Newsmakers: Why marketers need to stop giving the last click all the credit

For years, marketers have chased the last click.

It's measurable. It's easy to report. It gives someone a neat line on a PowerPoint slide that says, "This drove the sale."

But according to Prophet CEO Jordan Taylor-Bartels and Seven's director of sales, Katie Finney, that's only telling part of the story.

Appearing on the latest episode of Mediaweek's Newsmakers podcast, the pair argued that the industry's long-standing obsession with last-click attribution has come at the expense of understanding what actually creates demand in the first place.

Taylor-Bartels said marketers are beginning to move beyond the idea that one channel deserves all the credit.

"It's not about deleting last click from consideration," he said. "But we're now seeing a massive turnaround point in how organisations start to look at it."

Instead, he believes marketers are finally reaching what he describes as the "Goldilocks" moment, where creative, brand building and hard commercial metrics all have a seat at the table.

Finney agrees.

"It's not brand versus performance," she said.

"Your performance stops working if you don't have the brand through there."

She describes modern marketing as "the tapestry of all the channels", arguing that television, audio, podcasts and digital each contribute differently throughout the customer journey rather than competing against one another.

Bigger isn't just about scale

With Seven and SCA now operating under one roof, Finney says the opportunity isn't simply having more inventory to sell.

The real advantage is being able to understand how audiences move between platforms and test how those touchpoints work together.

"For us, it's plug and play your way," she said.

"However we want to learn together, test and learn, try different things."

Taylor-Bartels said the data is already reinforcing that approach.

"We've seen a 16% increase in efficiency when you're running linear TV and BVOD together," he said.

"It's almost like a symphony. Yes, in isolation they can perform... but when you start to bring an entire orchestra together, that's when you actually start to hear all these different things working together."

Why live moments still matter

The conversation also tackles one of the biggest questions facing advertisers: can search ever replace the cultural power of live media?

Taylor-Bartels argues search captures intent, but doesn't create it.

"It's the brand-building element that really is the thing that drives that intent," he said.

Finney points to live sport as the clearest example.

"You have that memory encoding, you have the halo, you have the shared experience," she said.

"That is the power of live and why Australians love it."

The lesson for marketers

Both agree the industry is entering a new phase, one driven less by assumptions and more by evidence.

Taylor-Bartels believes marketers now have the tools to move beyond gut instinct and better understand how every channel contributes to growth.

"We need to start shifting away from perception to reality," he said.

"Explore, experiment... you'll have a more accurate response. It won't be as scary as you think it is."

The full conversation with Katie Finney and Jordan Taylor-Bartels is available wherever you get your podcasts.