Google Just Brought Meridian Into Analytics 360. The Free Marketing Mix Model Is Now Sitting Inside Your Dashboard.
Google has announced it is integrating Meridian, its open-source marketing mix modelling framework, directly into Google Analytics 360. The integration brings Bayesian MMM capability into the dashboard most marketers already use and signals the end of last-click as Google's preferred measurement story.
Meridian combines first-party data, media signals and cross-channel performance metrics inside Google Analytics 360 to model incremental impact and forecast outcomes.
Google announced at Marketing Live 2026 that it is integrating Meridian, its open-source marketing mix modelling framework, directly into Google Analytics 360. The integration pulls first-party data, media signals and cross-channel performance into Bayesian MMM models that live inside the dashboard most marketers already use.
Meridian itself is not new. Google released it as open-source software in January 2025 to give brands a free alternative to Nielsen and the legacy MMM consultancies. The integration is what shifts the conversation. Until now, running Meridian required a Python environment, a data engineer and a willingness to teach a Bayesian model what your business actually does. Today, GA360 customers can configure it through the same interface they use for audiences and conversions.
That is Google's framing. The substance is that marketing mix modelling is moving from a quarterly procurement exercise to an always-on dashboard widget. The implications for measurement vendors are significant. The implications for marketers who do not currently have an MMM are larger.
Why it matters
Australian brands have spent the last decade running on GA4 last non-direct click as their primary attribution model. That model handed credit to whichever channel touched the buyer last. It systematically undervalued upper-funnel media. CFOs cut brand and TV budgets on the back of those reports.
Meridian inside GA360 removes the excuse. Any brand on Google's enterprise analytics product now has access to a calibration-friendly, cookie-free, Bayesian model that integrates incrementality experiments as priors. The output is incremental contribution by channel. The conversation a CMO has with finance changes overnight when the report shows that branded search was capturing demand it did not create.
It also raises the bar on every measurement vendor in the market. Mutinex, Analytic Partners and Nielsen all sell variations of the same product at much higher prices. The free version sitting inside the buyer's dashboard puts pricing pressure on everyone.
The price of Meridian, Google's open-source MMM framework, now embedded directly inside Google Analytics 360
What to do about it
If you run GA360, request Meridian access through your account manager today. The integration is rolling out in waves and the early seats are limited.
Audit your current MMM contract. Mutinex, Nielsen or any of the legacy providers. Calculate the cost differential against running Meridian internally. The conversation with finance writes itself.
Schedule a holdout test for one channel in the next 90 days. Feed the results into Meridian as a prior. Bayesian models calibrate fastest when fed real incrementality data.
Brief your media agency that Meridian is now your reference measurement. Their dashboard, their reports and their optimisation should align with it.
Stop reporting last-click contribution to your board. The narrative on every channel needs to shift to incremental contribution and confidence intervals.
Measurement just got cheaper, faster and more accessible. The brands that move first will be the ones rewriting their channel mix by the September quarter.