IAB Australia review finds industry needs shared data standards as advertising measurement grows more complex

IAB Australia has released the first wave of findings from its Future of Measurement review, which highlights that Australian media measurement is at a critical juncture. Confidence is strong within individual channels but falls away when it comes to advertising’s collective impact. The review’s central finding is that the constraint is data, not a shortage of measurement methods, with respondents calling for shared, standardised data for media planning and the assessment of advertising effectiveness. The complete review is being presented today at IAB Australia’s MeasureUp conference in Sydney.

Key findings from the review include:

• A shared data standard is the industry’s clearest ask. Respondents want a common taxonomy for campaign data across marketing mix modelling, attribution, and experimentation, for example IAB US’s Campaign Data Standards 1.0, released in August 2026, as existing global work Australia could adapt rather than recreate.
• Confidence lags the complexity of modern advertising. Organisations are reasonably confident assessing individual channels, but far less confident in how advertising collectively drives business outcomes. There is strong industry consensus that the solution relies on integrating complementary measurement methods however combining them is complex. Separate IAB US research cited in the review concurred finding only 39% of US buy-side decision makers use marketing mix modelling, attribution and incrementality together.
• Clean rooms are everyone’s answer, and almost nobody’s reality. Data clean rooms are the most frequently nominated answer to privacy-safe data collaboration for measurement yet remain among the least realised in practice. 
• AI will accelerate measurement but won’t fix it. It can automate data preparation, modelling, and reporting, but cannot compensate for poor-quality data, and raises new questions about what evidence machines can rely on as buying becomes more agentic. 
• Cross-media audience measurement for media planning remains the biggest unresolved gap. Australia’s channel-specific currencies operate largely in silos, and the industry is calling for greater harmonisation of metrics and definitions and integration of these datasets. The OzTam and Ipsos iris data integration is seen as the model for future combining of datasets. 
• The review found wide agreement that economically sustainable, industry-endorsed digital audience data for media planning remains important. Media owners and agencies continue to rely on this independent, standardised, comparable, transparent, and audited data to compare and evaluate digital media ad environments and allocate investment.

Natalie Stanbury, Director of Research at IAB Australia, said: “This review confirms what much of the industry has felt for some time: while there is confidence in individual channels, there is less confidence in how they work together to demonstrate business outcomes. The consistent message from respondents is that the industry doesn’t need another standalone measurement method. It needs to build on strong foundations, starting with a common standard for structured campaign data that every measurement method can rely on.”

Suzie Cardwell, Chair, IAB Australia and Chief Data, Product and Technology Officer – Enterprise at Nine said: “Good measurement starts with good data. If campaign data isn’t clean, consistent, and comparable across channels, no amount of modelling sophistication will make up for it. This review gives the industry a practical starting point. Agree the taxonomy, agree the standards, and build from there.”

The findings have led to a set of 8 priority areas and various suggested initiatives that will be put forward for further validation and consideration by IAB Australia’s Measurement, Ad Effectiveness, Data, Retail & Commerce Media Councils, to inform the organisation’s 2027 measurement strategy. 

About the review

The review draws on qualitative interviews with senior marketing, strategy, measurement, data and insights stakeholders across 34 companies, together with measurement-relevant findings from IAB Australia’s State of the Nation surveys of the advertising buy-side over the past year, and a range of Australian and global secondary sources.