CTV Metrics Must Look Beyond the Checkout to Reach Branding Goals
CANNES, France – Connected television may have learned the language of clicks, conversions and closed-loop measurement, but advertisers should resist treating every commercial like a digital cashier, according to Liane Nadeau, chief investment officer at Digitas North America.
Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Nadeau joined Carly Friedman, head of agency at Roku, for a panel moderated by Mike Shields on behalf of Beet.TV. The discussion explored how marketers can connect streaming campaigns to business results without stripping television of the qualities that made advertisers fall in love with it in the first place.
The dilemma is simple. Television is being asked to prove that it works, preferably before the chief financial officer finishes a second coffee. Yet not every TV exposure should produce an immediate sale.
“Just because it’s accountable doesn’t mean it has to be to sales or low funnel metrics,” Nadeau said.
She argued that brands should identify short-term signals that point toward longer-term business outcomes. An auto advertisement, for example, should not be declared a failure because viewers decline to buy a car within 30 days. Most people do not add a sedan to their basket while ordering toothpaste.
Roku brings receipts, and plenty of Roku
Friedman said Roku’s scale and authenticated household data allow advertisers to measure results ranging from brand awareness and site visits to closed-loop sales.
“The beauty of Roku is that we’re in 100 million households and we’re 100% authenticated,” Friedman said. “We can do things from brand awareness to site visitation all the way down to closed loop measurement.”
Friedman pointed to a Bank of America campaign built around the World Cup. The campaign included sponsorship of Roku’s home screen environment, Roku City, alongside a programmatic buy that could be optimized in real time.
Nadeau said persistent, authenticated identities help advertisers understand how people engage with brands over longer periods. That is especially useful when a campaign influences behavior gradually instead of prompting viewers to leap from the sofa and immediately open their wallets.
Still, Nadeau warned against making every connected TV advertisement shoppable simply because the technology permits it.
“Just because CTV can be shoppable, I think doesn’t mean it should,” she said.
The funnel is alive, but it has abandoned straight lines
At Digitas, Nadeau said the traditional marketing funnel is no longer a neat sequence. Consumers still move through awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty, but they may jump between those stages at increasing speed.
CTV can now contribute across that journey. It can build awareness, reach a fan community or support a transaction. The correct role depends on the category, campaign and audience.
One particularly useful CTV signal is fandom, Nadeau said. Viewing data can reveal communities forming around sports, young adult programming and newly released shows. Brands can then connect with the relevant content, creators and cultural moments both on television and elsewhere.
Friedman said Roku’s evolving home screen uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to understand content affinity. Her own repeated viewing of “Off Campus,” she joked, has resulted in a generous supply of young adult recommendations. Roku aims to combine those interests with other datasets to deliver more relevant advertising.
Interactivity still has a remote-control problem
Interactive television advertising is advancing, although the industry has not yet settled on whether viewers prefer remotes, phones, voice commands or some combination requiring three hands.
Friedman acknowledged that QR codes can be awkward on television. Viewers must put down the remote, pick up a phone and sometimes repeat the process before reaching the intended destination. Roku has found that remote-based prompts, such as clicking to receive a text or email, can create a simpler one-click experience.
Nadeau reduced the issue to two words: “friction removal.”
“The more friction exists, the more valuable that enticement needs to be,” she said.
Her example established a useful industry benchmark. Consumers might put down the remote and “run around their couch three times and spin backwards” for a free car. An invitation to read more about a financial institution is unlikely to inspire similar athleticism.
The best interaction method will vary by platform, product and viewing behavior, Nadeau added. There may never be a single universal button that transforms every television viewer into a customer.
Measurement needs a system, not a superhero
The panelists agreed that fragmentation remains one of CTV’s largest obstacles. Apps and platforms operate in silos, making it difficult to calculate true reach and frequency across the market.
“True openness is the only thing that’s going to allow us to solve for platforms that are historically walled,” Nadeau said.
Friedman said the fragmented landscape creates manual work for agency teams. Roku has responded with Roku Curate, a product that uses partnerships with companies including Best Buy and Instacart to simplify campaign execution and measurement.
She also cited a Roku partnership with The Hershey Company and Instacart for Reese’s during March Madness. According to Friedman, the shoppable campaign produced a 30% lift in new buyers and more than $4 in return on ad spend.
No single measurement provider will capture the full picture, Nadeau said. Marketers need a combination of platform data, audience information, site visits, engagement metrics and longer-term modeling.
“There’s no one vendor that’s going to give you everything you need,” she said.
Marketing mix modeling remains important, but traditional studies can arrive one or two quarters after a campaign ends. By then, the findings may be fascinating, accurate and about as useful for real-time optimization as yesterday’s weather forecast.
CFOs want answers before the credits roll
Pressure on television spending is intensifying as companies demand that every dollar work harder. Friedman, who previously worked in linear television, contrasted today’s real-time optimization with an earlier system based heavily on age, gender and post-campaign reporting.
Nadeau’s concern is that financial scrutiny may push marketers too far toward immediate outcomes. Television and CTV often create effects that lead to business results later.
“CFOs hate Cannes, by the way,” she said, drawing laughs from the audience.
The joke carried a serious point. Marketers, agencies and media partners must explain what success looks like before campaigns begin. The answer should be more sophisticated than reach and frequency, Nadeau said, but it should not insist that every TV spot generate an instant sale.
There is, she argued, a productive middle ground between vague brand promises and demanding that viewers purchase something before the commercial ends.
Shields closed the Beet.TV discussion by noting how difficult it might be to quantify the value of a chance meeting on Cannes’ Croisette. Nadeau supplied the natural response: “Measure the ROI on that.”
For an industry determined to measure everything, it was perhaps inevitable that even small talk would eventually need an attribution model.
