How Cint and Roblox measure full-funnel outcomes

Connecting brand lift and sales lift with unified outcomes measurement

Marketers are under intense pressure to show that advertising doesn’t just change minds, but actually gets customers to open their wallets. Historically, though, they’ve had to contend with the fact that brand lift and sales lift have been treated as siloed metrics, each with their own sets of methodologies, sample sources, and post-campaign reports. The emergence of outcomes measurement has changed all of that. 

By connecting hearts to wallets, outcomes solutions (like the one offered in Lucid Measurement) mean that choosing between brand health and sales performance is a thing of the past.

One organization already benefiting from this shift is gaming platform Roblox. A recent webinar hosted by AdExchanger saw Allison McDuffee (Head of Global Brand Insights & Measurement at Roblox) join Cint’s Olivia Arty (Senior Account Executive, Measurement) for an enlightening session that explored how immersive 3D environments on Roblox drive measurable consumer shift and how unified, in-flight measurement provides CFO-ready proof of campaign impact.

The webinar can be viewed in full here, but we’ve also pulled out some key takeaways, including a beta outcomes case study with Sam’s Club, from the conversation.

What is outcomes measurement and why does it matter?

The webinar began with a summation of what we’re actually talking about when we talk about measuring outcomes. 

Arty stated that at Cint, “We think of it as bringing together sales and brand lift in one holistic view.” 

We do this by pairing insights derived from consumer surveys with real-world financial transactions, allowing brands to assess the impact of ad campaigns on the hearts and wallets of the customers they’re trying to reach.

Read more about our outcomes solution here.

How advertiser expectations are shifting from brand awareness to bottom-line results

Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, Arty asked McDuffee to break down how advertiser expectations have evolved over the past year. What are brands actually looking for today when partnering with a platform that reaches 123 million daily users?

“C-suites have stopped accepting the top-of-funnel sentiment with a focus solely on brand awareness, and every marketer now feels that pressure,” McDuffee said. “Their dollars need to move real spend, not just change attitudes.”

“C-suites have stopped accepting the top-of-funnel sentiment with a focus solely on brand awareness, and every marketer now feels that pressure. Their dollars need to move real spend, not just change attitudes.”

Allison McDuffee
Head of Global Brand Insights & Measurement, Roblox

She also noted that over the past few years there’s been a shift in what brands want when partnering with Roblox. Whereas it used to be a case of working on a “cool” activation or picking up some press, core metrics like conversion rates and purchase intent have also found a place at the table. 

“We’ve been so fortunate to partner with Cint for the past two or so years, and we’ve had great success measuring our media products and our ad products, but also on our immersive experience and in-game ad integrations. It made sense that outcomes would be the next step.”

The ongoing partnership means that for marketers working on cross-platform campaigns, Roblox is as measurable as any other channel. 

How outcomes measurement tracks ad impact in 3D spatial platforms like Roblox

For the uninitiated, Roblox is an immersive gaming platform that enables users to discover online games while doubling as a creation tool for developers.

As brands increasingly build presences in these virtual spaces, measuring campaign impact across metrics becomes a unique challenge. 

Arty wanted to know where traditional 2D digital measurement models fall short in interactive, 3D spatial experiences like Roblox, and how having access to a unified outcomes measurement solution helps bridge that gap.

“Digital measurement was initially built for the flat world on your screen,” McDuffee began. “Then it evolved to your mobile phone, then to the world of the scroll. Many people still receive content like that, but Roblox has a totally different vocabulary. Those 123 million daily average users are spending 2.6 hours a day there interacting with friends and interacting with brands.”

The infrastructure and methodologies Roblox initially applied to brand awareness and brand sentiment measurement has been instrumental in moving down the funnel and proving the sales lift of campaigns running through the platform. 

“Seeing everything in that single view is a beautiful thing,” McDuffee said. “You don’t have to wait weeks for a report to arrive in your inbox.”

When it comes to assessing the impact of the partnership between Cint and Roblox, the numbers speak for themselves: for 18-to-24-year-olds, Roblox drives a brand consideration lift that’s 5.4 times higher than the Lucid benchmark, and for the coveted 25-to-34-year-olds, brand favorability lift is eight times our benchmark. 

Arty also wanted to know that in a world where full-funnel measurement is finally possible, what conversations are opening up for the Roblox team, and what verticals are leaning into it the fastest. 

With the holidays somehow just round the corner, McDuffee said retail partnerships are top of mind on this front. 

“Holidays are when spend lift is worth the most. Now we’re able to truly prove that all-important Q4 spend, and we can do that while we’re heading into annual negotiations around what we can measure for partners in 2027.”

Turning Roblox engagement into revenue

A common misconception in digital advertising is that immersive platforms like Roblox only reach young children — an audience who lack buying power. In reality, internal audience data shows that approximately one-third of Roblox users are over 18 years old. These active adult users possess real purchasing power and interact directly with brands on the platform.

To test whether this engagement drives actual commerce, Roblox partnered with Sam’s Club on a beta outcomes measurement study. Sam’s Club sought to reach younger target audiences in interactive gaming environments while answering whether in-game ads directly translate to real-world store sales.

The verified study confirmed that exposed cardholders spent 17.7% more than the matched control group. Beyond overall sales lift, the campaign drove a 6% increase in conversions, an 8% rise in average order value, and a 3% boost in repeat purchase frequency.

Exposed cardholders spent 17.7% more than the matched control group

Why outcomes measurement transforms internal budget conversations for brand teams

The arrival of a fully functional outcomes-based approach to media measurement means brand teams have more access than ever to accurate deterministic spending data. Arty was curious to know what the impact of this was on internal conversations that said teams have. 

McDuffee asserted that it fundamentally changes who a brand team gets to talk to. 

“For years a brand marketer or a brand manager was out there defending their investment choices; they were really just armed with brand awareness and brand familiarity and brand consideration metrics, which can fall flat. A spend lift gives brand teams a language that other people already speak.”

Historically, measurement projects rank the risk of slowing things down. “You might not get results back until four weeks later, and by that time the dollars are already allocated,” McDuffee said. “That’s not a fault of the brand or the investment teams, but now we can actually be part of conversations much, much sooner.” 

Start measuring outcomes with Cint today

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