At The Future of Brands conference this week, Peter Rowe, Head of Media at NatWest Group, gave an impassioned call to arms for the industry to fully embrace Origin, ISBA’s cross-media measurement tool. Alongside Steph Marks, Planning Director at Origin, Rowe helped set out why Origin is so vital for the future of media measurement, how it is already delivering new insights, and what the road ahead looks like.
What is Origin?
Steph Marks opened the discussion by explaining the core purpose of Origin. At its simplest, Origin provides a single-source view of total campaign reach across multiple media channels.
Drawing on her 25 years of agency experience, Steph noted the long-standing problem of campaign measurement, where reach across different media was calculated separately. Clients would often ask, “What is my total campaign reach?” – and until now, there was no clear answer.
Origin solves this by combining first-party data with panel data and running it through a privacy-protecting virtualising model. It allocates impressions to individuals, accurately showing unique campaign reach and frequency across platforms.
Steph highlighted that, in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, where new channels emerge almost daily and platforms operate as walled gardens, the need for a unified measurement solution is greater than ever.
Why does the industry need Origin?
Peter Rowe underlined that the push for better cross-media measurement is global, driven by the needs of advertisers everywhere. He pointed to the WFA’s guiding principles behind Origin, praising the focus on trust, transparency, and comprehensive data.
He described Origin’s UK-first beta trial as a world-first initiative. “If you are looking for optimism right now, the UK is doing something globally significant for the very first time, look at this” he said. Rowe also highlighted the collaborative, almost altruistic, spirit behind Origin, with brands, agencies, media owners, and platforms all contributing expertise and funding from the start.
His rallying call to the audience was clear: Origin is an audacious, industry-led solution to a major challenge, and the entire advertising ecosystem must support it for it to succeed.
What can brands get from Origin today?
Steph was keen to stress that Origin is not about providing definitive answers, but rather surfacing new, additive data that offers fresh perspectives for advertisers.
She likened it to gathering breadcrumbs in a criminal investigation, helping marketers open new lines of inquiry rather than handing them a final verdict.
Three immediate use cases were shared with the audience:
- Campaign reach and frequency: Historically, media planning has operated in silos, leading to inaccurate assumptions about overall reach. By deduplicating audience data, Origin provides a true view of campaign reach. For example, while separate vendor reports might suggest a combined reach of 49.7 million adults, Origin revealed the real figure to be 40.1 million.
- Understanding channel effectiveness: With Origin, advertisers can see which channels delivered the highest unique reach. This allows for more informed decisions about investment, especially when considering cost effectiveness and the true value of different media partners.
- Flighting and frequency management: Origin’s week-by-week analysis offers a completely new lens on how campaigns build over time. Advertisers can now see when vendors stopped contributing to new reach, helping them refine media flighting strategies for future campaigns.
How is Origin developing?
Peter Rowe confirmed that the beta trial has already delivered clear value to NatWest. “It is additive,” he said, explaining that Origin provides an extra layer of robust analysis on top of existing measurement frameworks.
Steph also pointed to one of Origin’s most exciting features: second-by-second reporting across all media. This creates a true apples-to-apples comparison between TV and digital video, enabling much deeper insights into creative effectiveness and audience behaviour.
Using completion rates as an example, Steph showed how advertisers can now track how many people not only saw their campaigns, but completed them. In one example, of 40 million people reached, 33 million viewed the campaign through to completion, offering a new level of campaign performance evaluation.
Peter concluded by encouraging the audience to remain optimistic and engaged. While the current platform primarily covers linear TV, YouTube, and Meta, more partners such as TikTok and Amazon are expected to join by the end of 2025. As functionality and coverage expand, Origin’s potential will only grow, he said.
