Honest expectations matter more than optimistic ones — here's a realistic range of what a given budget tends to produce.
7.5.1 General ranges
Results vary substantially by genre, territory, and existing audience size — there is no universal formula. As a rough starting orientation, a modest campaign budget tends to produce a few thousand impressions and a small, single-digit-percentage conversion rate to actual streams or saves; results scale roughly (not linearly) with budget, territory targeting precision, and how well the underlying release/artwork resonates with the targeted audience.
7.5.2 What most influences results, beyond budget
- How well the cover art and ad creative perform at a glance, before any click
- Whether the targeting audience genuinely overlaps with the genre/mood of the release
- Whether the release already has some organic momentum (ads amplify existing interest more efficiently than they create interest from zero)
7.5.3 Where to set expectations
Express Ads is a self-serve amplification tool, not a guaranteed-results service. For a managed approach with more hands-on strategy and realistic case-study-backed projections, see Madverse Impact (7.11).
Source: MadDesk article 7.5 (7-5)