Skip to content
LEAR
Back to calculations
Return on Ad Spend illustration

Marketing · Return

Return on Ad Spend

Preview

Run any calculator free during your 14-day trial. Subscribe to save deals, export one-click PDF reports, and keep your full project history.

Subscribe to unlockCompare plans

Run any calculator free during your 14-day trial. Subscribe to save results, export branded reports, and sync across web and mobile. Billing via PayPal.

Use return on ad spend to measure how much revenue each advertising dollar brings back, a quick read on whether a campaign is profitable.

Browse all calculators

Interactive workbench

Campaign payback

Revenue from AdsAd Spend

$10,000 of revenue from $2,000 of ad spend is a 5x ROAS.

Step 1 of 3

Variables and units

  • Revenue from Ads

    Revenue attributed to the ads.

    currency

  • Ad Spend

    Amount spent on the ads.

    currency

Common mistakes

  • Using profit instead of revenue.
  • Mismatching the revenue and spend windows.

Step-by-step example

Campaign payback

  1. 1. Start with the example inputs

    • Revenue from Ads$10,000
    • Ad Spend$2,000

  2. 2. Apply the formula

    Revenue from AdsAd Spend

  3. 3. Run the numbers

    5

    $10,000 of revenue from $2,000 of ad spend is a 5x ROAS.

What this result means

A ROAS of 5 means each dollar of ad spend returned that many dollars of revenue. Revenue is not profit: a campaign needs ROAS above your breakeven point (driven by margins and other costs) before it adds money. Many merchants treat somewhere around 3–4x as a working floor, but your margin structure sets the real bar.