Backed by data from 200+ channel programs, Extu’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot report identifies channel intelligence as the fix for the B2B attribution crisis.
Most B2B companies can’t tell which channel partners are driving their revenue, and Extu’s new report explains why. The Channel’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot: The State of Channel Attribution in 2026 examines the causes and costs of the B2B attribution crisis, and makes the case for channel intelligence as the solution.
The report identifies five root causes of the crisis:
- B2B companies relying on attribution models built for B2C environments
- partner data fragmented across disconnected tech stacks
- incentive spend deployed without a connection to revenue outcomes
- partner marketing activity invisible to manufacturers before transactions occur
- attribution models strained by post-privacy-regulation data restrictions
Key Findings
- Programs with 90%+ activated partners generate 5x more leads than programs with activation rates below 75%—a behavioral signal that consistently predicts revenue outcomes.
- Partner-executed email campaigns on Extu’s platform generate an average click-through rate of 30.4%, compared to the industry average of 1-3%. Most companies running channel programs never see this data because their tools don’t connect partner marketing activity to measurable outcomes.
- Among Extu-managed programs where incentive spend and downstream sales data share a common operating environment, documented sales ROI ranges from 5:1 to 69:1.
The report proposes channel intelligence—the ability to connect partner actions to revenue outcomes by integrating data—as the solution to the B2B attribution crisis, and as the data foundation that allows AI to function effectively in B2B software ecosystems.
“Most B2B companies use attribution tools that were built for a linear, B2C marketing set-up. The channel doesn’t work that way because B2B companies don’t own all their sales and marketing data by default. Until the industry stops applying a linear model to a non-linear problem, the attribution crisis isn’t going anywhere.”
— Nichole Gunn, Extu CEO
Download the full report for more information.