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Card class: HeroCategory: Ad Platform

At a glance

StackAdapt-attributed conversion value, the revenue the StackAdapt pixel credits to clicks and (if configured) view-through events from your campaigns. DSP attribution is multi-touch by nature; this number includes view-through credit on CTV impressions, which most commerce platforms do not credit on their last-click side. Expect this number to be 1.5, 3× the UTM-tagged Shopify-source revenue.
What it countsRevenue attributed to StackAdapt-tracked conversion events within the configured attribution window (default 30-day click + 1-day view). Pulled from conversionsValue on reports/campaigns. Includes view-through where the campaign has view-through tracking enabled.
Cost basisNot applicable; this is the revenue side of the ROAS pair. The cost partner is Total Spend.
CurrencyAccount currency.
Conversion attributionClick-through default 30 days, view-through default 1 day (extendable to 7 days). CTV impressions only support view-through.
Attribution window30/1 default. CTV-heavy accounts should run 30/7 view-through for honest CTV crediting.
Bot / invalid trafficIVT-filtered conversions excluded; minor leakage <2%.
Time windowT/7D/30D vsP (default 30D vs prior 30D). 1, 4 hour ingest lag.
Alert triggerdrop >20% vsP. The two most common causes: (a) the StackAdapt pixel broke (check Clicks vs Conversions first); (b) BidCore shifted spend mix toward channels with weaker direct attribution (e.g. away from display retargeting toward CTV awareness).
Rolesowner, marketing, finance

Calculation

Calculated automatically from your StackAdapt data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

The same US homeware brand. The 30-day window is 02 Apr 26 to 01 May 26.
CampaignChannelSpend ($)Click-through revenue ($)View-through revenue ($)Total revenue ($)
Display ProspectingDisplay12,40038,2004,20042,400
CTV Awareness “Spring Living”CTV18,2000 (no clicks)28,40028,400
Native Article DistributionNative5,40014,8001,20016,000
Audio Spotify SponsorshipAudio3,2004,2008005,000
RetargetingDisplay + Video4,80022,4003,20025,600
Account total (this card)$44,000$79,600$37,800$117,400
Shopify-side total revenue for the same window: 612,000.Ofthat,UTMtaggedStackAdaptsourcerevenue:612,000. Of that, UTM-tagged StackAdapt-source revenue: 48,200. GA4 Paid Display + Paid Video attributed: 61,400.StackAdaptclaims61,400. **StackAdapt claims 117,400**; truth lies between Shopify’s 48kandGA4s48k and GA4's 61k. What the gap reveals:
  1. CTV view-through revenue ($28,400) is the biggest credibility wedge. StackAdapt credits view-through on CTV impressions; Shopify and GA4 give CTV essentially zero credit (no click event to track). If CTV is genuinely driving incrementality, the true contribution sits closer to StackAdapt’s claim. If it’s not (just brand exposure that doesn’t move the needle), Shopify’s UTM-truth is the honest number. The only way to know is incrementality testing (CTV holdout for 14 days vs control region).
  2. **Display click-through revenue (38,200)reconcilesmuchbetterwithGA4(38,200) reconciles much better with GA4** (25, 32k typical for display). The 20, 40% over-claim is the standard DSP attribution gap; manageable.
  3. Retargeting at 25,600revenueon25,600 revenue on 4,800 spend is the standout (5.33× ROAS). Cross-channel retargeting (display + video to existing site visitors) is StackAdapt’s sweet spot; this is what the platform is best at. Scale this campaign aggressively.
  4. Audio at 5,000revenueon5,000 revenue on 3,200 spend (1.56× ROAS) is borderline. Streaming audio is hard to measure; the $4,200 click-through revenue is suspect (audio rarely drives direct clicks). Likely some misattribution from cross-channel exposure being credited to audio. Treat as awareness only; do not budget for direct attribution from audio.
  5. The 30-day prior had $128,200 revenue; this window is down 8.4%. Spend up 21%, revenue down 8% = real efficiency erosion. BidCore is finding more impressions but at lower conversion rate; check audience freshness and creative fatigue.
Quick sanity tests:
  • Revenue up + spend up + ROAS flat = healthy scaling at constant efficiency.
  • Revenue down + spend up + ROAS dropping = scaling beyond efficient frontier.
  • Revenue down + spend flat + clicks unchanged = pixel is broken. Investigate before changing anything.
  • Revenue down sharply on CTV only = view-through window probably misconfigured to 1 day; should be 3, 7 days.
  • Revenue up sharply on display = BidCore likely found a strong audience; verify quality before scaling.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

CardWhy pair it with Total Revenue
StackAdapt Total SpendThe denominator pair. Revenue ÷ Spend = ROAS.
StackAdapt ROASThe headline efficiency reading.
StackAdapt Clicks vs ConversionsThe pixel-health canary. Clicks held while conversions cratered = pixel issue.
StackAdapt Revenue by CampaignChannel mix breakdown. Display retargeting often drives 40, 60% of revenue at <15% of spend.
StackAdapt Conversions TrendThe conversion-count side of revenue. Revenue down + conversions down = volume; revenue down + conversions held = AOV dropped.
The Trade Desk Total RevenueEnterprise DSP peer; comparable structural attribution behaviour.
GA4 Revenue by ChannelIndependent attribution check. GA4 Paid Display vs StackAdapt Backstage is the multi-touch reality check.
Shopify Total RevenueThe truth side. Real DSP contribution is much smaller than the DSP claims.

