The future of TV advertising relies on content measurement

Opinion – The Future of TV: Global Series

The future of TV advertising is not only about advertising, and it certainly is not only about TV sets. Sarah Miller at UKOM argues that while measurement conversations are dominated by ad metrics and outcomes, following content across platforms is crucial.

By now, everybody has surely seen the touching video where the animal kingdom delivers the King’s birthday message to Sir David Attenborough.

Where were you when you first saw it, and what device were you using?

Not that many years ago, everyone’s answer would have been “at home on the TV” – but things have dramatically changed, with big implications for advertising and media strategy.

Smartphones, tablets and computers are video screens

Our time spent continues to shift towards our personal digital devices – we now spend an average of 5.1 hours per day with these small screens, up 5% from just one year ago.

While in previous days this time was mostly spent reading text (news, browsing, email), today more than 40% of all time spent on personal digital devices is viewing video content (and notably higher for younger people). [Across all persons 15+ in the UK, March 2026, UKOM Endorsed Ipsos iris].

Once dismissed as scrolling through short-form amateur clips, now video viewing on smartphones, tablets and computers is increasingly moving to premium, professionally produced, high-quality content. Furthermore, video viewing on our personal digital devices is increasingly happening away from home.

The future depends on measuring content

Defining “what is TV” has become a yawn-inducing debate, but it remains critical to understand where an advertiser’s current and prospective customers are reachable amongst today’s vast media landscape.

As media owners shift their distribution models beyond proprietary channels into multi-platform arrangements, they need more than ever to understand the 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, for example, have TV channels, websites and apps, and also distribute content via YouTube, TikTok and 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, 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:

• Fragmentation across platforms and devices has pushed the limits of panel-only measurement
• Limited visibility within walled gardens requires collaboration and robust privacy frameworks
• In-app measurement constraints continue to challenge technical abilities
• The growing importance of census-level data and first-party signals makes this a participation sport
• Deduplicating audiences across platforms requires increasingly sophisticated data science capabilities.

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 becomes 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, but it is clear 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.

Sarah Miller is the technical consultant to UKOM (UK Online Measurement), which defines and governs the UK standard for audience measurement.