The advertising ecosystem is experiencing explosive growth with the proliferation of streaming platforms (AVODs, BVODs, FAST channels, SVODs) and the gradual decline of linear TV, forcing Australian brand marketers to endure a paradigm shift in how they reach their audiences and engage with them. This transformation demands a recalibration of ad measurement strategies to accurately capture the impact of cross-screen campaigns in an increasingly fragmented media environment.

As an example of streaming platforms mushrooming, Paramount+ has emerged in Australia as a key party. Withholding specific figures and engaging with major buying groups, Paramount+ demonstrates a commitment to prudent budgeting and audience segmentation — setting itself apart from competitors in the Australian market. Building upon its successful track record in the US, Paramount+ leverages robust sales infrastructure and content ownership to seamlessly integrate brands within its platform. By emphasising user experience and lower ad loads, the service prioritises audience engagement while navigating the complexities of ad-funded streaming in Australia.

On the live event and sports broadcasting/streaming side of things, via CTV (SVOD) apps, advertisers face a mix of opportunities and challenges in accurately measuring advertising impact. Kayo Sports shines in Australia, touting record-breaking viewership and a robust subscriber base, providing advertisers with innovative formats and premium environments for brand promotion.

Measure or guess

However, the absence of robust cross-media measurement tools presents a hurdle for publishers like Paramount+ or Kayo, among others, to demonstrate the value of their inventory and for advertisers to optimise their investments fully. Reliance solely on CTV app DSPs for reach determination and fragmented insights across different channels complicate measurement efforts. As linear TV wanes, investing in CTV incremental reach measurement and accurate ad effectiveness measurement becomes crucial, allowing advertisers to gauge impact accurately in today's evolving media landscape.

Traditional methods, relying on fusion data and probabilistic measurement, fall short in assisting brand marketers to accurately measure campaign effectiveness across screens. These approaches struggle to capture the complexities of the modern consumer journey, requiring marketers to pivot towards more meaningful metrics beyond impressions matched solely against age and gender. To address this challenge, secondary currencies utilising single-source data panels have emerged as the most effective solution. Such panel-based systems enable the measurement of incremental reach and ad effectiveness, providing comprehensive insights into campaign performance and bridging the gap between screens, offering valuable audience engagement and campaign impact insights for advertisers in the Australian market.

Despite the emergence of new channels, marketers who hesitate to adopt new measurement solutions tailored to the complex cross-screen landscape risk missing out on optimising their advertising investments effectively.

As they struggle to navigate evolving privacy concerns and unique regulatory landscapes –globally and in Australia – collaboration across stakeholders (agencies, brands, publishers and vendors, becomes increasingly crucial.

Australian advertisers risk falling behind and missing the opportunity to unlock the full potential of measurement in the streaming age, potentially hindering their brands' success and failing to reaffirm Australia's position as the global testbed in advertising technology for the US and the UK.

The future of media buying is here, and those who delay investing in accurate and unified cross-media measurement may find themselves left behind in shaping the future of advertising.

Don’t take our word for it. Ask Kmart and Kinesso, PHD, AGL locally or P&G, Unilever, McDonald’s. Amazon Ads and Google globally.

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