ISBA’s Origin Expands Access, Redefining Cross-Media Measurement in the UK

Origin, the UK cross-media measurement solution from ISBA has moved into its expanded availability (EA) phase following completion of its beta trials incorporating linear TV, online video and online display. respectively. These trials involved over thirty of the UK’s largest advertisers and their agency partners. The EA release will initially allow users to produce deduplicated reach and frequency reports across YouTube and linear TV – which is available at the second-by-second level for the first time.

In an ever-changing and increasingly complex media market characterised by accelerating fragmentation of advertising audiences, Origin puts the necessary tools in the hands of advertisers and their agencies to help drive campaign effectiveness, campaign efficiency and to reduce wastage enabling real-world campaign decision-making.

EA marks the availability of Origin to more advertisers with Sky being amongst the first group of new advertisers to sign up for measurement.

This marks a critical step in the development of the platform which is funded as a joint-industry initiative by 69 stakeholders comprising 45 brand owners, the top six agency holding groups, digital platforms (Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok) plus media owners representing digital audio, DSPs, direct mail, publishers and Connected TV (CTV) inventory.

As the first market to deploy the framework of the World Federation of Advertisers’ (WFA) North Star cross-media measurement initiative, Origin’s ability to surface privacy-safe, non-proprietary and independently audited cross-media campaign audience data from a single-source, represents a media-first globally. Aquila, the USA manifestation of the WFA framework will enter its trial phase later this year and is expected to launch in early 2026. There is also significant interest from many more markets in developing their own WFA-based service.

The Origin service will continue to develop extensively in 2025 and beyond, with new measurement features, longer campaign time windows and additional measurement scope including the addition of Meta, TikTok and Amazon inventory, as well as functional and usability improvements. With the addition of these three platforms, the service will be able to measure 70% of UK ad spend. In time, its capabilities will expand to include advanced reporting, planning services and the measurement of outcomes-based metrics.

​Phil Smith OBE, director general, ISBA commented, "Brand owners have been the driving force behind Origin, and it remains ISBA’s number one strategic priority. Advertisers’ commitment is underlined by their commitment to pay the Fractional Advertiser Contribution (FAC) which will represent a substantial part of in-life funding.

It is extremely gratifying to see the programme reach this stage after many years of hard work. Origin represents the embodiment of ISBA’s ambition to empower our members to understand the industry and help shape its future, and of our purpose to create an advertising environment that is transparent, responsible and accountable. With Origin now open to more marketers, it will help advertisers navigate a complex market and deliver more effective advertising."

Tom George CEO, Origin said, "It is hugely exciting to open Origin to the wider market. With additional enhancements and the scaling to cover more media owners’ inventory, the product will show rapid development throughout 2025 and beyond.

Given the amount of demand exhibited by the market, this is the right time to allow access to more advertisers and there are even more ambitious plans for the platform with an extensive development roadmap already in place. Any advertiser can now access Origin’s core reporting service on payment of the FAC, and I would urge any brand-owner who wishes to use Origin to contact me directly.

I would like to thank all our stakeholders, the Origin team and our partners at Accenture and Kantar. And of course, a big thank you to Phil and the ISBA team."

Matt Thomas, senior director brand function and media operations, P&G Northern Europe added, "We have been founding stakeholders in Origin since its inception and have been involved in extensively testing P&G campaign data throughout the Origin trials. We are pleased with the progress made throughout the Beta Trial to deliver high-quality data standards. This is crucial to ensure we can deliver actionable and reliable insights for our business.

The ability to view data across all our campaigns and media channels in a consistent and comparable manner, is a first for us and all other advertisers utilising Origin. This will enable significant improvements in how we increase cross media reach and manage frequency at a campaign level.

In the future, we are excited about the power of this data to fuel the effectiveness of our media investment."

Sophie Grender, director of new business Marketreach, Royal Mail said, "Origin represents a real opportunity to highlight the contribution that direct mail can make in driving coverage and for the first time, allow us a level playing field comparison between direct mail and display advertising. That is why we have been involved with the programme from an early stage. We have been running a proof-of-concept test and have concrete plans to integrate our data into the Origin platform. So, watch this space."

Bhavin Balvantrai, chief market analyst at Omnicom Media Group commented "Our teams and clients have played a significant part in the Origin trials - representing about half of those involved. There will be undoubtedly more demand from our client base once it goes live so we welcome the announcement.

Origin has been one of our strategic priorities and adds rich data in an increasingly data-driven media world. We believe it can be further leveraged in OMG’s systems, and we will be trialling the Origin API later this year to help facilitate this."