IAB Australia has launched a new ‘Future of Measurement’ initiative that will focus on strengthening how advertising opportunities and outcomes are assessed.
IAB Australia has commenced work on a Future of Measurement industry initiative to examine the media and advertising measurement ecosystem, focusing on the datasets used for planning, the signals used to capture advertising delivery, the frameworks used to link media activity to business outcomes, as well as IAB Australia industry led infrastructure.
The Future of Measurement project will deliver three primary outcomes for the industry.
It will provide an assessment of the current measurement landscape in Australia, examining audience measurement systems, advertising exposure signals and the approaches used to measure outcomes.
It will offer guidance on best practice frameworks, including how marketers and agencies are using incrementality testing, attribution and marketing mix modelling.
The work will also set out a forward view of how measurement is likely to evolve in Australia, informed by global initiatives including IAB US’s Project Eidos.
Marketers, agencies, media owners, platforms, measurement vendors data partners and other industry bodies will all be consulted during the project, reflecting the scale of change underway across the advertising market.
The first wave of findings from the Future of Measurement project will be shared with the industry at IAB Australia’s MeasureUp conference in Sydney on 2 September 2026.
“Media consumption continues to fragment across platforms, devices and formats while marketers face increasing pressure to demonstrate the business impact of their advertising investment,” IAB Australia director of research Natalie Stanbury said.
“Meanwhile measurement approaches are evolving quickly, with greater use of incrementality testing, attribution analysis and marketing mix modelling. The challenge for the industry is how these approaches work together and how we can maintain trusted and comparable measurement across channels.”
AI’s influence
The Future of Measurement project will address the influence Artificial intelligence is starting to have on how measurement models are designed and applied with Stanbury noting that “as signals evolve and cross media planning becomes more complex, AI based approaches may help improve analysis and efficiency, but transparency and strong methodology will remain essential.”
It will also examine the sustainability of industry measurement systems, which rely on large scale panels, establishment surveys and tracking technologies to measure audiences across a growing range of platforms and devices.
“Measurement is a shared industry infrastructure. Maintaining robust audience and effectiveness measurement requires collaboration across buyers, sellers, platforms and measurement providers,” said Stanbury.
As part of the initiative, IAB Australia will draw on global work across the IAB network including IAB US’s Project Eidos, which is developing industry principles and frameworks for the next generation of advertising measurement.
Industry stakeholders interested in participating in the consultation should contact Natalie Stanbury directly on [email protected].
