150 - How to Track Marketing When Meta’s Reports Tell a Different Story

Sports Marketing Machine Podcast

Sports Marketing Machine Podcast
150 - How to Track Marketing When Meta’s Reports Tell a Different Story
Feb 06, 2026 Season 1 Episode 150
Jeremy Neisser

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If you’re spending money on Meta ads but don’t fully trust the numbers… you’re not crazy. In this episode, Jeremy Neisser breaks down why Meta’s reporting often doesn’t match ticketing reality—and what sports teams should track instead. You’ll get a simple, no-nonsense framework for measuring marketing performance using real revenue, not modeled guesses.

Key Topics Covered

  • Why Meta’s reports and your ticketing software rarely line up
  • What Conversion API (CAPI) actually does—and what it doesn’t
  • The difference between optimization data and reporting truth
  • Why your ticketing system and bank account are the real scoreboard
  • A simple framework to track marketing without attribution drama
  • New Customer Acquisition Cost (NCAC) explained for sports teams
  • How Average Order Value (AOV) and Revenue Per Buyer reveal buyer quality
  • Why judging ads every 48 hours leads to bad decisions
  • How to evaluate marketing weekly (and ROI monthly or by homestand)

Timestamps

  • 00:00 – Why teams don’t trust their marketing numbers
  • 02:16 – How this episode connects to Meta strategies & budget planning
  • 04:37 – How Meta actually matches purchases (and why it breaks)
  • 06:57 – CAPI helps optimization, not reporting accuracy
  • 09:18 – Meta is better at finding buyers than explaining them
  • 11:36 – Why attribution falls apart in real fan journeys
  • 12:04 – A simple, spreadsheet-level tracking framework
  • 13:58 – Measuring ROI the way owners and GMs actually understand
  • 16:11 – NCAC: the metric that removes attribution arguments
  • 18:31 – AOV vs. Revenue Per Buyer (offer strength vs. buyer quality)
  • 20:40 – What to stop over-obsessing about immediately
  • 23:00 – Final framework: delivery engine vs. scoreboard

Core Framework (This Is the Money Slide)

Use Meta as a delivery engine.
Use your ticketing system as the scoreboard.

Track:

  • Real ad spend (including agency fees)
  • Real ticket revenue
  • New Customer Acquisition Cost (NCAC)
  • Average Order Value (AOV)
  • Revenue per buyer
  • Repeat purchase behavior

Ignore:

  • Platform-specific ROAS arguments
  • Modeled attribution fights
  • Day-to-day emotional decision-making

Call to Action

If this episode helped you, share it with someone on your team. The fastest way to kill “marketing isn’t working” conversations is getting everyone to agree on one scoreboard—your ticketing data.

Links mentioned:

Sports Marketing Machine powered by Revelocity Sports 

Episode 135 - Simplest Way to Justify Your Marketing Budget

Episode 147 - Meta Ads Strategies That WORK in 2026

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Book a call with Jeremy from Sports Marketing Machine

Episode Artwork 150 - How to Track Marketing When Meta’s Reports Tell a Different Story 24:26 Episode Artwork 149 - What Is P-Max? (And When Agencies Use It to Hide Weak Strategy) 18:04 Episode Artwork 148 - Allocating Budget to Lead Generation 22:45 Episode Artwork 147 - Meta Ad Strategies That Work in 2026 17:18 Episode Artwork 146 - 13 Marketing Predictions for 2026 30:19 Episode Artwork 145 - Where I Was Right & Wrong On My Marketing 2025 Predictions 24:02 Episode Artwork 144 - 13 Marketing Lessons Learned in 2025 30:49 Episode Artwork 143 - The Experience Shift: How to Make Fans Choose You Over Everything Else 16:46 Episode Artwork 142 - How to Use Q5 to Sell More Tickets With Less Budget 14:39 Episode Artwork 141 - Pros/Cons of "Buy Out" Nights 18:38 Episode Artwork 140: The Mystery Pack Promo That Sold 700 Opening Day Tickets in November 27:10 Episode Artwork 139: What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)? 9:32 Episode Artwork 138: Community Survey vs. Fan Survey — The Value of Both 12:56 Episode Artwork 137: Make Your Black Friday Offer So Good Fans Feel Stupid Saying No 21:36 Episode Artwork 136 - Operational Efficiency Playbook: Getting 3% Better with Mike Van Hise 41:26 Episode Artwork 135: The Simplest Way to Build (and Justify) a Marketing Budget 18:48 Episode Artwork 134 - Single Game vs. Season Tickets : How to Move Fans Up the Ladder 24:58 Episode Artwork 133 - Pros/Cons of All-You-Can-Eat Ticket Plans 18:26 Episode Artwork 132 - The 35,000 Visitor Problem: Why More Traffic Can Tank Your Profits 21:25 Episode Artwork 131 – How Meta’s Advantage+ is Wasting Your Budget 15:20 Episode Artwork 130 - How Teams Can Use Nano Banana to Generate More Revenue 18:15 Episode Artwork 129 - How the Florida Everblades Grew Attendance by 27% with Adam Winslow 36:32 Episode Artwork 128 - 3 Changes with Meta That Affect Your Ads (and How to Sell More Tickets Anyway) 24:12 Episode Artwork 127 - 3 Marketing Lessons from Taylor & Travis (That You Can Steal for Your Team) 14:19 Episode Artwork 126: Service-First Selling: How the Texas Rangers Are Redefining Ticketing Success 46:06