Lantern launches RFI amid early analysis
Connected TV World Summit 2025
“TV has been like one of those startups that’s in stealth mode. And guess what, people, we’re coming out of it now.”
Sameer Modha, ITV’s measurement innovation lead, commercial, told a crowd at this month’s Connected TV World Summit that, through Lantern, the new measurement panel aimed at tracking the short-term impact of TV advertising on sales, TV will finally be able to compete with platforms in measuring business outcomes.
Following Lantern’s proof of concept, which launched late last year, the initiative is now rolling out an open request for information (RFI) to invite suggestions from potential partners.
The RFI is available from Lantern’s website for interested parties.
Lantern expects to launch a request for proposal (RFP) in the autumn, ahead of a full launch in 2026.
Through the joint initiative — developed by Sky, ITV and Channel 4, with support from Thinkbox — Modha said TV measurement will soon be able to focus on “outcomes for the many, not just for the few”, thanks to its panel design ensuring measurement works for “businesses of all sizes”.
He added that, for Lantern to be useful, it must measure effects in the “near term”, as opposed to merely the short term.
Furthermore, “it’s got to be a system that measures the breadth of TV’s impact”.
As Modha added: “Forget about the long and short of it and think about the broad and narrow. We’ve got to measure the breadth of the effect because [TV] is the thing that lifts all boats. TV has a whole load of impact all across the spectrum of online behaviour.”
Early learnings
Katie Gordon, Channel 4’s business partner, insight manager, commercial, described how the “Baby Lantern” proof-of-concept pilot, derived from a 6,000-person panel, is already able to track how TV ads impact consumer behaviour in the near term.
Using an example of a Jet2holidays ad exposure on TV, Lantern found that the viewer later searched for “Jet2 summer deals” on Google and visited a Tripadvisor webpage titled “10 Summer Getaways”. They also searched on YouTube for the music used in the spot (a song by Jess Glynne) and later for “Jet2 reviews” on TikTok, where they also watched another travel video featuring Glynne.
Eventually, the consumer visited Jet2’s website, “where hopefully they’ll purchase that holiday they’ve been doing so much looking at”, said Gordon.
She added: “This new insight gives us a much more holistic view of a TV viewer’s journey to purchase that we’ve never really had before.”
Jeff Eales, Sky Media’s director of systems and development and whom Modha described as “the TV plumber’s TV plumber”, explained that Lantern’s dataset is “very rich” given that it comprises 6,000 homes that are “completely matched”.
“This isn’t modelled,” Eales said. He noted that, because Clearcast gives a unique number to every ad it clears, it enables Lantern to access valuable metadata specific to individual spots.
Eales asked the audience to get involved with the RFI, adding that “the future is incredibly bright”.
“I’ve been in the business now 44 years and I keep on saying I’ve never had so much fun,” he continued. “It’s absolutely great to come together and provide this service.”
In a separate statement, Modha added: “We have ideas aplenty about how to measure with consistency and accuracy across categories. But there are data analysts, data processors, consumer experts, panel owners, tech geniuses, to name a few, who might be feeling generous with their views and expertise about how to approach this innovative and world-leading initiative.”