Media Management

Origin Beta Trials commence with 35 ISBA members

ISBA has launched the Origin key testing phase with Origin’s Beta Trials comprising 35 major advertisers who will test real campaign data across YouTube, Meta and linear TV.

The first tranche of 10 advertisers have started the onboarding process with the remainder  being integrated into the platform over the next few months.

Over 50 users from across the 10 advertisers and their agencies will use the Origin platform to measure deduplicated cross-media reach and frequency levels across their ad campaigns. The ability to surface non-proprietary and independently audited cross-media campaign audience data from a single-source will represent a media-first globally.

The Beta Trials follow the successful Alpha Trials which marked the first usage of the Origin platform. These trials ran through the second half of 2023 with five major advertisers using synthetic campaign data to put the platform through its paces.

Beta Trialists will help shape the future of the Origin tool by giving feedback on product features and UX design. They will be able to measure their ad campaigns across TV, digital video and digital display which accounts for over 70% of all UK media spend (excluding paid search).

Following the Beta Trials, Origin will transition into a short Pilot Trials stage with more advertisers and media owners being integrated onto the platform. Following the Pilot phase the Origin platform will be available to the whole market, with the launch of the Origin v1 product in early 2025.

The Origin platform will use its own 2,500 household panel, built by Kantar and using Kantar’s state-of-the-art Focal Meter to capture digital device viewing information, to source linear TV campaign audience data. In response to advertiser demand, the Origin panel will surface never-before available second-by-second linear TV viewing data, which will allow true like-for-like granular comparison of ad viewing duration across TV and online.

In addition, and as part of Origin’s commitment to accountability, the audit process has also begun on the full end-to-end Origin solution. This will provide independent verification of input data, methodology and the validation of Origin data.

The 10 advertisers below, who are all members of ISBA, are the first group of advertisers who have been invited to officially kick-off the Beta Trial: Confused.com, HSBC, L’Oréal, NatWest, PepsiCo, P&G, Red Bull, Tesco, Unilever and Virgin Media O2.

Phil Smith, Director General, ISBA commented “Origin remains our members’ most important strategic priority and is likely to remain so for some time. It has been driven by brand-owners’ desire to deliver more effective advertising in an ever-changing and increasingly complex media environment. It is gratifying to have reached this phase after much hard work. Our stakeholders should be commended for the commitment they have shown and the funding they have contributed over the past three years.”

Tom George, CEO, Origin said “The Beta Trials mark a pivotal moment for the Origin programme – when Origin theory turns into practice and we start to surface real, accountable and actionable data from the platform. The calibre and scale of the advertisers involved in this phase speaks for itself and underlines the demand from the market for the programme. The Beta phase is the first part of an ambitious roadmap for Origin driven by user needs, where we will deliver more utility and actionable insight to drive effectiveness and improve the user experience of advertising.”

Gareth George, Head of Media at Confused.com commented, “In a world where cross-media single source measurement has not evolved with the market, the strides taken by Origin represent a platform from which the industry can build more transparency and accountability when it comes to their media campaigns.

“For Confused.com, this platform has the potential to improve the efficiency of our media campaigns in allowing us to accurately measure de-duplicated reach of different channels. And once this is rolled out more widely with other key media suppliers on board we could be looking at a much more efficient industry altogether.”

Gayle Noah, Media Director UK&I, L’Oréal commented “As an advertiser who participated in the Alpha Trials we are looking forward to the Beta stage with real L’Oréal campaign data in the platform. We believe that the Origin trials and its subsequent development will deliver real gains in effectiveness and efficiency for L’Oréal advertising.”

Ed Sanderson, Head of Media and Planning, PepsiCo said “As one of the Alpha Triallists it was only natural that PepsiCo wanted to be a Beta Triallist. From what we have seen so far, Origin is going be an incredibly useful team for all our media planning activity. We are really looking forward to working with real data on the platform for the first time which is sure to deliver efficiency and effectiveness benefits.”

Tom Mardon, Head of Media & Campaign Planning, Tesco plc commented ‘It is very exciting for Tesco to be one of the first advertisers to be using Origin with real campaign data. The potential to improve the efficiency of our media spend and ensure we are delivering a better experience for our target audience is a really compelling proposition.

Marg Jobling, CMO NatWest Group said, “like all advertisers we are continuously searching for and developing methods to understand today’s complex and fragmented media landscape. Origin is a world-first. It is ambitious, innovative and wouldn’t have achieved this milestone without the significant support we have received from all stakeholders across the industry. The Beta Trials mark the start of the journey and we look forward to learning from the data we receive as well as continuing to share and collaborate to develop Origin’s capabilities”.