DOUGLAS partners with AudienceProject for cross-media measurement in DACH

DOUGLAS announced on October 28, 2025, a strategic partnership with AudienceProject to implement comprehensive cross-media measurement capabilities across its operations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The agreement provides the beauty retailer with independent audience measurement technology to track campaign performance across multiple advertising channels.

The partnership grants DOUGLAS access to AudienceReport, a software-as-a-service platform that measures deduplicated reach and frequency across the open web, social media, online video, connected television, and linear television. According to the announcement, the platform integrates directly with advertising platforms to provide continuous audience insights for both planning and campaign optimization during active flights.

"We're excited to partner with AudienceProject as we place great emphasis on the transparency and effectiveness in our media strategy," Charlotte Rizza, Head of Media, PR & Events at DOUGLAS DACH, stated in the release. "With AudienceReport, we can compare ad performance across channels and gain actionable insights on how to maximise the reach in our target audiences."

The measurement solution addresses fragmentation challenges that have emerged as consumer attention disperses across digital platforms and traditional media. DOUGLAS operates approximately 1,920 stores across Europe as part of the DOUGLAS Group, which includes commercial brands NOCIBÉ, Parfumdreams, and Niche Beauty. The company describes itself as Europe's leading omnichannel premium beauty retailer.

AudienceReport enables advertisers to measure total reach and incremental contribution from individual channels within multi-platform campaigns. The system provides unified performance views by aggregating data from disparate sources, allowing marketing teams to identify which channels deliver the most efficient audience exposure. This capability has become increasingly valuable as European retail media spending reached €13.7 billion in 2024, demonstrating 21.1% growth compared to the broader advertising market's 6.1% expansion.

The DACH region represents a significant opportunity for advanced measurement solutions. Germany recorded €17.9 billion in digital advertising spend, positioning it as Europe's second-largest market behind the United Kingdom. Austria achieved a 17.8% growth rate, demonstrating exceptional digital advertising expansion among mature Western European economies.

Independent measurement has emerged as critical infrastructure for advertising effectiveness in fragmented media environments. Connected TV's share of media budgets is projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, underscoring the importance of unified measurement capabilities across television and streaming platforms.

The DOUGLAS implementation follows a pattern of European retailers adopting sophisticated measurement technologies. MediaMarktSaturn launched its first offsite retail media program in September 2025, rolling out initially in Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and Belgium before expanding to Austria and Switzerland in early 2026. These developments signal a broader transformation in how European retailers approach media measurement and advertising effectiveness.

"We're proud to support DOUGLAS in putting audience measurement at the heart of its business," Myriam Zandvakili, Sales Director DACH at AudienceProject, stated. "This partnership reflects DOUGLAS' commitment to data-driven decision-making and will empower their teams to optimise media investments across the board."

Cross-platform deduplication requires technical infrastructure capable of identifying unique viewers across devices, formats, and platforms without compromising privacy. Traditional measurement approaches often count the same viewer multiple times across different platforms, inflating reach numbers and reducing campaign effectiveness insights. Sophisticated measurement systems address this challenge by providing accurate audience counting across digital ecosystems.

The measurement platform operates independently from the channels being measured, allowing DOUGLAS to compare performance across different platforms using consistent methodology and metrics. This independence enables more objective assessment of channel effectiveness compared to platform-provided analytics, which may emphasize favorable performance indicators without providing cross-channel context.

AudienceProject has expanded its measurement capabilities across European markets throughout 2025. The company launched cross-media measurement services in Mexico in September, marking entry into Latin America's second-largest advertising market. Direct Netflix integration launched in October across the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, enabling independent audience measurement of Netflix campaigns.

The technology enables real-time campaign monitoring. Marketing teams can track how many people within target demographics view advertisements across channels and how frequently those individuals encounter campaigns. These data points help media buyers identify potential over-exposure or under-delivery issues during active campaigns, allowing for immediate optimization adjustments.

Frequency management proves particularly valuable in multi-channel environments. Excessive frequency can lead to diminishing returns or audience fatigue, while insufficient frequency may fail to build adequate brand awareness. By measuring campaigns across all channels simultaneously, advertisers can optimize frequency across the entire media mix rather than managing each channel in isolation.

Research demonstrates that cross-media measurement can significantly impact budget allocation. AudienceProject's collaboration with Heineken and Meta revealed digital channels delivered 19.4 times more efficient reach compared to traditional television campaigns. These insights prompted Heineken to increase digital investment allocation from 30% to over 42% of media budget.

The partnership addresses specific technical requirements for premium beauty retail advertising. Beauty brands typically maintain presence across multiple channels, including television advertising for brand awareness, digital display for product consideration, social media for engagement, and connected television for streaming audiences. Without unified measurement, determining optimal budget allocation across these channels becomes challenging.

DOUGLAS joins a growing roster of European retailers implementing independent measurement solutions. German marketing specialist esome expanded its partnership with AudienceProject in June 2025 to introduce comprehensive audience measurement spanning connected TV and social media platforms. The expanded arrangement leverages AudienceProject's technology to connect CTV and social media campaigns, enabling in-flight optimization across channels.

