From fragmented to unified: Understanding and executing omnichannel advertising

With the average North American owning 13.4 connected devices in 2023, consumer attention continues to fragment across digital and real-world channels. The proliferation of personal and connected devices presents advertisers with unprecedented opportunities—and inherent challenges—in reaching their audiences wherever, whenever. 

Savvy advertisers understand that strategies must evolve to meet changing consumer habits and technological innovation otherwise they risk poor campaign performance, inaccurate measurement, and brand reputation—ultimately mismanaging budgets and hindering brand growth in an increasingly competitive market. 

While solutions that exist today aim to reconcile these challenges and mitigate risks, the industry still seems to struggle with implementing and executing the one strategy that can help: omnichannel advertising. The crux of this issue lies with solutions that claim to be omnichannel but actually operate in silos, failing to deliver the unified customer experience that true omnichannel demands.  

Omnichannel vs multichannel: The differences 

It is important to note that omnichannel advertising and multichannel marketing are commonly used interchangeably. However, they are not the same and must not be conflated. The difference between the two is that multichannel advertising also uses more than one channel to promote a product or service, but these channels are not seamlessly integrated, delivering a siloed and disconnected approach across platforms.  

What omnichannel really means for advertisers 

To understand the challenges in the market, it's worth examining what omnichannel actually means.  

The IAB defines omnichannel as a strategy that integrates all touchpoints across a variety of channels that are connected to deliver a seamless and consistent experience. It's about connecting a customer's interactions across different channels like online, in-store, phone, and social media, ensuring a unified brand experience. A simple Google search for the term omnichannel illustrates a lack of parity across leading technology companies that tout omnichannel advertising as a core offering. 

A more comprehensive definition 

Building upon the IAB's foundation, forward-thinking companies are providing more specific definitions that better capture omnichannel's complexity. Cadent defines it as: connecting fragmented media into one operating system, to coordinate, plan, and dynamically unify execution and measurement across the open web, cable and broadcast TV, connected TV (CTV), digital-out-of-home (DOOH), search & social, OLV, and audio. This definition is particularly valuable because it addresses the full spectrum of channels that modern consumers engage with and emphasizes the importance of unified execution and measurement across online and real-world channels. 

Contextualizing omnichannel advertising: Why it matters more than ever 

Defining and understanding omnichannel advertising is not just about semantics—it’s about the accurate and practical application of omnichannel advertising that supports an open and transparent ecosystem, one that elevates standards across the industry, meets consumer demands, and accounts for technological advancements. Consider for instance: 

• Approximately 94% of US households are expected to own connected TVs by 2027 

• Share of viewing time between cable and broadcast TV in the US was nearly 50% in 2025 

• Close to 20% of US adults say they stream music on a weekly basis, with Gen Z and Millennials being the largest groups to do so 

• The average American spends slightly more than 2 hours on social platforms daily  

These data points illustrate the tremendous change in media consumption habits and the rise of connected devices. Moreover, they underscore the siloed nature of the advertising landscape and beg the question: Are adtech partners truly delivering on their omnichannel promise and are campaign strategies reflective of how individuals consume media? 

The cost of getting it wrong   

Failing to implement and execute omnichannel strategies leaves brands vulnerable, with significant consequences to abstention: 

• Media spend mismanagement: Advertisers risk effectiveness when relying on siloed media strategies that do not support holistic cross-channel, cross-screen optimizations, leaving media budgets vulnerable to poor frequency control and over or underinvestment in key channels 

• Poor ad experiences and campaign performance: Without a clear understanding of one’s intended audience and the channels and devices on which to reach them, it is impossible to deliver messaging that reflects where they are in their consumer journey, negatively impacting campaign outcomes and conversions. 

• Inaccurate measurement: Without a unified view into channels and platforms, advertisers will struggle to acquire complete data on campaign performance. Incomplete data will misinform future strategies or optimization opportunities, hindering overall performance 

Essential components of omnichannel success 

Delivering an optimal consumer experience—one that accounts for where an individual is in their consumer journey and delivers a premium brand experience across channels—is nothing short of a herculean feat. It demands intelligent media strategy, orchestrated across digital and real-world channels and devices for maximum reach and business impact. Advertisers must look to vendors who can usher them through transformation, adopting the latest technologies and best-in-class practices to drive business growth in today’s hyper-connected, omnichannel world. These technologies and approaches include: 

• Unified measurement: Enables advertisers to assess campaign performance holistically, across channels and devices, for effective optimization and campaign planning 

• Inventory curation: Helps advertisers invest in premium, brand-suitable inventory that aligns with their campaign goals, minimizing wasted ad spend 

• ID-less targeting: Furthers privacy-centric practices by using contextual insights, behavioral signals, and machine learning to deliver ads in an increasingly cookieless world 

• Supply chain optimization: Reduces inefficiencies in advertising, enabling advertisers to invest in premium inventory, maximizing budgets 

• Data collaboration: Allows advertisers to use the whole of their data—particularly first-party data—across channels and platforms, to enhance performance without compromising privacy 

• Machine learning: Enables automatic optimizations with technology that learns from historical data to improve campaign performance and drive outcomes at scale 

• Predictive AI technology: Allows advertisers to anticipate consumer behavior and outcomes, allowing for efficient media planning and proactive audience engagement 

Raising the bar: Key questions to ask adtech partners about omnichannel platforms and solutions 

Advertisers and marketers must demand more from their adtech partners and ask key questions regarding their technologies and approaches to help solve critical industry challenges. Below is a list of questions that can help teams vet their vendors, and understand the breadth of offerings within an omnichannel context: 

• How do you enable advertisers to use real-world and online data to inform omnichannel media buying? 

• How do you ensure access to premium, brand-safe, fraud-free inventory? 

• What methodologies or partnerships are in place for measuring campaign impact and business outcomes across channels and devices? 

• How can I buy media through your platform to ensure the best outcomes, across channels and devices, for my brand? 

Looking ahead 

As the media landscape continues to fragment, advertisers must pivot away from managing multiple disparate and disconnected channels and move toward integration. Those who advocate for and move toward convergence across siloes—be those channels, measurement solutions, and devices—both organizationally and at an industry level, are poised to succeed in today’s increasingly connected world.