ROI Calculator: Proving Decentralised Worth

When I  set out to write this article I just wanted to tell people why Alkimi is unlike the traditional Media buying framework that they are used to. But a conservation with a friend in the Industry turned it on its head. What’s the point of explaining the same thing, can you break down the nos, can you give me a framework that I can take to my CMO to explain Alkimi. Here’s to me optimistically, hoping that all you advertising number crunchers are able to use this framework to make your media buying experience less prickly. 

The Uncomfortable Truth About Your Media Buying

Every time a CMO conducts a marketing budget audit the results should make them physically sick. In a full audit of their $12M (example) annual programmatic spend, they will learn that only $2.6M actually reaches the consumers. The rest? Vanished into a labyrinth of intermediaries, fraudulent inventory, and "tech fees" that nobody can properly explain.

The programmatic advertising industry has become a masterclass in creative accounting, where success is measured by how effectively costs can be hidden rather than how efficiently media budgets are deployed. But here's what's fascinating, the brands figuring this out first are gaining competitive advantages that will take their rivals years to match.

The smartest marketers have stopped asking "Does this new technology work?" and started asking "Can we afford to keep feeding the intermediary machine while our competitors build direct, transparent infrastructure?"

The $2.3M Question Every CMO Is Asking

"Show me the numbers." That's what procurement teams demand when you're proposing a shift from traditional programmatic to decentralised Ad infrastructure. Fair enough but most ROI calculations miss the hidden costs that are bleeding your campaigns dry.

Here's the framework smart buyers are using to quantify the true value of eliminating ad tech intermediaries.

The Traditional Programmatic Cost Stack (Reality Check)

Before calculating savings, let's map where your budget actually goes in traditional programmatic:

For every $100 you allocate to media buying:

• $33 disappears to intermediaries (DSPs, SSPs, ad servers, data providers)

• $15 goes to "tech fees" (often bundled and opaque)

• $8 lost to fraud (conservative industry estimate including MFAs)

• $12 eaten by viewability issues (ads served but never seen)

• $32 reaches working media (what actually drives performance)

That's a 68% tax on your advertising investment before you even consider creative production costs.

Here's the thing that keeps agency finance directors awake at night: they're trapped in a system where they can't prove their value because they can't prove their costs. When clients ask "Why did my $100K campaign only generate $40K in attributed revenue?", the honest answer is often "Because $60K disappeared into black boxes we don't control." This infrastructure shift isn't just about cost savings but about survival in an era where client transparency demands are escalating.

The Decentralised Infrastructure ROI Framework

Primary Savings Calculator

Step 1: Calculate Your Intermediary Tax

• Annual programmatic spend: $________

• Multiply by 0.43 (intermediary fee rate): $________

• This is your annual intermediary tax

Step 2: Fraud Elimination Value

• Annual programmatic spend: $________

• Multiply by 0.08 (fraud rate): $________

• This is your fraud tax recovery

Step 3: Transparency Premium

• Current programmatic CPM: $________

• Transparent infrastructure CPM discount: 15-25%

• Annual impression volume: ________

• Monthly savings calculation: $________

Advanced ROI Metrics

Campaign Velocity Improvement Traditional programmatic setup: 5-7 days average Decentralised infrastructure: Same-day activation Time-to-market advantage: 85% faster campaign launches

Attribution Accuracy Gain Traditional cross-platform attribution accuracy: 65-70% Blockchain-based attribution: 98%+ accuracy Impact on budget allocation decisions: Quantifiable

Real-World Benchmarking Data

Agency Case Study: $500K Monthly Spend

Traditional Stack Annual Costs:

• Media buying: $6,000,000

• Platform fees: $720,000

• Additional tech stack: $180,000

• Fraud losses: $480,000

• Total annual cost: $7,380,000

Decentralised Infrastructure Annual Costs:

• Media buying: $6,000,000

• Platform transaction fees(3-8%): $300,000 (5%) 

• Total annual cost: $6,300,000

Annual savings: $1,080,000 (15% of total spend) ROI on infrastructure switch: 720%

Brand Case Study: $2M Quarterly Campaigns

Quarterly comparison across 4 campaigns:

Traditional programmatic:

• Working media delivered: $1,760,000

• Hidden costs: $640,000

• Performance metrics: Baseline

Decentralised infrastructure:

• Working media delivered: $1,920,000

• Transaction costs: $100,000 (5% Avg)

• Performance lift: 22% improvement in ROAS

Quarterly value gain: $140,000 in additional working media + 22% performance improvement

The most revealing moment comes when you show these numbers to your board. Suddenly, questions shift from "Why are we considering new technology?" to "Why haven't we done this already?" One UK retail CMO put it perfectly: "I spent three years optimising campaign creative to improve ROAS by 5%. This infrastructure change delivered 22% improvement in six weeks. I wish someone had shoved these numbers in my face sooner."

And because I clearly know adoption does not happen overnight, I have designed a Risk Mitigation Approach for you to further propel your case. This approach designed on a pilot programme structure to help you create own comparison metrics.

Pilot Programme Structure:

• Month 1: 10% of spend through decentralised infrastructure

• Month 2: 25% allocation (performance comparison)

• Month 3: Scale based on performance data

• Risk exposure: Limited to pilot allocation

CFO-Level Questions This Addresses

"What's our cost per acquisition impact?" Average CPA improvement: 18-25% due to fraud elimination and fee reduction

"How does this affect our agency relationships?" Agencies maintain their strategic role while achieving better client outcomes and margin improvement

"What's the competitive advantage timeline?" Early adopters are seeing 12-18 month market advantage before competitors catch up

"Where's the catch?" Implementation requires technical integration (2-4 weeks) and team training (ongoing)

The Bottom Line for Decision Makers

The question isn't whether decentralised infrastructure delivers better ROI but whether you can afford to keep subsidising intermediaries while competitors gain cost and performance advantages.

Smart procurement teams are running these calculations now, before budget planning season forces rushed decisions.

Ready to run your specific numbers?

Connect with our team for a customised ROI analysis based on your actual spend and performance data. You can write to us at sales@alkimi.org

Your ROI Calculation Worksheet

Current Annual Programmatic Spend: $________

Hidden Cost Recovery:

• Intermediary fees (43%): $________

• Fraud losses (8%): $________

• Viewability waste (12%): $________

• Total recoverable: $________

Performance Improvement Value:

• Current ROAS: ________

• Projected improvement (20%): ________

• Additional revenue: $________

Implementation Investment:

• Technical integration: $________

• Team training: $________

• Total investment: $________

Net 12-Month Value: $________ - $________ = $________ ROI Percentage: _______%