Definition
Channel99 is a B2B performance marketing and attribution platform that measures how digital marketing investments perform at the account level across channels, vendors, and campaigns. It uses a proprietary verification pixel, account identification, and analytics to connect off-site engagement (ads, content, email, CTV, etc.) with on-site behavior and downstream pipeline outcomes in CRM and other systems.
The platform focuses on providing a single source of truth for B2B marketing performance by revealing the real source of “direct” web traffic, benchmarking channels and vendors, and surfacing optimization recommendations using AI.
How Channel99 relates to marketing
For B2B marketers, Channel99 sits in the analytics and attribution layer of the martech stack. It connects media, web analytics, and CRM data to show reach, engagement, and conversion for target accounts across channels, including paid media, social, video, email, and other digital assets.
Because it operates at the account level rather than the individual level and does not rely on cookies, it is aligned with account-based marketing (ABM) and with privacy-conscious measurement practices. The platform is also designed to bridge marketing and finance by tying marketing activity to financial outcomes such as pipeline and revenue contribution and by highlighting inefficiencies in spend.
How to calculate Channel99-related metrics
Channel99 itself is a software platform rather than a single metric, but it is used to calculate a set of performance and financial indicators for B2B marketing, including:
- Reach by target account
- Definition: Number or percentage of in-segment accounts that have been exposed to campaigns across channels (impressions or views at account level).
- Calculated by counting unique accounts detected by the verification pixel and account identification technology across all touchpoints in a time period.
- Engagement by target account
- Definition: Depth and frequency of interaction from accounts with ads, content, and the website (views, clicks, time on site, repeat visits, content consumption).
- Calculated by aggregating account-level engagement signals from off-site assets (tagged with the verification pixel) and on-site behavior.
- Verification and targeting efficiency
- Definition: Share of impressions or engagements that come from in-target accounts vs. out-of-segment audiences.
- Calculated by dividing verified in-target account engagement by total measured engagement.
- Cost per pipeline opportunity
- Definition: Marketing spend required to generate a qualified opportunity or a defined pipeline stage, measured at account level.
- Formula (example):
Cost per pipeline opportunity =
Total marketing spend in period
÷
Number of opportunities created from influenced accounts
- Return on marketing investment (ROMI)
- Definition: Financial return attributable to marketing-program-influenced pipeline or revenue compared with marketing cost. PR Newswire+1
- Formula (example):
ROMI = (Attributed revenue − Marketing cost) ÷ Marketing cost
The value of Channel99 lies in its ability to calculate these metrics consistently across vendors and channels using a unified verification and account ID approach.
How to utilize Channel99
Common ways B2B organizations use Channel99 include:
- Account identification and “dark funnel” visibility
- Deploy the account ID technology on the website to deanonymize a larger share of traffic and attribute visits to specific companies. Channel99 claims to identify more than twice as many accounts as legacy providers.
- Verification pixel for cross-channel measurement
- Place the verification pixel into ads, gated and ungated content, email signatures, CTV, and other assets to track which accounts see and interact with them, and whether those accounts are from the intended audience.
- View-through analytics for B2B
- Use Channel99’s view-through capabilities to connect off-site exposures and engagements with on-site visits and subsequent pipeline stages, even when users remain anonymous.
- Channel and vendor benchmarking
- Benchmark vendors, channels, and campaigns based on verified reach, in-target engagement, cost per engaged account, and downstream opportunity creation. This allows marketers to compare media partners on a level playing field and identify spend waste.
- Budget reallocation and optimization
- Based on AI-driven recommendations, shift spend away from underperforming channels or vendors and towards those delivering lower acquisition costs and higher pipeline contribution.
- Marketing–finance collaboration
- Provide finance teams with a shared view of marketing performance and its link to revenue using Channel99’s integration with CRM and spend data. This supports planning, forecasting, and investment decisions.
