Ep 605: Meta Attribution Change – Why ROAS Dropped 40%

Ep 605: Meta Attribution Change – Why ROAS Dropped 40%

From DTC Podcast by DTC Newsletter and Podcast

April 24, 2026 · 25 min

About this episode

Chris Richards discusses the impact of Meta's attribution change on ROAS and how brands can adapt their strategies.

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Meta changed attribution in March — and suddenly every brand’s ROAS looks worse. Chris Richards from Pilothouse breaks down what actually happened, why performance appears to have dropped 30–45%, and how brands should respond without damaging long-term growth. For DTC founders and operators scaling from $5M–$50M who rely on Meta as a core channel. In this episode: What Meta’s attribution change actually did Why social proof no longer shows up the same way How to interpret rising CPA and falling ROAS Why MER is a better north star right now The risk of over-retargeting after performance dips Who this is for: DTC founders, CMOs, and media buyers trying to make sense of Meta performance What to steal: Shift from ROAS to MER as your primary KPI Keep funding top-of-funnel even when numbers look worse Use consistent attribution (MTA) to guide spend decisions Timestamps 00:00 Meta attribution change explained 02:00 Click vs engaged attribution breakdown 04:00 Impact on ROAS and CPA metrics 06:00 Social proof and ad performance insights 08:00 Why engagement optimization can backfire 10:00 Importance of multi-touch attribution…

People in this episode

Guest: Chris Richards

Topics covered

  • Meta attribution change
  • ROAS
  • DTC marketing
  • performance metrics
  • multi-touch attribution
  • advertising strategy

Keywords

  • Meta
  • ROAS
  • CPA
  • MER
  • DTC founders
  • attribution
  • advertising performance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta, Pilothouse, DTC Newsletter

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