Smartly moves into real-time measurement with planned acquisition of INCRMNTAL

Smartly has signed a letter of intent to acquire INCRMNTAL, signaling a shift toward integrating real-time performance measurement directly into campaign execution. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks.

The planned acquisition will bring INCRMNTAL’s incrementality measurement technology into Smartly’s existing platform, which focuses on creative production and media orchestration across digital channels. The integration is intended to connect performance insights more closely with day-to-day campaign decisions.

INCRMNTAL specializes in measuring the incremental impact of marketing efforts without relying on user-level tracking. Its approach analyzes natural variations in campaign activity to estimate causal lift, allowing marketers to assess performance without setting up controlled experiments or pausing campaigns.

“Marketing leaders today are demanding better measurement for performance and accountability,” said Laura Desmond, CEO of Smartly. “Incrementality is becoming increasingly important in a world where traditional approaches are challenged to move at the speed of AI and the changing consumer journey. With INCRMNTAL, Smartly enables marketers to connect what’s happening in their business outcomes in real time with how they optimize media, creative, and campaigns, so they can see performance as it happens and take immediate action.”

By embedding these signals into its platform, Smartly aims to enable continuous optimization of media spend and creative assets. The system is expected to inform decisions such as reallocating budgets, adjusting targeting strategies, or replacing underperforming creatives in near real time.

The shift reflects growing demand from marketers for measurement tools that operate alongside campaign execution rather than as post-campaign analysis.

The deal comes at a time when traditional attribution models are under pressure. Changes in data availability, combined with evolving consumer behavior and the rise of AI-driven discovery, have made it more difficult to track user journeys using established methods.

Incrementality measurement has gained traction as an alternative approach, focusing on whether marketing activity leads to additional outcomes rather than assigning credit across touchpoints. Smartly positions this model as complementary to existing frameworks such as marketing mix modeling and multi-touch attribution.

The company expects that integrating incrementality into its platform will help advertisers evaluate performance continuously and respond more quickly to changing conditions.

Smartly currently supports large-scale campaign execution, processing hundreds of billions of creative assets annually across social media, commerce, and connected TV environments. Video content represents a growing share of that activity, following the company’s earlier expansion into creative management capabilities.

With INCRMNTAL’s technology, Smartly plans to link creative and media decisions more directly to measurable outcomes, using causal data to guide optimization at a granular level.

As part of the agreement, INCRMNTAL’s team, including its co-founders, is expected to join Smartly after the deal closes.

The acquisition highlights a broader transition in advertising toward real-time, predictive measurement models. As marketers look for clearer connections between spending and outcomes, platforms are increasingly combining analytics with execution tools.

While traditional metrics such as last-click attribution remain in use, industry momentum is shifting toward systems that evaluate performance continuously and adapt campaigns dynamically based on observed impact.