IAB launches measurement advisory board in push for measurement solutions
The IAB UK has launched a Measurement Advisory Board bringing together senior representatives from several prominent companies in a push to drive more transparent and effective digital measurement.
The board includes representatives from: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Bauer Media, Mail Metro Media, Chanel, Tesco Media, Aldi, Global, Havas, Dentsu, OMD, WPP, Index Exchange, Pubmatic, Criteo, The Trade Desk, ISBA, Comscore, Ipsos, Kantar and others across the advertising industry.
This launch follows independent, external research commissioned by IAB UK which underlines the significant challenges across the current measurement landscape within digital advertising.
Notably, the findings show a clear disparity in knowledge and measurement maturity across various organisations, an absence of standardisation in methodology, and the need for more transparency across all digital channels.
Publishers are affected the most by this, as they typically sit within broader multichannel plans but don’t have access to complete measurement frameworks required by brands.
The research highlights how the industry’s dependency on click-based metrics and growing platform complexity alongside lack of clarity around proprietary measurement systems is eroding trust and hindering advancement.
Progress on the horizon
There has been moves to overcome this issue especially through Origin, developed by ISBA, which provides a cross-media measurement solution, allowing marketers to accurately measure deduplicated reach and frequency of ad campaigns across linear TV and online platforms through a non-proprietary, single-source dataset.
It completed its beta trials in July last year and moved to an Expanded Availability (EA) phase. The solution is available to any advertiser who pays for the Fractional Advertiser Contribution, a small charge applied to agency-booked media activity in the UK.
It currently allows measurement across linear TV, online video and online display with YouTube and Meta inventory and can produce reports covering 60% of UK ad spend (excluding search). Amazon and TikTok are expected to be integrated, which would raise coverage to 70%.
Through a partnership with Ozone, a proof of concept (POC) is in progress with the print publishers’ online assets and a successful POC has been completed with Royal Mail.
Despite progress here, the IAB UK is calling for industry-wide collaboration, arguing improvement will only happen through collectively addressing these challenges.
Jon Mew, CEO at IAB UK said: “Measurement is one of the most urgent challenges facing digital advertising.
“Fragmented approaches, opaque methodologies and outdated metrics don’t serve advertisers, agencies, publishers or consumers, whose loyalty is built through meaningful, long-term brand experiences rather than short-term clicks.”
Head of insights at IAB UK, Elizabeth Lane, commented on how she hopes the board will advance breakthroughs.
“By bringing together market-leading companies through our new Measurement Advisory Board, we have the right players from across the industry to drive alignment, champion best practice and accelerate progress across the ecosystem,” she said.
“There’s no silver bullet to solve such a complex challenge, but we aim to improve the ecosystem with better alignment, more education and stronger standards.”
The IAB UK has also said it will expand its programme of education and guidance for members in 2026. This consists of resources on advanced measurement approaches including conversion APIs and attention-based metrics.
It also plans to work with IAB US to develop global shared best-practice principles.
The future of Isba and Origin — with Simon Michaelides and Phil Smith