency' for YouTube campaigns, helping advertisers with campaign planning. The seamless integration with Google Marketing Data Platform boosts productivity in data processing and improves the accuracy of the data used in the model. Our collaboration on Meridian will help advertisers better understand the interactions between channels and improve their campaign strategies."

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