Meta Quietly Rolls Out New Incremental Attribution Setting

If you’re like me, you might have completely missed the quiet rollout of Meta’s new ‘incremental attribution’ setting. I stumbled across it without a single mention in Meta’s webinars, newsletters or even their product updates. For a feature this impactful, the silence is surprising, especially given how significantly it could reshape how we measure and optimise performance.

So, what is it?

Incremental attribution is Meta’s latest attempt to address the ever-present measurement challenge: how to more accurately quantify the true added value of your ad campaigns. Traditional attribution models (like last click or data-driven attribution) assign value based on deterministic user behaviour. In other words, what Meta can track and what it thinks drove the conversion. But with incremental attribution, Meta is promising to isolate causality. Essentially, it asks, “Would this conversion have happened without the ad?”

What We Know So Far

• It’s optional. The setting appears at the ad set level, giving advertisers a toggle to enable or disable incremental attribution. It’s not applied retroactively.
• It doesn’t replace lift tests. Instead, it offers an automated way to surface incrementality insights without running costly and time-consuming experiments.
• Reporting impact is subtle (for now). You’ll likely see differences in your attribution numbers depending on how often Meta deems conversions as “incremental”. This could lead to more conservative reporting, but also more honest performance narratives.
• Still in early stages. There’s no detailed documentation yet. Meta seems to be testing the waters before a wider communication push.

Why It Matters

In a world of diminishing tracking signals and increased scrutiny over media effectiveness, the promise of incrementality-based attribution is powerful. It forces us to rethink how we define success. Not just who saw the ad and converted, but who needed the ad to convert.

This also signals a larger trend. Meta is leaning more into causal modelling. We’ve seen this already with the growing importance of Conversion Lift and Geo Tests. Now, it’s creeping into day-to-day ad delivery.

More Efficient Budget Allocation

One of the most practical advantages of this update is how it can help allocate media budget more effectively. By distinguishing between conversions that would have happened anyway and those that were truly driven by your ads, incremental attribution reveals where your spend is actually making an impact.

Instead of optimising toward campaigns that generate the most volume, advertisers can shift investment toward those that drive real lift. That means:

• Reducing wasted spend on audiences that convert regardless of ad exposure
• Identifying undervalued campaigns that quietly contribute genuine incremental gains
• Making smarter trade-offs between upper and lower funnel activity based on actual influence

For performance marketers under pressure to defend budget and prove value, this new lens on attribution could be a game changer.

What Should You Do?

• Check your ad sets for the new attribution and experiment. Compare results with and without the setting.
• Communicate with clients and stakeholders about what these numbers mean. Especially if performance looks different.
• Push Meta for transparency. If this is the future of attribution, we need better guidance on how it’s modelled and how to trust it.

This could be one of the most meaningful updates to Meta Ads measurement in recent years. Not because it introduces flashy new features, but because it marks a fundamental shift in how we understand and value advertising impact. The release leaves many questions unanswered such as;

Will advertisers have access to any transparency or diagnostics on what’s deemed “incremental”? Could this become a new default setting in the future? And perhaps most importantly, will other platforms like Google, TikTok or Pinterest follow suit with their own causal attribution models?

For advertisers under pressure to do more with less, this shift couldn’t come at a better time. By focusing on real impact over inflated numbers, we gain the clarity needed to invest smarter, scale efficiently, and build campaigns that genuinely drive business growth.

Ready to spend smarter and scale better? Incremental attribution is just the start. Let’s work together to unlock the true potential of your media performance. Get in touch!