1.86: the median platform-reported ROAS across about 35,000 ecommerce brands in 2025. Whether that number is a win or a slow bleed depends entirely on your margin. The table below has the industry medians. The math below the table tells you what yours has to beat.
Triple Whale · Full year 2025 · About 35,000 brands · Updated April 2026
| Industry | Median ROAS | Median CPA | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| All industries (median) | 1.86 | $38.19 | Triple Whale |
| Automotive | 2.54 | $34.15 | Triple Whale |
| Sports and outdoors | 2.28 | $43.89 | Triple Whale |
| Travel accessories and luggage | 2.25 | $48.37 | Triple Whale |
| Apparel and accessories | 2.18 | $36.76 | Triple Whale |
| Home and garden | 2.18 | $46.46 | Triple Whale |
| Baby | 2.17 | $30.04 | Triple Whale |
| Toys, art and collectibles | 1.93 | $34.87 | Triple Whale |
| Lifestyle and boutique | 1.93 | $29.99 | Triple Whale |
| Electronics | 1.92 | $49.48 | Triple Whale |
| Books and music | 1.65 | $30.25 | Triple Whale |
| Pets and animals | 1.58 | $38.18 | Triple Whale |
| Beauty | 1.57 | $37.92 | Triple Whale |
| Food and beverage | 1.56 | $38.15 | Triple Whale |
| Health and wellness | 1.50 | $38.55 | Triple Whale |
| Media and publishing | 1.17 | $33.78 | Triple Whale |
Methodology: the figures on this page are published industry aggregates from the named source, not Raintree client data. Triple Whale ROAS is the median platform-measured return on ad spend across roughly 35,000 ecommerce brands for calendar year 2025, last updated April 2026. The 2024 median was 1.84, so the year-over-year change was about 1.3%. ROAS is only published for ecommerce; we found no equally rigorous public ROAS dataset for lead generation, so we publish none rather than pad the table.
ROAS is the most quoted and most misread number in paid social. Three things make benchmark comparisons treacherous. First, attribution: Ads Manager ROAS moves 30 to 50% just by switching between 7-day click and 1-day click windows, and no benchmark discloses every contributor's settings. Second, margin blindness: revenue divided by spend says nothing about what the revenue cost you. Third, incrementality: platform-attributed revenue includes orders you would have gotten anyway, so reported ROAS runs higher than true ROAS almost everywhere.
That said, the table is useful directionally. A 1.86 median with a 20% CPM increase behind it (2025 auction inflation) tells you the platform still works and got harder. The industry spread, 1.17 to 2.54, tracks AOV and purchase intent: automotive and outdoor gear carry high order values, while media subscriptions fight for small first transactions.
First confirm it is real: check attribution windows, view-through settings, and whether platform revenue reconciles with your backend. If it holds, you are likely underspending. A 4.0 ROAS at $5K monthly spend usually means profitable demand you are not buying. Scale until marginal ROAS approaches your breakeven, not until the average falls to it.
Diagnose in order: tracking (our free audit takes 20 seconds), then landing page conversion rate, then offer, then creative fatigue, then audience breadth. And before any of that, know your breakeven. The calculator gives you breakeven ROAS, breakeven CPA, and a profit-based target from two inputs. A 1.9 ROAS below a 2.5 breakeven is an emergency. The same 1.9 above a 1.67 breakeven is a scaling signal. The benchmark table cannot tell those two stores apart, which is why the margin math comes first.
1.86 median across about 35,000 ecommerce brands in 2025, up from 1.84 in 2024 (Triple Whale). Half of brands sit below that line. Industry medians range from 1.17 for media and publishing to 2.54 for automotive. These are platform-attributed figures, so they overlap with revenue you would have earned anyway.
One above your breakeven, which is 1 divided by your contribution margin. A 40% margin store breaks even at 2.5, so the 1.86 industry median would lose it money on every order. A 60% margin store breaks even at 1.67 and profits at the same 1.86. The benchmark cannot tell you whether you are profitable. Your margin can. Our breakeven calculator does the math in five seconds.
In Triple Whale's 2025 dataset: automotive at 2.54, sports and outdoors at 2.28, travel accessories and luggage at 2.25, and apparel plus home and garden at 2.18. The lowest was media and publishing at 1.17, the only category below 1.5. Higher-AOV, higher-consideration products tend to post higher ROAS.
Attribution settings. Ads Manager ROAS depends on the attribution window (7-day click versus 1-day, view-through on or off), and platform-attributed revenue includes some orders that would have happened anyway. Benchmarks from analytics platforms measure with their own models, which rarely match your settings. Compare trends against your own history and validate against blended revenue, not platform numbers alone.
We build Meta ad systems around margin math, not dashboard ROAS: creative tested at volume, spend paced to unit economics, and measurement that reports profit. Start with the free tracking audit or bring your account to a call.