IAB Australia Video Summit: The biggest opportunity in video isn’t the latest hit show, but unified measurement

Video consumption in Australia is already a bright spot for 2025. But the ongoing lack of unified measurement could limit its full growth potential.

At IAB Australia Video Summit this week, marketers intensified their calls for unified measurement. With video now accounting for over a quarter (27.5%) of Australia’s digital ad spend, proving performance across a highly fragmented video landscape has become even more urgent — especially against the added backdrop of economic uncertainty.

At the same time, speakers warned against short-term cuts that could cost long-term performance, while highlighting the value of “newstalgia” content as a way to reach audiences. That is, the renewed popularity of older content that feels fresh to certain audiences.

It’s time for video measurement that measures up

Calls for measurement tools that are independent, scalable and provide cross-channel parity are only growing louder.

What they said:

“We don’t have time to get into the minutia of all of the different metrics across all the platforms. [I’m looking for] something that is externally validated, something you can talk to confidently, that presents that universal metric across what is a very complex and fragmented industry and set of channels.”

— Lauren Dawber, senior director of media, operations and performance, Optus

Why it matters:

As video consumption fragments across BVOD, SVOD, YouTube and TikTok, inconsistent metrics make it hard to plan and justify spend across platforms.

In fact, 55% of the agencies surveyed in the latest IAB Australia State of the Nation report said executing cross-channel media measurement is their greatest challenge for 2025, outpacing concerns over the slowing Australian economy, global economic impacts (51%), and understanding the opportunities in AI (43%). VOZ (Virtual Australia), the official total TV measurement system developed by OzTAM, is emerging as a potential but still incomplete solution.

The recent inclusion of Netflix and the launch of VOZ Streaming are seen as important steps toward comprehensive, cross-channel measurement, but marketers say the industry still has a way to go.

Think twice about cutting video spend

It might seem like the right thing to do during economic uncertainty, but marketers should be spending smarter — not cutting back.

What they said:

“The answer isn’t always to just stop spending money. [Video] consumption is constantly on the rise — so if you’re not spending, someone else is going to take your audience’s attention.”

“I don’t want to focus on the race to the bottom of CPMs — cheaper inventory doesn’t always mean better.”

— Joseph Tague, director of media strategy and planning, Monks

Why it matters:

As consumers spend more time on video — especially connected TV (CTV) — brands that maintain or increase spend will be better positioned to capture audiences.

So far, Australian marketers appear to be holding the line: Digital video ad spend grew 23.3% year over year in the March 2025 quarter, according to the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Report.

Make room in your budgets for ‘newstalgia’

Media planning which doesn’t account for the enduring value of evergreen content and their audiences could be missing a trick.

What they said:

“There was a previous paradigm in media consumption, which is that recency was one of the most important factors in determining the value of content. Increasingly, you have to look at the data and say: is that honestly still true?”

“It is undeniable, when you look at the data, that there is a lot of this evergreen consumption that is driving ... how people globally are spending their time.”

— David Salmon, EVP and managing director, International, Tubi.

Why it matters:

In the attention economy, evergreen content is outperforming new releases. According to a recent Nielsen report, older titles — including Suits, Grey’s Anatomy and Friends — made up over 60% of the top 10 most-streamed shows in the U.S.

Tubi, known for its free ad-supported model, has leaned into this trend with a robust catalog of older titles and saw its audience surpass 97 million monthly active users in 2024.

Out with the new, in with the old? Maybe not — but marketers chasing only the latest content risk missing where audiences are actually spending time.