The measurement system incorporates co-viewing analysis for connected television, a technical advancement that measures multiple viewers watching content simultaneously on single devices. This capability provides more accurate audience measurement for household viewing environments where streaming content consumption often involves multiple people viewing a single screen.

AudienceProject pioneered YouTube cross-media measurement through integration with Google's Ads Data Hub for Measurement Partners in July 2024. This collaboration positioned AudienceProject alongside established measurement platforms like Nielsen and Comscore in offering comprehensive cross-media reach measurement for YouTube campaigns across devices, including connected TV with co-viewing capabilities.

The timing aligns with broader industry transformation toward integrated measurement solutions. IAB Europe released an updated guide to retail and commerce media in July 2025, noting that over 90% of advertisers now partner with retailers for first-party data access and purchase-path engagement. The comprehensive educational resource addresses industry needs for standardization and best practices as retail media transitions from experimental advertising tactic to strategic infrastructure.

For marketing teams managing omnichannel retail operations, unified measurement provides operational benefits beyond campaign optimization. The data enables more accurate forecasting of media investment requirements, more precise targeting of high-value customer segments, and more efficient allocation of creative resources across channels based on performance evidence.

The DOUGLAS Group operates across Europe with an omnichannel model that combines physical retail presence with e-commerce capabilities. This operational structure requires measurement solutions that can track customer journeys across online and offline touchpoints. While the announced partnership focuses on media measurement rather than attribution, the insights generated can inform broader strategic decisions about media investment relative to other marketing activities.

European digital advertising reached €118.9 billion in 2024, representing 16% year-over-year growth and the strongest expansion since 2011. Retail media emerged as a key growth driver, with spending expected to reach €28.8 billion by 2028 according to IAB Europe forecasts. This expansion reflects fundamental shifts in how brands allocate marketing budgets, with increasing emphasis on platforms that provide direct access to consumer purchase behavior and first-party data.

The measurement technology deployment reflects DOUGLAS's strategic emphasis on advertising efficiency in competitive beauty retail markets. Premium beauty products typically require sustained marketing investment to build brand awareness and maintain consideration among target consumers. Optimizing this investment through improved measurement can generate significant competitive advantages in markets where multiple retailers compete for similar customer segments.

AudienceProject operates as a software-as-a-service company empowering advertisers through independent cross-media measurement. The company's technology enables marketing decisions based on comprehensive audience data across multiple platforms and devices. Bruno Furnari joined AudienceProject as Chief Product Officer in October 2025 to advance independent cross-media measurement amid fragmentation and artificial intelligence transformation in advertising technology.

The partnership announcement arrives as the advertising industry grapples with measurement standardization challenges across increasingly complex media landscapes. Platform-provided metrics often use different methodologies, making direct comparisons difficult. Independent measurement providers offer consistent methodologies across platforms, enabling more objective performance assessment.

DOUGLAS did not disclose financial terms of the partnership or specific implementation timelines beyond the October 28 announcement date. The company indicated the measurement capabilities would support media strategy across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, covering the DACH region that represents a substantial portion of European premium beauty retail sales.

The implementation positions DOUGLAS to compete more effectively in European beauty retail markets where consumer attention continues fragmenting across channels. As streaming platforms, social media, and connected television capture growing shares of consumer time, retailers require measurement solutions that provide unified views of advertising performance across all relevant channels.

Timeline

• October 28, 2025: DOUGLAS announces partnership with AudienceProject for cross-media measurement in DACH region
• October 2025: AudienceProject launches direct Netflix integration for campaign measurement across five European markets
• September 2025: Médiamétrie partners with AudienceProject to develop cross-media video measurement solution for Q1 2026 launch
• September 2025: AudienceProject launches cross-media measurement in Mexico, entering Latin America market
• June 2025: esome expands partnership with AudienceProject for CTV and social media measurement
• April 2025: AudienceProject expands YouTube measurement to Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland
• July 2024: AudienceProject pioneers YouTube cross-media measurement through Google Ads Data Hub integration
• June 2024: Google Ads introduces Cross-Media Reach measurement for deduplicated reach and frequency insights

Summary

Who: DOUGLAS, Europe's leading omnichannel premium beauty retailer, and AudienceProject, a software-as-a-service provider specializing in independent cross-media measurement solutions.

What: A strategic partnership providing DOUGLAS with access to AudienceReport, a measurement platform that tracks deduplicated reach and frequency across open web, social media, online video, connected television, and linear television through direct integrations with advertising platforms.

When: Announced on October 28, 2025, with implementation supporting ongoing media strategy operations in the DACH region.

Where: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, covering DOUGLAS's operations across the DACH region within its broader European footprint of approximately 1,920 stores.

Why: To enhance media strategy transparency and effectiveness by enabling cross-channel performance comparison, maximizing target audience reach, and ensuring efficient allocation of advertising investment through independent, comprehensive measurement capabilities that address media fragmentation challenges.