The news: Google partnered with TransUnion to use the credit agency’s multi-touch attribution (MTA) to directly tie YouTube ad exposure to measurable outcomes and evaluate performance. TransUnion will be YouTube’s only MTA provider for marketers on YouTube.

The partnership fleshes out YouTube’s performance marketing capabilities as multiple platforms rush to meet marketer demand for clear ROI.

Zooming out: Google isn’t alone in its performance marketing push. At Upfronts earlier this month, multiple streaming services made improved measurement, automation, and targeting capabilities lynchpins of their pitches to advertisers. Social media firms like Reddit are targeting performance marketing budgets, and new entrants to the ad scene like OpenAI are coming out of the gate with performance marketing features.

What’s driving performance demand? Pressure on gas prices and grocery costs from the Iran war, the Trump administration’s tariff policies, high interest rates, and inflation are limiting consumers’ buying power and causing brands to reassess marketing budgets. These macroeconomic conditions typically lead to deprioritizing branding campaigns in favor of channels that demonstrate clear money-out, money-in outcomes.

This dynamic can be seen in our 2025 tariff scenario forecasts. Our heavy tariff scenario shows ad spend growth declines across channels, but social media and retail media spending would be hit especially hard due to their association with branding campaigns and direct links to consumer spending, respectively. These figures suggest a move away from channels with a less-clear return on investment.

Implications for marketers: A tightening economy with little relief in sight will continue pushing both marketers and platforms deeper into performance marketing as brands look for ways to make their limited dollars travel farther.

Search marketing is typically associated with lower CPMs than more “premium” channels like streaming, providing Google with some cushion as the economy worsens, but fleshing out performance capabilities across its ad surfaces will help it maintain its lead as competitors flood into the sector.