Decoding Media Measurement with Dane Buchanan
Media measurement has always been a moving target. As digital evolves, so do the ways we track, attribute, and evaluate the impact of media spend. From the early days of simple attribution models to today’s complex mix of privacy regulations, platform shifts, and advanced modelling techniques, marketers are constantly challenged to keep up.
In the latest episode of AdTech Heroes, Dane Buchanan, our Chief Data & Analytics Officer dives deep into this very topic. Dane brings over 15 years of experience in media, measurement, and consultancy spanning companies like Ebiquity, TikTok, and now M+C Saatchi Performance.
For many marketers, measurement still defaults to what’s most convenient: last-click or last-touch attribution. But in today’s fragmented, privacy-conscious landscape, that approach is no longer enough.
“True effectiveness comes from understanding the interplay of multiple touchpoints, channels, and behaviours, and being open to the evolution of models and tools that can decode this complexity.”
Dane Buchanan, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at M+C Saatchi Performance
From brand marketers to performance-driven app advertisers, every business is grappling with the same question: how do I prove the value of my media spend in a way that’s both accurate and future-ready?
What Makes Media Measurement Such a Tough Nut to Crack?
At its core, it’s about changing audience behaviour as people don’t always make rational choices. Ads that look great on paper sometimes fail to deliver ROI because of human factors. On top of that, the tech and data side bring its own hurdles: fragmentation. Getting data into systems, cleaning it, and making it usable still accounts for the bulk of a brand’s struggles. Some believe their data is flawless, others know it’s far from it, and most sit somewhere in between.
Then there’s the question of budgets, split across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, TV, radio, and more. Measuring digital alone is tough enough; once you add offline channels, the complexity grows exponentially. That’s where Dane and his team step in: helping brands cut through the noise to find real signals that drive growth.
How Challenges Vary Across Brands and Industries
Measurement frameworks are more like fingerprints than templates; there’s no one-size-fits-all. The complexity often comes down to the pace of conversion.
Take automotive: a car purchase cycle can stretch anywhere from three months to a year, starting from the moment someone sees that first display or TV ad. The challenge here is finding reliable proxies for short-term accountability while ensuring they connect back to long-term outcomes. This is where tools like share of search modelling are starting to gain traction, pioneered by a small but growing group of practitioners.
At the other end of the spectrum, app marketers demand rapid, day-to-day measurement to drive growth. Interestingly, these two worlds aren’t entirely separate. As brands mature, performance-focused marketers often find themselves adopting elements from the strategic models used in longer purchase cycles. In the end, it’s about finding balance, bridging fast-moving tactics with enduring strategy.
The Critical Role of Technology in Measurement
Technology is central and without it, measurement simply doesn’t happen. It begins with the basics: ingesting data in real time, cleaning it, activating it through programmatic networks and making sure your data is ready for activation.
“Over the past few years, we’ve invested heavily in building a tech stack that delivers these real-time capabilities, because speed and accuracy are non-negotiable.”
Dane Buchanan, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at M+C Saatchi Performance
Layered on top of this is Gen AI, which has the potential to truly shift the game by making measurement smarter and more adaptive. But tech isn’t just about efficiency, it’s also protection. Google can pull the plug at any time, and brands need to have the right structure and foundations in place to make sure they are protected from privacy changes and need the right structure and foundation to safeguard their measurement. In today’s landscape, technology isn’t a “nice-to-have”. It’s the insurance policy for media effectiveness.
AI’s Role in the Future of Measurement
AI has been part of media for over a decade in different forms. At least in the programmatic space, where it’s long been used for targeting, activation, and optimization. What’s different today is the rise of generative AI, use of LLMs and agentic AI which is democratizing knowledge and speeding up processes that once took weeks. Traditional media mix modelling, used to rely heavily on analysts running and re-running models. Now, generative AI can assist by building drafts, spotting patterns, and surfacing insights faster, raising the baseline for every team.
That said, many brands are still at the beginning of their AI journey. A recent McKinsey study revealed that nearly 70% had not yet used generative AI, which means much of the current focus is still on fact-finding and experimentation.
For those looking to explore further, resources from industry federations, media and marketing bodies, thought leaders on LinkedIn, and M+C Saatchi Performance’s own knowledge hub offer a great starting point.
“A practical tip for anyone struggling with AI: ask AI to write better prompts for itself. Often, it can craft instructions more effectively than we can, which makes the outputs sharper.”
Dane Buchanan, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at M+C Saatchi Performance
First-Party Data and Consent
With all the noise around AI, it’s easy to forget the foundation: first-party data. Consent is non-negotiable. Brands need to ensure compliance across markets, using proper consent-management tools and platforms. From there, brand maturity matters. Some brands may only need to start with a CRM, while larger organizations can benefit from full CDP solutions to unify customer views and enable activation. The right approach depends on scale, but a unified, compliant data foundation is the baseline for effective measurement.
A Fragmented Media Ecosystem
With the rise of CTV, retail media, digital audio, and a constant stream of new platforms, the media ecosystem is more fragmented than ever. Brands don’t always have the time, or the resources, to make sense of it all. That’s where guidance matters: helping them separate fact from fiction, simplify the noise, and identify where they’ll get the most value.
It’s also worth remembering that measurement isn’t free. There’s always a cost associated with it, but the goal is to ensure the measurement itself delivers ROI. Done well, it can sharpen spend and drive growth; done poorly, it wastes money and erodes trust.
No single methodology or platform has all the answers. Each comes with strengths and trade-offs. The most reliable providers are the ones who acknowledge those limitations and combine multiple approaches. As Dane cautions: “If a provider claims to have a universal solution, it’s usually a red flag.”
To help brands move beyond this patchwork approach, Dane and the team at M+C Saatchi Performance recently launched M+C Saatchi OneView, a unified measurement, planning, and optimization platform that brings together MMM, attribution, and incrementality testing into a single, always-on system. Designed to support real decision-making, M+C Saatchi OneView is built on the very principles Dane highlights throughout this episode: triangulated measurement, speed-to-insight, and methodological transparency. The goal? Help marketers plan smarter, move faster, and invest with confidence.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the rise of agent-based AI is one of the most exciting shifts on the horizon. Instead of a single system, we’ll see multiple AI “agents” working alongside humans, each handling different tasks. While there’s understandable anxiety about job displacement, new opportunities and roles will inevitably emerge as the ecosystem evolves.
If there’s one constant in this industry, it’s change. And for many, that’s the thrill – staying at the edge of innovation is what keeps the work exciting.
