A Local Guide to Market Mix Modeling (MMM)

Getting the most from your media mix is one of the most persistent challenges in marketing, and one of the hardest to prove without the right tools. The IAB New Zealand Data, Privacy & Measurement Council has developed a local guide to Market Mix Modeling (MMM) with contributions from local industry experts. It covers what MMM does and doesn't do, whether it's the right approach for your organisation, and provides a step-by-step guide to getting started - built for the New Zealand market.

Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) uses historical data to quantify the contribution of each channel to business outcomes, accounting for external factors like seasonality, pricing, and competitor activity. It works without cookies or user-level tracking, which means it runs on data you already own and keeps working as privacy regulations tighten.

But applying MMM in New Zealand comes with its own considerations. Our market is smaller, data volumes are lower, and local seasonality like Matariki, the Christmas and New Year shutdown, and school holiday cycles affect categories in ways that offshore templates don't account for. New Zealand linear TV inventory is also finite, which changes how saturation curves behave. And in a market where budgets are modest relative to the complexity of the media mix, knowing which channels are genuinely driving results matters more, not less.

The good news is that local capability has grown significantly. A generation of New Zealand practitioners have built models in this market, and open-source tooling has brought MMM within reach of mid-sized brands that would have been priced out a decade ago.

This guide draws on the experience of local industry experts and we would like to thank them for their contribution:

Simon Bird, Partner Strategy & Measurement Lassoo

Christophe Spencer, Head of Digital MBM

Vernon Dmonte, Senior Intelligence Lead MBM

Thank you to the members of the IAB New Zealand Data, Privacy & Measurement Council’s Measurement Working Group for their contribution to this resource:
Susan Benseman, Head of Media & Marketing Performance, ANZ
James Cartwright, Sales Director ANZ & Country Manager NZ, Azira
Emily Isle, Chief Digital Officer, MBM
Qassem Naim, Founder Team Circle | Data, Privacy & Measurement Council Chair
Sarah Vosloo, Head of Digital Performance, Spark Foundry

Download the guide below.