As measurement continues to evolve, WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, has released The Future of Measurement 2025.
The report explores the latest emerging trends in media and creative measurement. It focuses on three key areas:
- the growth of marketing experiments
- the price measurement gap
- the rise of AI-powered creative testing
Paul Stringer, WARC managing editor of research and insights, says: “Once considered the preserve of more advanced advertisers, the next 12 months in marketing measurement will be defined by a growing democratisation of tools and methods.
“However, while AI tools, in particular, bring new speed and scale to measurement, advertisers still lack a complete framework for understanding advertising return on investment.
“With this report we aim to provide clarity on the latest advancements in measurement techniques by sharing insights from both WARC and external research. And equipping marketers with takeaways to put into practice,” Stringer adds.
Key trends set to shape the measurement landscape over the next 12 months
Marketers using experiments doubles
The number of marketers using experiments to measure marketing effectiveness has risen significantly, with the report highlighting that it has doubled from 18% to 36% over the past year.
Experiments provide key insights into advertising effectiveness, allowing marketers to examine causality and the incremental effects of advertising. They also encourage the exploration of new approaches, channels and creative ideas.
After being underused for years, incrementality testing is now gaining traction across the industry. The report credits this shift to the growing availability of testing tools on social and retail media platforms, making it easier for marketers to adopt.
While experiments have limitations, the findings suggest that advertisers should approach them with careful preparation. This includes setting a clear hypothesis, identifying success metrics and selecting the right experimental design.
Given that platform lift tests still lack control, transparency and cross-channel performance comparison capabilities, the research recommends combining experiments with other methodologies and embedding them within a broader learning agenda to maximise effectiveness.
Brands profit from price measurement
The report also highlights that advertisers are becoming more aware of the long-term effects of brand on price. Because of this, they are investing in bespoke measurement solutions to prove it.
The evidence shows that strong brands have more pricing power. Consumers are willing to pay higher prices for their products and services and are less likely to stop buying when prices increase.
Advertising’s impact on price is key to the ongoing argument for long-term brand investment. But most advertising models only measure its impact around three to four years, while the real effect on pricing often takes much longer to show.
As more marketers appear to be taking pricing effects seriously, pricing power is likely to become even more important – especially if US-led global trade tariffs force companies into raising prices for consumers.
At a time when marketing budgets are under near-constant pressure, the report advises marketers to:
- track price as a KPI or get involved in pricing decisions
- track pricing effects over time to calculate advertising’s payback
- avoid treating marketing investment as a short-term cost rather than a long-term investment capable of generating future economic benefits
AI-driven creative testing is rising but human touch remains vital
Creativity might be the most important lever of advertising effectiveness at marketers’ disposal. But, it remains one of the most difficult to quantify.
AI technologies are starting to change how advertisers measure and improve their creative assets. They allow companies to work faster and at a larger scale.
Advertisers can now access detailed insights about how well their creative works across different media, devices and channels.
While AI enables cost-effective testing at scale, the report recommends continuing human testing alongside AI tools – especially for major or ‘hero’ campaign assets. This hybrid approach will help mitigate AI testing limitations, such as evaluating new ideas or thinking.
The integration of creative data into marketing mix modelling (MMM) now allows advertisers to model the impact of creativity using econometric techniques. Though this is still an emerging area of measurement, with guidance and best practices still developing, it opens the door to a clearer understanding of the role creativity plays in driving commercial outcomes for brands.
