The definition of TV has never been broader. From video on demand to subscription services to platforms like YouTube on connected TVs, audiences are watching more and in more places than ever – but with shifting viewership behaviors, achieving your brand’s reach goals requires a new approach to planning and measuring media effectiveness.
Instead of treating each streaming service as a silo, a unified CTV approach allows marketers to plan audiences holistically, ensuring budgets drive consistent frequency and reach at user level, with platforms like YouTube providing the scale and controls needed to execute this efficiently.
Alex Glover, managing director of programmatic at Brainlabs, pointed to the challenge of fragmentation: “Total TV consumption is up, but it’s driven by people watching across more and more streaming services… there’s a risk of more and more silos.”
He believes the solution lies in what his team calls ‘Unified CTV’ – a strategic framework that treats CTV as a single, cohesive channel rather than fragmented publisher silos. “We’ve moved beyond traditional programmatic approaches to create a methodology that maximizes audience-first planning across all CTV touchpoints,” he explains.
It’s a challenge that feels very real for Emma Magliocchi, head of media cluster North – UK, Ireland & Nordics at Nestlé, pointing to the pressure on advertiser budgets and importance of efficiency: “With the pressure on our media budget, we simply can’t afford wastage. What we need is efficiency and a way to prove that every pound is working hard.
“We want a strategic partner, someone who’s looking at that wider, holistic media planning perspective and is building in connected TV as part of that, and looking at what that means in the total AV landscape with maturity frameworks to try and push that forward.”
For Google’s Anthony Yuen, measurement lead at YouTube, the solution lies in pairing unified planning with unified measurement. “The bottom line is, you need holistic measurement to support holistic planning and buying,” he says. “If you buy your media in silos, not only will you get siloed measurement, you also have to contend with methodological differences.”
Integrated measurement ensures marketers can track performance consistently across platforms, avoid duplication, and adjust campaigns mid-flight. Tools like YouTube’s brand lift studies and cross-platform attribution, for example, provide actionable insights, enabling data-driven optimizations that protect and grow marketing ROI.
He also pointed to DV360’s scale – according to Comscore, DV360 reaches 80% of CTV devices in the UK – and its ability to control frequency across publishers, as crucial for optimizing ad spend and maximizing impact.“It ensures you don’t saturate some people while completely missing out on others,” he says. This strategic control is key to translating measurement into tangible business outcomes.
The spotlight then turned to examples of this modern, multi-platform approach in action. Nestlé Felix’s star-studded campaign with Robbie Williams, for example, proved just how powerful a unified CTV plan can be, not just in terms of cost efficiency but for engagement and agility.
“The main objective was awareness and consideration using Robbie Williams, leveraging music and story for attentive reach on big screens and making that emotional connection with our consumers,” says Magliocchi.
“With the media planning aspect, YouTube was obviously a key part of the plan, with about 50% of impressions on CTV. We needed that balance to make sure we’ve got the reach and frequency across platforms. And we had a Kantar study measure the impact and saw that YouTube on CTV was really cost efficient.”
It speaks to the scale of YouTube on the TV screen. According to Ipsos, YouTube reaches 51% of the adults on CTV[1], and they spend over 36 minutes per day watching YouTube on connected TV[2] [3], as per May 2025. As Yuen adds, “That’s a substantial part of TV consumption, offering marketers a significant opportunity for attentive reach.”
Another advantage of digital-first CTV is the ability to optimize mid-campaign, as illustrated through a campaign shared by Glover for Brainlabs’ work with Jo Malone London and Tom Hardy, which used live brand lift data to tweak targeting and frequency in-flight – boosting recall and delivering incremental reach that wouldn’t have been possible in silos.
Brainlabs’ approach goes beyond basic frequency capping with a unified strategy that includes predictive audience modeling, real-time cross-platform attribution, and dynamic creative optimization that responds to viewing patterns across publishers.
“Curiosity got the better of us,” says Glover. “We made those optimizations, and immediately search lift, ad recall spiked, and continued on that trajectory,” he added. “It shows that the unified approach, breaking down these silos, really unlocks the power of digital targeting, digital measurement and digital optimization to reach more people for the same amount of money.”
For Magliocchi, this real-time capability “can de-risk investment,” she says. “If we can see a certain demographic is responding better, we can immediately pivot to ensure we are spending the budget where it’s most effective. It means we can be responsive to consumers’ behavior, which is what we want to enable at the heart of the campaign.”
So how can marketers adapt their media plans, unlock the unmatched opportunities of modern TV platforms, and ensure marketing remains a powerful engine for business growth?
Test and adapt quickly: Early experimentation across platforms informs better planning. “It’s too dynamic to rely on playbooks… test early doors and test hard,” says Glover.
Optimize in real-time: Dynamic adjustments protect budget efficiency and improve reach. “Think about how your overall media mix can give you more resilient reach, mutual objectives, optimize in real time, and, of course, more importantly, drive profitable growth for your business,” says Yuen.
Plan around the consumer: Insights into audience behavior should guide every media and measurement decision. “It’s very simple – understand your consumer first and foremost, because that needs to feed into whatever media planning approach you’re having,” says Magliocchi.
CTV isn’t just TV with more screens, it’s a data-driven channel that can deliver scale, efficiency and agility when approached holistically. Unified planning and measurement let campaigns reach more people for the same budget while staying responsive to audience behavior, turning fragmented viewing into resilient reach.
When marketers move beyond siloed buying, they can unlock the full potential of modern CTV; and by embracing platforms like YouTube, with scale, cross-platform measurement and real-time optimization capabilities, can achieve these outcomes without compromising efficiency or insight.
Stay tuned to catch up on the full video of the ‘Building resilient reach in an evolving media landscape’ session coming soon to The Drum TV.
[1] Source: Ipsos custom YouTube CTV study, 18+, UK, May 2025. *Total Country Universe (18+) is defined per custom study specification.
[2] Source: Ipsos custom YouTube CTV study, 18+, UK, May 2025. *Total Country Universe (18+) is defined per custom study specification.
[3] Source: Comscore CTV Intelligence, commissioned by Google, January 2025 (a/o Dec 31, 2024)
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