The UK advertising industry is steadily pushing forward with an initiative to implement a common approach to measuring media consumption across screens.

Led by the ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertisers) trade body, Project Origin has brought together advertisers, platforms, broadcasters and media agencies.

In this video interview with The Project X Institute executive director Jon Watts for Beet.TV, Sam Taylor, Head of Group Commercial Marketing at UK insurer Direct Line Group, who also chairs ISBA’s TV steering group, gives a progress update.

Start of the Origin

“As ISBA, and on behalf of all the advertisers, we felt that we had to crack on and find a way to truly measure cross-platform AV,” Taylor explains.

“At the moment, we are very good at measuring linear, we’ve got gold standard with BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board), but what we can’t do is really understand the different choices we make around the use of broadcast-VOD or YouTube or Facebook and delivering online video and how that relates to linear.

“What Origin will do is, it creates a universal cross-media measurement platform – initially for AV, but we’ll go beyond that – so that you can plan and measure all campaigns on a level playing field to understand reach, impact, using attention, etc.

“I think (it) would be great for the industry and great for advertisers, to be able to move their money from platform to platform, from one channel to another channel and understand the true value of it within their marketing plans.”

Project progress

ISBA first announced Origin in November 2019. Its director recently estimated it coming to market in 2023.

Origin’s team has been implementing World Federation of Advertisers’ (WFA) virtual ID framework, and completed a first stage proof-of-concept focused on TV last summer, reporting that the model is able to integrate linear TV measurement data.

Taylor says things are coming together.

“It’s taken some time, but we’ve actually at a point now, probably a year on, where we’re into (the) build stage and it’s really exciting, this thing is actually happening,” he says.

You are watching “Advanced TV Advertising in the UK: The Next Three Years,” a Beet.TV leadership series presented by Finecast. For more videos, please visit this page.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews