Only 32% marketers able to measure media effectiveness across traditional, digital platforms: Nielsen

Nielsen’s seventh Annual Marketing Report paints a vivid picture of a rapidly evolving global marketing landscape in 2025. While marketers are tightening their budgets amid economic uncertainty, they are simultaneously leaning into emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence (AI), connected TV (CTV), and retail media networks—to drive growth and relevance. One of the biggest challenges marketers face today, however, is holistic measurement, the report noted, highlighting how only 32% globally say they can measure media effectiveness across both traditional and digital platforms.

The global study, based on insights from 1,400 senior marketing professionals across industries, reveals that 71% of brands with ad budgets exceeding $1 billion identify AI-driven personalization and optimization as the most impactful trend for their businesses this year. Additionally, 65% of marketers plan to expand their use of retail media networks, while 56% will boost spending on over-the-top (OTT)/CTV channels, up three percentage points from last year.

Interestingly, traditional media is making a modest comeback. Despite the digital-first outlook, more marketers are increasing their out-of-home advertising spend, with 16% planning to raise OOH budgets by over 50%.

But the report also highlights a core tension: balancing short-term revenue goals with long-term brand building. While marketers in Asia-Pacific and North America are evenly split between these priorities, their European counterparts are decisively focused on bottom-of-funnel returns. Marketers in North America and Asia-Pacific are balancing a near-even split between brand awareness (48% and 50% respectively) and revenue growth (47% and 52% respectively), whereas in Europe, 59% of European marketers put revenue growth at the top priority, compared to just 37% for brand awareness. In Latin America it is 46% compared to 41% in favour of brand awareness. Another balancing act for marketers to master is around the share of paid marketing budget going to digital versus traditional channels. Almost a quarter (24%) of global marketers said digital would be their priority, whilst almost a third (32%) said traditional would be their focus. The majority (44%) though gave a balanced answer with Latin America having the most even distribution.

One of the biggest challenges marketers face today, however, is holistic measurement, the report added.

Only 32% globally say they can measure media effectiveness across both traditional and digital platforms, with the number dropping even lower in Europe (23%) and Latin America (29%).

There are also numerous challenges to calculating ROI of cross-media campaigns. These include issues with data, weak tools, too many vendors, and a lack of transparency across new channels, such as retail media networks, which are exciting but add complexity.

Alison Gensheimer, SVP, Marketing, Nielsen, commented, “The report has uncovered that, despite difficult economic uncertainties, marketers are demonstrating their inherent agility by embracing new touchpoints like Retail Media Networks and CTV, optimizing media mixes, and leveraging AI. To truly capitalize on these advancements and align media investments with objectives, reliable and comprehensive measurement is paramount."

This is the seventh annual marketing report Nielsen has produced and the fourth to be global.