Origin Has Landed
Origin Has Landed — And It’s a Big Moment for Cross-Media Planning
After years of industry debate, delays and endless talk of “holistic measurement”, the UK finally has a credible cross-media solution: Origin. And from our vantage point as a TV-first media agency, this is a genuinely meaningful step forward for advertisers.
For too long, planners have been forced to stitch together fragmented datasets—BARB here, platform reports there, and a whole lot of duplication in between. As audiences jump between linear TV, BVOD and online video, understanding true reach and frequency across channels has become one of the industry’s biggest headaches.
Origin tackles this head-on by delivering deduplicated cross-media reach and frequency across linear TV, YouTube and online video. For the first time, advertisers can see:
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How much incremental reach digital video is actually adding to TV
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How often real people (not cookies, not devices) are being exposed to a campaign
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Where frequency is efficient… and where budget is being wasted
This is a welcome shift for any advertiser investing heavily in TV and wanting clarity on how digital video complements, rather than cannibalises, their broadcast reach.
It’s Not the Finished Article — Yet
While we’re enthusiastic, we’re also realistic. Today’s version of Origin doesn’t capture every platform. Some major players aren’t integrated yet. Definitions and technical standards will continue to evolve. And agencies will need time to build workflows around it.
But the direction of travel is absolutely right — and this is the strongest step yet toward the cross-media measurement we’ve been asking for.
What This Means for Our Clients
For brands we work with — especially those investing in scalable, effective TV — Origin offers a clearer lens through which to judge the role of digital video. It helps answer questions we’re asked every day:
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“Is YouTube actually adding reach to my TV plan?”
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“Am I paying for the same impression twice?”
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“Where should my next £50k go?”
Origin won’t replace BARB or platform analytics, but it will sit alongside them as a powerful strategic tool — improving how campaigns are evaluated, optimised and justified.