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What is ROAS?

Return on Ad Spend

ROAS (return on ad spend) is the ratio that shows how many units of revenue each unit of currency spent on advertising brings in.

FormulaROAS = revenue from ads ÷ ad spend

A ROAS of 3 means every $1 spent on ads brought in $3 of revenue. On its own it does not show profitability: it is calculated before product cost, shipping and returns are deducted.

For revenue to be measured, the site has to report the purchase event to the ad platform (pixel). Without that report, ROAS cannot be calculated.

In 14ads

  • We do our own calculation first (revenue read from the platform ÷ spend); if the revenue field does not arrive, the purchase ROAS reported by the platform is used.
  • If revenue is not measured, ROAS is shown as “—”, not “0”: “no sales” and “sales not tracked” are not the same thing.

How the engine uses this metric from ad production to publishing is on the how it works page; credits and plans are on the pricing page.