Where did you see the birthday video for Attenborough?

The future depends on measuring content 

While defining “what is TV” has become a yawn-inducing debate, what remains critical is understanding where an advertiser’s current and prospective customers are reachable amongst today’s vast media landscape. As the media owners’ distribution models shift beyond their proprietary channels into multiple platform arrangements, they need more than ever to understand what level of audience and engagement their content is achieving within and across those outlets. 

The new distribution reality 

In the UK, traditional broadcasters are now actively distributing on platforms like YouTube.  BBC and commercial broadcasters are investing to create platform-native content for TikTok and other social channels. Sky Sports and Sky News, as an example, have TV channels, websites and apps while also distributing content via YouTube, TikTok, Instagram in addition to a curated network of publishing partners.  

Studios (some funded by TV-first players) are supplying content globally to the streaming platforms. Furthermore, we have publishers forging huge deals to license their content for training AI models.    

“Meeting audiences where they are” is no longer a strategy – it is the operating model. Digital platforms, once considered secondary distribution channels, are now primary video environments for consuming what we still refer to as “TV” content.  

Implications for measurement 

These changes fundamentally reshape what measurement needs to do. When content flows across multiple platforms, then measuring it within a single channel or device framework is no longer sufficient. The industry must be able to answer, “What is the total, deduplicated audience for a piece of content across all platforms?”. To evaluate whether distribution arrangements are being monetised appropriately, we must also be able to answer, “What is the audience for a piece of content on each platform?”. These are not just planning questions; they are increasingly about valuation, which ultimately impacts franchise strength and longevity. 

At the same time, the technical challenges are familiar - but intensified: 

Addressing these challenges collectively - with strong governance, transparency and trusted industry standards for cross-platform content and advertising measurement - is becoming more important than ever. The industry’s future lies in trusted, independent, cross-platform measurement systems capable of deduplicating audiences across devices and distribution environments.  

The future of TV advertising depends on measuring content  

None of this diminishes the importance of advertising measurement - but it does reposition it. Advertising metrics – reach, frequency, effectiveness – now depend on a deeper understanding of how audiences interact with content across and within platforms. Without that foundation, campaign measurement, planning and even the evolving measurement of outcomes, risk becoming misaligned with how media is consumed by different types of potential customers across outlets.  

Recently the measurement conversation has been dominated by advertising campaign metrics and outcomes, however there is a clear case that a focus on following the content wherever it is distributed is crucial business information required from the measurement providers and by those who endorse them. In a world where audiences follow content across platforms and screens, at home and away, measurement must do the same.