In the tangled web of today’s media platforms, marketers face numerous challenges when planning campaigns. With media channels more fragmented than ever, tighter marketing budgets, and the growing difficulty of measuring every element of the creative and media mix, the task has become increasingly complex. However, the way to a successful brand remains through their touchpoints and interactions they have with consumers. This means that understanding their media spend is one of the cornerstones of this journey.
How to easily measure the ROI of a campaign is an ever-present thorn on the side of marketers. According to Kantar Media Reactions 2024, 55% globally consider it while making budget allocations, making it one of the top 3 most important factors going into media decision-making. On top of that, 90% of marketers think long-term (brand) ROI needs to be measured. This is now a hygiene factor in any functional marketing department.
So, as culture and marketing technology evolve, how does measurement keep up with it? In a world of walled gardens, retail media networks and an incredibly fragmented media environment, one way to campaign tracking is passive measurement. Passive measurement is based on factual consumer behaviour tracking, rather than relying on consumer claims. It can use methods such as live GPS tracking for the real-time location of the consumer and real-time audio matching to recognise the ad being consumed.
While the concept isn’t new, passive measurement has recently been growing, with technology finally catching up, and demand increasing from marketers. Kantar data from 2025 shows, out of over 500 senior marketers interviewed, only 7% globally do not show interest in working with passive measurement. Of course, being able to measure a single campaign isn’t enough; passive measurement benchmarks are now being put in place to give a full picture of a campaign’s long-term ROI to marketers.
Kantar’s LIFT+ powered by THX has measured over 1,000 campaigns since 2020 and is now able to provide a general look at the media landscape through its passive lens. Traditional channels, as well as newer channels, which are often hard to get benchmarks for, are included. The picture that this measurement framework provides both aligns with hybrid crossmedia benchmarks and uncovers new insights.
One of the most impactful channels in this new meta-analysis is revealed to be video streaming. Video streaming, which includes platforms such as Prime Video, Netflix or Disney+, shows up as the channel delivering the highest campaign contributions to the brand in terms of ad awareness, top of mind brand awareness, and brand preference. The awareness figures are particularly interesting as video streaming still has a somewhat low reach. One of the reasons for this success is down to the marketers’ evolved grasp of how this “newer” channel works. Video streaming ads tested within these campaigns overperform in creative metrics, especially when it comes to likeability and appeal, 17% and 11% above the average ad, respectively.
Video streaming delivers the strongest impact across many key brand
Another “newer” channel that demands marketer attention in our LIFT+ database is digital out-of-home (DOOH.) Passive measurement is particularly important for DOOH, as it uses the real location and time the consumer is exposed to the campaign, making it fully accurate. The exposure, which was traditionally difficult to ascertain, becomes precise. As a result, digital OOH’s impact stands out more clearly. The channel boasts the highest impact when it comes to spontaneous brand awareness and purchase intent. Separately, according to Kantar Media Reactions 2024, it is one of the most preferred channels by consumers. However, unlike video streaming ads, digital OOH ads need a bit of a boost in terms of creative performance which will carry the channel’s performance even further.
In this database, new, “tech-savvy” campaigns are measured more often, and traditional channels like TV, radio, newspaper, while still present, show up less frequently than they used to. Importantly, while broadcast TV maintains its overwhelming advantage in reach, its impact can sometimes take the backseat. Still strong in providing awareness, other channels overtake TV in terms of brand consideration contributions. It is also interesting to note that out of 135 campaigns analysed between 2021-Q1 2025, only 48 of them had TV as a part of it.
TV is the channel that provides the highest reach no matter the methodology
While their presence might not be as often as digital-native channels, radio and newspaper do well in terms of brand contributions, both leading in brand consideration, and newspaper also leading for brand image.
Passive measurement is here and available now, both to be employed solely and or within hybrid methodologies. It can cover new-type campaigns that do not necessarily rely on traditional channels but also support with established ways of campaign planning. The media industry no longer needs to rely only on human memory and is now capable of providing long-term ROI measurement that captures factual consumer behaviours. This will help the future of media planning become more transparent and easier to track for marketers.
Our solution
Discover today LIFT+ powered by THX, Kantar’s latest revolutionary multichannel passive tracking solution.
With LIFT+ powered by THX, you can capture real consumer media exposure across every touchpoint, 24/7, to identify your campaign impact.
Our mobile app tracks the complete consumer media journey delivering real-time actionable insights that let you optimise throughout the campaign cycle.
From digital video and connected TV content, to out of home advertising and store visits – track exposure across all channels that matter to you within one single-source app.
To find out more about how we measure campaign effectiveness with the latest passive measurement technology, click here or, get in touch.