You’re watching Beet Talks at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Roku. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
CANNES, France – Connected television may have learned the language of clicks, conversions and closed-loop measurement, but advertisers should resist treating every commercial like a digital cashier, according to Liane Nadeau, chief investment officer at Digitas North America.
Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Nadeau joined Carly Friedman, head of agency at Roku, for a panel moderated by Mike Shields on behalf of Beet.TV. The discussion explored how marketers can connect streaming campaigns to business results without stripping television of the qualities that made advertisers fall in love with it in the first place.
The dilemma is simple. Television is being asked to prove that it works, preferably before the chief financial officer finishes a second coffee. Yet not every TV exposure should produce an immediate sale.
“Just because it’s accountable doesn’t mean it has to be to sales or low funnel metrics,” Nadeau said.
She argued that brands should identify short-term signals that point toward longer-term business outcomes. An auto advertisement, for example, should not be declared a failure because viewers decline to buy a car within 30 days. Most people do not add a sedan to their basket while ordering toothpaste.
Roku brings receipts, and plenty of Roku
Friedman said Roku’s scale and authenticated household data allow advertisers to measure results ranging from brand awareness and site visits to closed-loop sales.
“The beauty of Roku is that we’re in 100 million households and we’re 100% authenticated,” Friedman said. “We can do things from brand awareness to site visitation all the way down to closed loop measurement.”
Friedman pointed to a Bank of America campaign built around the World Cup. The campaign included sponsorship of Roku’s home screen environment, Roku City, alongside a programmatic buy that could be optimized in real time.
Nadeau said persistent, authenticated identities help advertisers understand how people engage with brands over longer periods. That is especially useful when a campaign influences behavior gradually instead of prompting viewers to leap from the sofa and immediately open their wallets.
Still, Nadeau warned against making every connected TV advertisement shoppable simply because the technology permits it.
“Just because CTV can be shoppable, I think doesn’t mean it should,” she said.
The funnel is alive, but it has abandoned straight lines
At Digitas, Nadeau said the traditional marketing funnel is no longer a neat sequence. Consumers still move through awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty, but they may jump between those stages at increasing speed.
CTV can now contribute across that journey. It can build awareness, reach a fan community or support a transaction. The correct role depends on the category, campaign and audience.
One particularly useful CTV signal is fandom, Nadeau said. Viewing data can reveal communities forming around sports, young adult programming and newly released shows. Brands can then connect with the relevant content, creators and cultural moments both on television and elsewhere.
Friedman said Roku’s evolving home screen uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to understand content affinity. Her own repeated viewing of “Off Campus,” she joked, has resulted in a generous supply of young adult recommendations. Roku aims to combine those interests with other datasets to deliver more relevant advertising.
Interactivity still has a remote-control problem
Interactive television advertising is advancing, although the industry has not yet settled on whether viewers prefer remotes, phones, voice commands or some combination requiring three hands.
Friedman acknowledged that QR codes can be awkward on television. Viewers must put down the remote, pick up a phone and sometimes repeat the process before reaching the intended destination. Roku has found that remote-based prompts, such as clicking to receive a text or email, can create a simpler one-click experience.
Nadeau reduced the issue to two words: “friction removal.”
“The more friction exists, the more valuable that enticement needs to be,” she said.
Her example established a useful industry benchmark. Consumers might put down the remote and “run around their couch three times and spin backwards” for a free car. An invitation to read more about a financial institution is unlikely to inspire similar athleticism.
The best interaction method will vary by platform, product and viewing behavior, Nadeau added. There may never be a single universal button that transforms every television viewer into a customer.
Measurement needs a system, not a superhero
The panelists agreed that fragmentation remains one of CTV’s largest obstacles. Apps and platforms operate in silos, making it difficult to calculate true reach and frequency across the market.
“True openness is the only thing that’s going to allow us to solve for platforms that are historically walled,” Nadeau said.
Friedman said the fragmented landscape creates manual work for agency teams. Roku has responded with Roku Curate, a product that uses partnerships with companies including Best Buy and Instacart to simplify campaign execution and measurement.
She also cited a Roku partnership with The Hershey Company and Instacart for Reese’s during March Madness. According to Friedman, the shoppable campaign produced a 30% lift in new buyers and more than $4 in return on ad spend.
No single measurement provider will capture the full picture, Nadeau said. Marketers need a combination of platform data, audience information, site visits, engagement metrics and longer-term modeling.
“There’s no one vendor that’s going to give you everything you need,” she said.
Marketing mix modeling remains important, but traditional studies can arrive one or two quarters after a campaign ends. By then, the findings may be fascinating, accurate and about as useful for real-time optimization as yesterday’s weather forecast.
CFOs want answers before the credits roll
Pressure on television spending is intensifying as companies demand that every dollar work harder. Friedman, who previously worked in linear television, contrasted today’s real-time optimization with an earlier system based heavily on age, gender and post-campaign reporting.
Nadeau’s concern is that financial scrutiny may push marketers too far toward immediate outcomes. Television and CTV often create effects that lead to business results later.
“CFOs hate Cannes, by the way,” she said, drawing laughs from the audience.
The joke carried a serious point. Marketers, agencies and media partners must explain what success looks like before campaigns begin. The answer should be more sophisticated than reach and frequency, Nadeau said, but it should not insist that every TV spot generate an instant sale.
There is, she argued, a productive middle ground between vague brand promises and demanding that viewers purchase something before the commercial ends.
Shields closed the Beet.TV discussion by noting how difficult it might be to quantify the value of a chance meeting on Cannes’ Croisette. Nadeau supplied the natural response: “Measure the ROI on that.”
For an industry determined to measure everything, it was perhaps inevitable that even small talk would eventually need an attribution model.
You’re watching Beet Talks at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Roku. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
Series Videos
