Google unveils Scenario Planner for Meridian MMM use

Google has launched Scenario Planner, a new interface for Meridian, its open-source marketing mix modelling product. It's positioned as a way for marketing teams to use marketing mix models without specialist data science skills.

Meridian is Google's Marketing Mix Model (MMM). Companies use MMMs to estimate how different marketing channels contribute to outcomes such as sales and revenue. Typically, the models combine historical marketing spend with performance data and other factors to estimate incremental impact.

The update focuses on usability. Scenario Planner offers a code-free environment for working with Meridian and is aimed at marketing decision-makers rather than analysts.

Usability Gap

MMM has a long history in large consumer brands, but many organisations still treat it as a specialist tool. Running an MMM often requires data preparation, model configuration, and statistical knowledge, limiting day-to-day use by media and marketing leads.

Google cited Harvard Business Review research finding that nearly 40% of organisations struggle to turn technical model outputs into business decisions. Scenario Planner is presented as a response to that gap.

In practical terms, Scenario Planner provides a visual workflow for exploring Meridian outputs. Teams can adjust budget allocations across channels and compare scenarios side by side, with real-time estimates of return on investment based on the underlying model configuration.

Planning Focus

Scenario Planner is also intended to shift Meridian from reporting to planning. In many organisations, MMM work arrives late in the planning cycle and is used mainly as retrospective analysis. The goal is to bring MMM outputs into ongoing decision-making.

Media planners can run scenario comparisons and stress-test different investment mixes. That approach is common in financial planning tools, but has been less accessible in marketing analytics, where outputs often sit in spreadsheets, notebooks, or bespoke dashboards.

Google also highlighted team-wide access. MMM outputs can be difficult for non-technical stakeholders to interpret, so Scenario Planner presents results visually and aims to standardise how teams review and apply the same assumptions.

Open-Source Model

Meridian is open source, making its methodology visible and allowing organisations to inspect how the model works. It also lets companies adapt the code to internal requirements, depending on the constraints and resources of their analytics teams.

Google has previously emphasised Meridian's transparency in marketing measurement, arguing that advertisers need clearer methods for evaluating impact, particularly in a digital environment where measurement differs across channels and platforms.

Scenario Planner does not change Meridian's underlying model. Instead, it changes how users interact with Meridian once a model is running, reducing the bottleneck that can form when only a small number of specialists can run analyses and interpret results.

The release reflects a broader trend in analytics software, where vendors add layers that translate complex models into interfaces for operational users. That typically means fewer manual steps, more visual controls, and a focus on scenario comparison rather than statistical diagnostics.

Marketing teams have also faced growing pressure to justify spend across channels as budgets tighten. MMM remains relevant because it can provide a top-down view of how channels work together. However, companies still debate accuracy and data quality, and many struggle to maintain models over time. The people and process needed to keep MMM current can be as important as the software itself.

By lowering the barrier to running scenarios, Scenario Planner could increase how often Meridian outputs are used in budget discussions. It also broadens the number of stakeholders who can interact directly with results, rather than relying on an analyst to interpret charts or tables.

"Meridian has always been transparent; now, it's truly accessible," said Google.

Scenario Planner is also described as removing "technical friction" from working with MMM outputs, giving marketing leads a way to experiment with budget allocations and review ROI estimates without writing code.