As we head into what is somehow only my fifth Cannes*, many are talking about the future of creativity in an AI-powered world. That’s been on my mind quite a bit lately, and I enjoyed sharing my thoughts recently at another important event for me.
But the other big topic that will dominate Cannes conversations this year? Outcomes measurement. On trend after all these years!
Our team has only ever been focused on measuring the behavioral outcomes that help brands, agencies, networks, and streamers know the fair value of their Convergent TV media — and it’s gratifying to see so many following in our wake!
So as we fly to Cannes, I’d like to share 5 things we’ve learned from a laser focus on TV outcomes measurement and 104 trillion data points we’ve collected along the way:
1. AI isn’t killing search. It’s the next evolution of it.
For all the hand-wringing about AI’s impact on search and web site referrals (aka, one of the dominant pathways in the 21st century customer journey), recent EDO research finds that the number of Google searches per household has actually increased over the past year — by an average of 17%. It’s just the link clicks from those searches that are getting crushed, down 22%. And with those plummeting web site visits the classic marketing measurement frameworks are getting crushed too.
As consumers get savvier with AI prompts, they extract answers without visiting websites. This renders inbound clicks a poor signal of intent, but makes search queries themselves an even more resilient signal. Choose your outcomes carefully for the new measurement framework you’ll need for this zero-click world.
2. Live sports — and the Super Bowl — are even bigger than you think
Live sports aren't just high-reach; they are where viewers are most engaged. Our work with Amazon Prime Video revealed that ads during live sports were 41% more likely to drive engagement than the average comparable TV ad. The stakes matter: we’ve measured and ranked ads from 10 years of Super Bowls, finding that to match the response of a single 2026 Big Game ad, a brand would need 787 ads during average primetime programming. And women’s sports are surging; ads during these events were 15% more effective than the primetime average, with the NCAA basketball final driving 8.4x more impact.
3. Outcomes can’t be measured in a vacuum
Some new entrants think you can measure outcomes without a point of comparison, but without modeling baseline consumer propensity, you cannot isolate the behavior caused by an ad. That’s why we measure incrementality to hone in on actions caused by linear or streaming TV (and now Social Gaming!). Furthermore, a syndicated data set is essential to understand performance against competitors. After all, your ad-driven engagement doesn’t mean much if you’re getting blown out of the water by one of your rivals.
4. TV is a brand AND demand channel
For decades, TV was pigeonholed as a “brand” channel for awareness. But TV has always been “Brand” AND “Demand.” Marketers just couldn’t see it without outcome measurement, so they mistook it for an “OR.”
Modern marketers are now beginning to expect their TV creatives and sponsored integrations to deliver both changes in brand loyalty and immediate performance. The right kind of behavioral outcome measurement lights up how the customer journey reflects the brand AND demand impact of Convergent TV ads.
5. TV Intelligence is table stakes; Optimization is the future
Outcomes measurement is finally getting its due, but we’ve been saying for some time that the real game-changer lies in scalable optimization powered by investment-grade outcomes data.
Just as industrial-age innovations enabled people to meet their basic needs and spend more time seeking love, recognition, and self-actualization, AI innovations are making it possible for all of us to focus on delivering higher-order value to our partners and stakeholders.
In our case, that means empowering marketers to go beyond merely knowing how their ads performed. Across streaming frequency, creative rotation, and media choice, we’re building tools that help brands, agencies, networks, and streamers automatically maximize their performance — often while a campaign is still in flight.
Want to know where TV outcomes is going next? Let’s talk at Cannes.
I can’t lie: it’s felt great to finally see so much of our industry embrace outcomes measurement. It’s been 10+ long, sometimes lonely years of making our case, showing our work, and proving the power of immediate consumer engagement behaviors to drive business results.
While others are just arriving at the starting line, we're already racing to what’s next: optimization.
So find us at Cannes or anytime after if you want to talk about the future of TV outcomes. We'll be the ones working on a predictive vision that’s almost straight out of a sci-fi movie.
* EDO was so small and frugal for so many years that my first Cannes was in 2022 after we raised growth capital from Shamrock Capital. Sort of like dog years, a week in Cannes is like 7 years worth of big meetings so it feels like it’s been 35 years.