The 8-month arc · May 2025 engagement → CTV Aug 11 2025 → Apr 2026.
The feedback loop was disconnected. The way they measured success was wrong. Acquisition strategies were hitting diminishing returns. Spend climbed +64% MoM yet new-customer CAC blew +55% and one-time CAC blew +142% - Meta CAC held flat at $138 and that was the headline they were tracking. The composed view told the truth: the system needed a strategic pivot.
Operating model reframe delivered. “It was never a Meta problem. It was a mix problem.” Audit → align → bridge. Cash-view (CFO) and accrual-view (CMO) reconciled in one operating model. Vendor measurement became a guide, not a gospel. Triangulation replaced single-source decisioning.
Phase 1 hero · Aug 11 – Oct 5 2025. Halo-forward CAC compressed from a $42.69 pre-CTV baseline to $32.58 over 8 weeks (−24%). Phase 2 (Oct – Dec, 9 weeks of holiday brand-layer cuts) drifted to $41.70. Phase 3 (Dec – Mar, 16 weeks, brand-layer restored at 40% intensity) settled at $40.20. Every week of the 33-week arc held below the pre-CTV baseline. MER trajectory aligns with brand-converted demand landing in highest-retention cohorts.
Where the lift shows up.
The proof TV is working. TV is unclickable, so the human response shows up downstream - in brand search, direct visits, organic, and conversion paths. Visible in GA4 within 48 hours of meaningful spend changes. This is the layer CFOs trust because they can validate it without our tools.
Lift by channel · TV-flight window vs TV-dark baseline
Method: rolling 14-day partial correlation between TV spend and downstream channel revenue, controlled for seasonality + promo cadence. When TV ramps, brand search + direct + Pmax should follow within 5-21 days depending on the channel's natural lag.
AEO / GEO surface rate · 12 weeks · LLM brand visibility
Weekly query batch hits gpt-4o + Claude Sonnet 4.6 + Perplexity sonar with 30-40 brand-relevant prompts. Tracks brand mentions + citations in LLM outputs. Rising surface rate = brand discoverability is improving in AI-powered search. Weekly query batch hits gpt-4o + Claude Sonnet + Perplexity sonar-pro with ~30 brand-relevant prompts; local Ollama parses brand mentions + citations from each response. Cost: ~$40-55/mo per brand for the LLM API calls (in v1 ship per strategic roadmap).