It's well known that the self reported performance numbers from Google Ads and Facebook Ads are inflated, however those ad channels still do drive real value. I

It's well known that the self reported performance numbers from Google Ads and Facebook Ads are inflated, however those ad channels still do drive real value. I run an ecommerce marketing attribution company (ThoughtMetric) so I have first hand knowledge and data about this subject. The most common source of inflation in Google/FB self reported performance numbers is multiple ad channels taking credit for the same order. If a customer clicks a Google ad then clicks a Facebook Ad then makes a purchase, each ad channel will claim credit for that purchase. In reality each ad platform only has claim to ~50% of the purchase (depending on what attribution algorithm you want to use). In terms of knowing that real value is produced from these ad channels, I see it every day in many of our customers data. Clients will increase or decrease ad spend and there will be a correlated increase/decrease in sales. tldr; Google/Facebook ads over report their numbers but do ultimately drive sales according to the data I have first hand access to.