For all the noise around IP advertising, the UK industry is still stuck in pilot mode. We talk about innovation, we run trials, we explore formats, meanwhile, the walled gardens are eating our lunch. Unless broadcasters, platforms, and advertisers align on standards and measurement, the future of TV advertising will be written elsewhere.
The shift to IP delivery is not theoretical. Viewers already expect seamless, personalised experiences across devices, and they increasingly reject the blunt, repetitive advertising of the past. If the TV sector doesn’t deliver on those expectations, audiences, and the advertisers that follow them, will migrate to platforms that can.
Right now, fragmentation is our biggest weakness. Each part of the ecosystem looks only at its slice of the value chain: creative agencies fixate on assets, platforms on data, broadcasters on monetisation. But without a shared framework, no one has a complete picture. The result? Misalignment, duplication, and a lack of trust from advertisers who demand clarity and consistency.
Measurement is the Achilles’ heel. UK buyers still rely on BARB for trust and accountability, but digital buyers work in a completely different paradigm. Until we can offer advertisers a single, credible view across IP, linear, and digital, ad spend will flow to those who can and right now, that means the global platforms.
Technical standards exist, but they’re honoured more in theory than in practice. Devices behave differently, implementations vary, and broadcasters pay the price in technical debt. Meanwhile, smaller broadcasters are being left behind entirely, priced out of infrastructure, consent management, and advanced measurement. If IP advertising becomes a game only the largest players can afford, the UK’s rich mix of regional and niche voices will be squeezed out.
And yet the opportunity is real. Generative AI can democratise creative personalisation, shoppable formats can turn engagement into revenue, and clean-room data environments can balance addressability with trust. But none of this will scale if we don’t solve the basics: interoperability, metadata consistency, and above all, measurement.
This is a moment of decision. The technology is here, the audience appetite is clear, and the advertiser demand is strong. What’s missing is alignment. Unless we move beyond fragmented pilots and start building a shared, standards-based model, the UK risks ceding the future of TV advertising to others.
The DTG will convene, coordinate, and codify, but the industry must choose to act. Because if fragmentation continues to strangle progress, it won’t be IP advertising that fails. It will be UK television that loses its place at the advertising table.
Get involved in the workstream below:
