What is Lantern?

Lantern is a cutting-edge measurement and reporting solution being developed for the UK TV advertising market.

Lantern will allow agencies and advertisers to witness the online responses and actions created by TV advertising.

Who’s behind Lantern?

Lantern is a cross-TV collaborative project founded by ITV, Sky, and Channel 4, alongside Thinkbox, the marketing body for UK commercial TV.

FAQs

Why is Lantern needed?

TV advertising’s effectiveness has been proven many times and in many ways over the years, both as a standalone medium and when used with other media.
Data from Profit Ability 2 (2024), for example, shows that across a full 2-year payback period TV consistently delivers the biggest profit volume across all product categories.
Looking specifically at immediate profit return (sales occurring in the same week as the ad exposure), Profit Ability 2 found that TV is the second biggest driver after Generic PPC.
So we know TV works quickly, it’s just not easy for advertisers to measure. The primary evidence – a viewer sees an ad, then acts on it – has remained elusive at scale and across many categories.
Lantern will add a significant new measurement angle to the industry’s general understanding of TV advertising’s impact. It will provide direct, systematic evidence of TV advertising’s short and medium-term online effects.

How will Lantern work?

Lantern brings together TV ad exposures seen by panel households with data about their subsequent and related online activities, e.g. searching for the advertised brand, visiting the website, going to the brand’s app, buying the product online, etc.
The initial phase in 2025 saw the building and operation of a Proof of Concept (PoC) which combined samples of TV ad exposure data from the 4-million home Sky panel and c. 2-million YouView homes, together with outcome data provided by consumer online behavioural panel company, Measure Protocol.
This PoC, together with responses to a Request for Information (RFI) which were reviewed in summer 2025, have provided the insights needed to expand Lantern into a Beta Phase in 2026.

What’s the benefit to advertisers and agencies of Lantern?

Lantern will yield invaluable new insights into how TV advertising works, for the duration of a campaign and for some time afterwards. Media planners, media buyers and marketers will be able to access never previously quantified data about what consumers do online as a direct result of seeing TV ads.
There is no limit to what Lantern data could be used for, but for media agencies the base level is reporting on past campaigns and planning future campaigns.
For marketers – both existing and new-to-TV advertisers – Lantern will provide the accountability and quantifiable results that they demand.
Lantern will also be invaluable to the research, data, and business insights communities because, beyond individual campaign analysis, it will allow them to derive more general learnings and useful truths about marketing and its effects.
In time, data from Lantern will also contribute to the study and understanding of advertising effectiveness, much in the way that the IPA Effectiveness Awards have done for so long.

When will Lantern be available to agencies/advertisers?

Lantern is progressing through various stages of development.
The collaboration was formed in mid-2024, and by February 2025 a Proof of Concept (PoC) was functioning with viewing data and outcomes information flowing through a small-scale panel. The PoC has continued operating throughout 2025.
Lantern will be built to a larger scale for a Beta Phase in Q4 2025 and throughout 2026, with more precise dates and stages indicated in due course. During the Beta Phase we are seeking the active involvement of TV advertisers – please Contact Us if this is of interest.

Will this cover both Linear TV and BVOD?

Lantern is planned to cover both linear and VOD in due course.
The scope of the Proof of Concept (PoC) is linear-only for the sake of expedience during testing.
The addition of BVOD brings added technical challenges but is planned to be part of the Beta Phase in 2026.
Expanding Lantern to include more of the TV ecosystem (AVOD, CTV, FAST, etc.) has not yet been considered in detail, other than acknowledging that they are desirable future developments.

Will Lantern data cover all TV companies?

Lantern will provide multi-outcome data from channels represented by Sky, ITV and Channel 4. They are the shareholders of Thinkbox and the collaboration’s founding participants.
Data will be available in total summary form (i.e. Total TV) rather than broken down into component sales houses, channels or platforms. It is envisaged that advertisers will be able to see their own data and, once Lantern is fully established, be able to compare it with category norms.
Other broadcasters should be able to come on board in due course, once Lantern is established.

How can agencies/advertisers get involved?

The initial Proof of Concept (PoC) stage focused on the technical aspects of setting-up the panels behind Lantern and ensuring that the necessary dataflows work effectively.
In 2026, as Lantern moves into a scaled-up Beta Phase, the Lantern team is keen to work with advertisers and agencies to compare Lantern insights with ones already obtained from historic measurement programmes. We’re also interested in what kinds of system reporting would be especially helpful or revelatory.
During the Beta Phase we are seeking the active involvement of TV advertisers and their media agencies – please Contact Us if this is of interest.

Where can I find out more?

If you’ve already scoured this website, you’re pretty well up to speed on Lantern.
But if we’ve left you wanting more, please contact us. The quickest route is to email Andrew.McIntosh@LanternUK.tv and he will either reply to you directly, or he will acknowledge your enquiry and pass it on to the most suitable person within Thinkbox, ITV, Sky or Channel 4.

How to get involved

If you would like to know more about Lantern, firstly please take a good look at our website.

We're keen to hear from advertisers and agencies who might like to become involved n testing as part of the Beta Phase, from now onwards.

If you’re from an ad tech or measurement company and you are interested in being kept up to date, ask to join our mailing list if you aren’t already receiving occasional emails from us.

How to get in touch

For all enquiries please contact Andrew McIntosh in the first instance.

Shining a light on TV advertising