Comparison to similar approaches and tools
| Capability / Focus | Channel99 | General web analytics (e.g., standard analytics tools) | Traditional multi-touch attribution (MTA) | Generic ad verification vendors (brand safety/fraud focus) | ABM platforms with basic analytics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary lens | B2B account-level performance and financial efficiency CIOReview+1 | Sessions, users, and events at an aggregate or user level | Individual user paths across touchpoints | Impression-level validity, viewability, fraud detection | Target account engagement and orchestration |
| Key technology | B2B verification pixel plus anonymous account ID for web traffic Channel99+1 | Page tagging and event tracking via scripts or SDKs | Algorithmic credit assignment across channels | Tags and integrations with ad servers and exchanges | Web tag plus data integrations |
| Identity model | Company-level, IP and firmographic centric, cookie-less MarTech+1 | Mix of cookies, device IDs, and events | Typically cookie/device-based | Cookie- or impression-ID based | Account- and contact-level, often mixed identifiers |
| View-through and “dark funnel” visibility | Purpose-built B2B view-through analytics linking off-site signals to on-site and pipeline PR Newswire+1 | Limited, usually last-touch or simple assisted conversion views | Path-based models, sometimes opaque, often challenged by tracking loss | Limited; focus is on whether an ad was viewable or fraud-free | Some off-site and on-site engagement metrics, often less granular |
| Financial metrics (e.g., cost per pipeline) | Core use case; integrates spend, web, and CRM to show cost per opportunity and ROMI PR Newswire+2Digital Smiles+2 | Possible but often requires manual data blending | Possible with extensive integration and modeling | Typically outside scope | Available, but financial linkage may be lighter or focused on ABM programs |
| Deployment focus | Fast time to value for B2B teams; integration with CRM, media, and other martech MarTech+1 | Very broad; used by almost all digital teams | Often heavier implementation and modeling | Media operations and procurement | ABM and demand teams |
Channel99 is complementary to web analytics, ABM platforms, and ad verification tools; it specializes in performance measurement, attribution, and optimization for B2B accounts across channels.
Best practices
- Start with a clear account list and segments
- Define ICP and target account lists before implementing Channel99 so results can be segmented by priority tiers, industries, and regions. This allows for more precise benchmarking and optimization.
- Instrument both off-site and on-site touchpoints
- Ensure the verification pixel is deployed across ads, content, and emails, and that the website and key landing pages use the account ID technology. Isolated tagging reduces Channel99’s value; full coverage reveals the “dark funnel” more completely.
- Integrate with CRM and spend data early
- Connect CRM and media-spend data as part of the initial rollout rather than as a second phase. This enables measurement of cost per pipeline opportunity and ROMI from the outset.
- Use standardized KPIs across vendors
- Align on a small set of shared KPIs (verified in-target reach, engaged accounts, cost per engaged account, cost per opportunity) and use Channel99 as the common reporting layer for all media partners.
- Incorporate AI recommendations into regular planning
- Operationalize Channel99’s AI suggestions for optimizing audiences, bids, and vendor mix by tying them into monthly and quarterly planning cadences.
- Align marketing and finance stakeholders
- Use Channel99 dashboards as shared artifacts between CMOs, marketing ops, and finance leaders to review performance, forecast pipeline, and approve budget reallocations.
Future trends
- More account-level, cookie-less measurement
- As third-party cookies continue to decline, B2B measurement will rely more on account-level identifiers, IP enrichment, and privacy-friendly approaches like Channel99’s verification pixel and account ID technology.
- Deeper AI-driven optimization
- Channel99 already uses AI for recommendations and predictions; future iterations are expected to expand AI use for forecasting pipeline, scenario modeling, and real-time optimization across vendors and channels.
- Tighter integration with ABM, CDP, and advertising platforms
- Ecosystem integrations (e.g., with platforms like Demandbase and LinkedIn data) indicate a trajectory toward more connected targeting, measurement, and orchestration across martech and adtech stacks.
- Standardization of B2B performance benchmarks
- With growing volumes of cross-customer performance data, Channel99 can expand benchmarking by industry, deal size, and channel, giving marketers shared reference points for what “good” looks like in B2B performance.
- Increased collaboration between marketing and finance
- As more organizations treat marketing as an investment portfolio, tools like Channel99 that quantify efficiency and risk at the channel and vendor level will play a larger role in financial planning and governance.
Related Terms
- B2B marketing attribution
- Verification pixel
- View-through analytics
- Account-based marketing (ABM)
- Account identification
- Dark funnel
- Cost per pipeline opportunity
- Marketing ROI (ROMI)
- Customer data platform (CDP)
- Multi-touch attribution (MTA)