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in StackAdapt: StackAdapt → Reports → Campaigns → “Conversions Value” at account level. The footer total should match this card to within sub-percent rounding once ingest catches up. Other StackAdapt views that look similar:
  • Conversions (count only): number of conversions, not value. Distinct field; for ROAS use Conversions Value.
  • View-Through Conversions Value: subset of total. Toggle on/off depending on whether you want post-impression-only or total.
  • Per-Channel Revenue: revenue broken out by display/native/CTV/etc. Sum across channels matches account total.
Why our number may legitimately differ from StackAdapt’s UI:
ReasonDirectionWhy
Time zoneBoundary days offAccount time zone vs UTC. Marginal at 30D.
Real-time ingest lagCard slightly low for “today”1, 4 hour pixel-fire-to-report lag. Yesterday and earlier stable.
View-through window changesDirection dependsIf you changed from 1-day to 7-day view, the data reflows retroactively; this card matches whatever is currently configured.
CTV view-throughNoneBoth this card and StackAdapt UI use the same CTV view-through count.
Pixel deduplicationCard == StackAdaptStackAdapt dedupes pixel + server-side events by event_id.
Cross-connector reconciliation, the important one:
CardExpected relationshipWhat causes legitimate divergence
google_analytics.ga_revenue_by_channel(GA4 Paid Display + Video revenue) ≈ this card × 0.5, 0.7StackAdapt includes view-through; GA4 typically does not. CTV revenue is StackAdapt-only.
shopify.total_revenue(UTM-tagged StackAdapt revenue) ≈ this card × 0.3, 0.5Multi-touch attribution; CTV view-through never makes it into UTM truth. Use weighted blend (40% StackAdapt + 60% Shopify-UTM) for the CFO read.
the_trade_desk.the_total_revenueIndependent. If you run both, claims overlap on the same orders that touched both DSPs.Both DSPs claim view-through credit; do not aggregate by simple addition.
google_ads.gads_revenueDifferent ecosystem; no shared attribution.Search captures intent; programmatic seeds it. Different revenue claims, different orders.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why does StackAdapt say I’m at 117krevenuebutShopifysays117k revenue but Shopify says 48k? The DSP-attribution gap has three components:
  1. View-through credit. StackAdapt credits CTV and display view-through conversions; Shopify’s UTM truth credits only the last-paid-click. CTV view-through alone is $28k of the gap in our example.
  2. Multi-touch overlap. A user who saw a StackAdapt CTV ad on Tue, clicked Google Search on Sat, bought; StackAdapt claims it (within view-through window), Shopify credits Google Search.
  3. Pixel block + ITP. Some legitimate StackAdapt-driven conversions never reach the StackAdapt pixel due to ad-blockers and Safari ITP; StackAdapt under-counts here, but the over-claim from view-through dominates.
Practical answer: the “true” StackAdapt contribution sits between the two. Use a weighted blend (40% StackAdapt-claim + 60% Shopify-UTM) as a working figure, or run a CTV-specific holdout test (turn off CTV in one geo for 14 days vs control) for the cleanest measurement. My CTV revenue dropped 50% but I haven’t changed CTV spend, what happened? First check the view-through window setting. If someone shortened it from 7 days to 1 day, you just lost 60, 80% of CTV-credited revenue overnight. CTV view-through almost never converts within 24 hours; the realistic conversion lag is 3, 7 days. Restore the 7-day view-through and revenue should recover within 7, 10 days. My display revenue dropped 30% but spend is unchanged, what should I check first? In order of likelihood: (1) Pixel broke. Open Clicks vs Conversions. If clicks held but conversions cratered, the StackAdapt pixel stopped firing. (2) Audience freshness. BidCore exhausted the high-converting segment of your audience pool; revenue declines as it explores lower-CR placements. (3) Site change. New checkout flow, new domain; the pixel needs reconfiguring. (4) Creative fatigue. CTR drops typically precede revenue drops by 1, 2 weeks. Should I trust StackAdapt’s revenue claim for ROAS calculations? Within StackAdapt’s own walls, yes; the ROAS card uses StackAdapt-internal numbers consistently. For business-truth ROAS, discount the StackAdapt claim by 40, 60% to approximate Shopify-truth contribution. Better: run periodic incrementality holdout tests, particularly on CTV. Why is my retargeting revenue much higher than prospecting revenue at the same spend? Retargeting reaches users who already showed purchase intent; prospecting reaches users who haven’t. Conversion rates on retargeting are typically 3, 5× higher. The trap: retargeting at the expense of prospecting eventually starves the funnel. Healthy DSP accounts run a 70/30 prospecting/retargeting spend split (or 60/40 for high-AOV brands). My audio campaign reports clicks, but audio is non-clickable, what? Streaming audio platforms (Spotify, Pandora, Audacy) sometimes route through a companion banner that does have click events. The “clicks” StackAdapt reports for audio are companion-banner clicks, not audio clicks. They are real but rare; the bulk of audio attribution should be view-through. Can I trust the “today” revenue figure? Less than rolling 7-day. Today’s revenue is built from incomplete data: pixel ingest takes 1, 4 hours, view-through windows accumulate over multiple days. The 7-day rolling average is the actionable read. Why is my prospecting view-through revenue so high? Long view-through windows on display campaigns over-claim because users who would have bought anyway (for unrelated reasons) get credited to whichever campaign happened to show them an impression in the past 7 days. For honest prospecting reads, use click-through-only attribution (1-day view max) on display. Reserve longer view-through for CTV, where the click event genuinely doesn’t exist.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

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