Meta ROAS: benchmarks and the attribution window
Two ad sets, the same revenue, two different ROAS figures in the report. That is not a bug. It is a setting: the attribution window decides which conversions get counted at all. How far it moves the number is below, next to industry medians from more than 40,000 stores. For the calculation without any platform quirks attached, use the ROAS calculator.
Pre-filled with figures typical of Meta
ROAS
—
Conversion value ÷ spend
As a percentage
—
The same figure written as a percentage
Enter the revenue twice, once with and once without view conversions. The gap is the part that hangs on the attribution window.
What is a good ROAS on Meta? Why the medians sit below Google
Medians across more than 40,000 stores, measured over twelve months. They sit consistently below the Google Ads figures, and that is not a verdict on quality: Meta creates demand, Google harvests it.
| Industry | Median ROAS | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| Sports & outdoors | 2.35x | +5.0% |
| Business supplies | 2.34x | +16.6% |
| Travel accessories & luggage | 2.28x | +0.8% |
| Home & garden | 2.25x | +6.0% |
| Baby | 2.25x | +4.2% |
| Apparel & accessories | 2.24x | +4.8% |
| Lifestyle & boutique | 2.04x | +9.7% |
| Toys, art & collectibles | 1.95x | +2.0% |
| Electronics | 1.94x | −1.3% |
| Books & music | 1.65x | +2.4% |
| Medical devices & equipment | 1.63x | +7.4% |
| Food & beverage | 1.61x | +7.1% |
| Pets & animals | 1.60x | +2.5% |
| Beauty | 1.54x | −3.6% |
| Health & wellness | 1.44x | −8.5% |
| E-learning & online courses | 1.19x | −5.8% |
| Media & publishing | 1.13x | −3.1% |
Twelve of the seventeen industries improved year on year, business supplies by over sixteen per cent. The same dataset shows the opposite pattern on Google. Either way, the floor that matters is your own: at a 40 % margin a Meta ROAS has to clear 2.5x before anything is earned, and the break-even ROAS calculator works that line out for your margin.
The attribution window, and what it does to your ROAS
Meta counts a conversion only if it happens inside a set time window after contact with the ad. You set the window at ad-set level. The documentation names three kinds:
- Click-through: events within one or seven days of a link click.
- View-through: events within one day of an impression alone.
- Engage-through: events within one day of an interaction that was not a link click, which for video includes five seconds of playback.
Watch what that does to the arithmetic. The revenue on top is not your shop's revenue, it is the revenue the chosen window manages to collect. Switch view-through on and purchases from people who merely saw the ad start counting too. The denominator does not move, the numerator grows, the reported ROAS climbs. Not one extra unit was sold.
Which is why Meta's own help centre states that ad sets using different attribution models cannot be compared in the campaign overview. Each model counts differently. Check the window before comparing periods.
And it did change, widely. The default for newly created ad sets used to be seven-day click plus one-day view; it is now seven-day click on its own. Accounts built before the switch kept their old setting. So an older account can report a structurally higher ROAS with nothing running better.
Comparing this against other channels rarely works cleanly. Google Ads builds on conversion values you report yourself and wants the target as a percentage, which the Google Ads ROAS calculator unpicks. Amazon does not report ROAS at all and works in ACOS.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a good ROAS on Meta?
- Medians across 40,000+ stores run from 1.13x in media and publishing to 2.35x in sports and outdoors, well below the Google figures in the same dataset. Your margin still decides: break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ gross margin, and only above it does the campaign earn anything.
- Why does my ROAS change when I switch the attribution window?
- Because the window decides which conversions are counted at all. A wider window collects more purchases while the spend stays put, so the reported ROAS rises without a single extra sale. Narrow it, drop view conversions, and it falls again.
- What is Meta's default attribution setting now?
- Seven-day click for newly created ad sets. It used to be seven-day click plus one-day view, and older ad sets kept their setting. That is why ROAS figures from different accounts, or from periods far apart, only compare once you know the setting behind them.
- Can I compare Meta ROAS with Google Ads ROAS?
- Only with care. Each platform counts by its own rules, and both will claim the same conversion when a customer arrived through both. For the whole picture the marketing efficiency ratio works better: it puts total revenue against total ad spend and needs no attribution at all.
Background & sources
- Median ROAS by industry, measured across more than 40,000 stores over a twelve-month period: Triple Whale – «Facebook Ad Benchmarks by Industry».
- The three attribution settings with their time windows, and the note that different attribution models are not comparable: Meta Business Help Centre – «Attribution models and attribution settings».