Also known as: ROAS, Advertising ROI, Return on advertising spend
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures the gross revenue a campaign generates for every dollar spent on advertising. Expressed as a ratio or percentage, it is the core efficiency metric a media buyer uses to decide whether a traffic source is worth scaling. A ROAS of 300% (or 3:1) means each $1 of spend returned $3 in revenue.
For a Forex affiliate, the revenue side is the commission the broker pays, whether a fixed CPA per funded trader or a share of the trader's generated spread and fees. ROAS compares that commission directly against the ad cost that produced it, isolating the health of the paid-media channel from the rest of the business.
It is deliberately narrow. ROAS looks only at gross campaign revenue over direct ad spend; it ignores software, hosting, staff, and the broker's clawback terms. That makes it a fast in-campaign signal but a poor final profitability verdict, which is why disciplined partners pair it with true ROI and, for revenue-share deals, with lifetime value.
The practical challenge in brokerage is timing. A CPA affiliate can read ROAS within days, but a revenue-share partner earns as the referred trader stays active over months, so early ROAS understates the real return and should be tracked as a cohort matures.
You attribute the revenue a campaign produced (CPA commissions or accrued revenue share) back to the exact ad spend that generated it, usually via tracking parameters, postback URLs from the broker's affiliate platform, and an analytics or tracker layer. Dividing attributed revenue by spend gives ROAS.
Accuracy depends on clean attribution: matching each funded trader to the click, campaign, and creative that delivered them. For revenue-share models you measure ROAS by cohort over time, because a trader acquired today keeps generating (or stops generating) commission for months, changing the number long after the ad ran.
Log exact ad cost per campaign, ad set, and creative so revenue can be matched to the right source.
Use the broker's postback or S2S tracking to tie each CPA payout or revenue-share accrual to the originating click.
Divide attributed revenue by ad spend for each campaign to get its ROAS as a ratio or percentage.
Break ROAS down by source, geo, and creative to find where the money truly performs.
For revenue share, re-measure each acquisition cohort monthly so ROAS reflects matured trader value, not just day-one commissions.
Why it matters for partnership: ROAS tells an IB whether paid traffic earns more in broker commissions than it costs to buy. A durable ROAS above 200% is the green light to scale spend, drive volume, and deepen a profitable partnership; a weak one flags a funnel or offer to fix before scaling.
An affiliate spends $1,000 on Facebook ads and earns $3,000 in CPA commissions from the referred traders who funded accounts, a ROAS of 300%, or $3 per $1 spent. On a revenue-share deal the same $1,000 might show only 120% ROAS in month one but climb past 400% by month four as the acquired traders keep trading.
| Aspect | ROAS | ROI |
|---|---|---|
| Numerator | Gross campaign revenue | Net profit after all costs |
| Costs counted | Ad spend only | Ad spend + software, staff, overhead |
| Break-even | 100% | 0% |
| Use | Fast in-campaign signal | True business profitability |
For revenue-share offers, judge ROAS by acquisition cohort over several months, not on day-one commissions, or you will kill campaigns that are actually profitable once traders mature.
Evaluating ROAS too early on revenue-share models is misleading, because a trader's real value builds over months of activity, so you may cut a winning campaign before it pays out.
It varies by model and overhead, but a ROAS above 200% is generally seen as strong because it comfortably covers direct costs and associated business expenses.
ROAS compares gross revenue to ad spend only; ROI compares net profit to all business costs. ROAS is a fast channel signal, ROI is the true profitability verdict.
Divide the revenue attributed to a campaign by that campaign's ad spend, then multiply by 100 for a percentage. A break-even campaign returns 100%.
Revenue share accrues as traders stay active over months, so early ROAS understates the return; measure the same cohort over time before judging it.
No. ROAS ignores software, staff, and overhead, and brokers may apply clawbacks, so a high ROAS can still sit alongside thin or negative net profit.
Use a tracker that ingests each broker's postback data and normalises spend and revenue by campaign so you can compare ROAS on a like-for-like basis.