Marketing budgets across Australia are shifting fast. Money that used to sit in linear TV, trade spend and static outdoor is now moving into connected TV, programmatic digital out-of-home and retail media networks.
If you manage marketing for a growing mid-market brand, or you advise one as an agency buyer, you have probably felt the pressure to try these channels. The problem is that most guidance either oversells the opportunity or drowns you in jargon.
This guide gives you a practical way to test CTV, DOOH and retail media without betting your whole budget on a channel you have not proven yet.
Why Testing, Not Just Spending, Is the Right Approach in 2026
Budgets are moving into these three channels faster than measurement standards can keep up. Agencies and brands report real growth in spend, but many still struggle to prove what that spend actually returns. That gap is exactly why a structured test matters more than a large first commitment.
The Problem With Jumping in Too Fast
If you commit a large budget to a channel before you understand how it performs for your category, you are gambling rather than testing. You will not know if a weak result came from the channel, your creative, your targeting or bad timing. A small, structured pilot gives you an answer you can actually act on.
What Testing Actually Means Here
Testing means you run a small, time-boxed pilot with a clear question attached to it, a defined budget, and rules set in advance for when you scale it up or walk away. It is not a guess dressed up as a campaign, and it is not the same as running a small version of a full launch and hoping it teaches you something useful.
Why Australian Mid-Market Brands Can’t Afford to Wait
Retailers, broadcasters and agencies are not waiting around, and the money proves it.
Where the Budget Is Actually Moving From
Trade spend, linear TV budgets and traditional static outdoor are the three biggest sources funding this shift. You are not likely to find new money for CTV, DOOH and retail media.
You reallocate money from channels that used to work well but are losing reach and precision as audiences move online and in-store screens get smarter.
If you want a wider view of how this shift is playing out across smaller and mid-sized Australian businesses, our guide on programmatic advertising spend among Australian SMEs breaks down the numbers in more detail.
What Late Movers Are Already Losing
Brands running early pilots are learning what creative formats work, which retail networks respond best to their category, and how to read results before anyone forces them into a big decision.
If you skip testing and jump straight to a full campaign, you often end up relearning lessons a small pilot would have taught you cheaply.
Why Waiting Is Still a Decision
Choosing not to test is not a neutral choice. It has a cost, measured in the gap between what you know about these channels and what your competitors already know by the time you catch up.
The Test-and-Learn Framework: A Step-by-Step Process for Any Emerging Channel
Before you touch a specific channel, you need one method you can apply to all three. This keeps your tests consistent and lets you compare results fairly.
Step 1: Set a Hypothesis and Success Metric First
Write down what you expect to happen and how you will measure it before you book any media. A vague goal like “build awareness” will not tell you anything useful once the campaign ends.
Step 2: Right-Size the Test Budget
The 70/20/10 rule works well here. Around 70% of your budget stays in proven channels, 20% goes to channels with some track record, and 10% funds genuine experiments.
You can flex these numbers if you run a smaller operation, but the principle holds: never fund a test with money your core channels need to earn back this quarter.
Step 3: Build in a Control or Holdout Group
Without a group that does not see the campaign, you cannot tell whether a result came from your test or from something else happening in the market at the same time. This step is what turns a media buy into a proper test.
Step 4: Set Scale or Kill Criteria in Writing
Decide your thresholds before launch, not after you see the numbers. This stops good creative and hopeful thinking from talking you into scaling something that did not actually work.
Step 5: Run the Review Properly
Not every test gives you a clean yes or no. Build in time to look at inconclusive results and decide whether to refine the test or drop the idea, rather than treating every pilot as pass or fail.
Applying the Framework to Connected TV (CTV) in Australia
CTV has moved past being a nice-to-have. It now offers you addressable reach without linear TV’s price tag, and it deserves a proper test before it earns a bigger slice of your budget.
The Australian CTV Landscape in Plain Terms
CTV covers any advertising delivered through an internet-connected television, including Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) services such as 9Now, 7plus, 10 Play and SBS On Demand, alongside ad-supported streaming platforms.
BVOD in particular has become one of Australia’s fastest-growing media channels, combining premium broadcast content with addressable, measurable advertising.
What a First CTV Test Looks Like
Start with a modest budget over a defined flight, long enough to gather a usable sample but short enough to review quickly. Choose your buying route based on how much control you want.
Open auction gives you scale and low cost, private marketplace gives you curated inventory and better brand safety, and programmatic guaranteed locks in specific placements.
For creative, repurpose strong short-form video you already have rather than commissioning something new for a test. If short-form content already performs well for you on social, our piece on short-form video and social commerce in Australia shows how to adapt that same creative for other channels.
What to Watch for When Reading CTV Results
CTV audiences see the same ad across multiple platforms, so frequency capping and deduplication matter more than they do on a single channel. Look beyond completion rates and track whether exposure led to site visits, search activity or in-store action.
If your paid media planning already spans several platforms, our guide on next-gen paid media strategy for Australian brands is worth reading before you set your CTV test live.
Applying the Framework to Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) in Australia
Programmatic DOOH has grown well past static billboards, and Australian agencies are increasing their investment in it year on year.
The Australian pDOOH Landscape in Plain Terms
Programmatic DOOH inventory now sits in transit hubs, retail precincts, stadiums and increasingly inside stores themselves. Agencies have reported steady increases in investment, with the large majority expecting to increase spend again in the year ahead as measurement improves.
What a First DOOH Test Looks Like
Pick one or two locations relevant to your audience rather than committing to a broad national buy. DOOH lets you test dynamic creative that changes with time of day, weather or location, which gives you an early read on what resonates without locking in a single static message. Buy through a demand-side platform or private marketplace so you keep flexibility during the test period.
What to Watch for When Reading DOOH Results
Footfall data and mobile attribution are your best tools for connecting a DOOH exposure to real-world behaviour. Proving return on investment remains the biggest barrier the industry reports for this channel, so build measurement into the test plan from day one rather than trying to prove impact after the campaign ends.
Applying the Framework to Retail Media Networks in Australia
Retail media has grown into one of the most valuable advertising channels in Australia, built almost entirely on first-party shopper data.
The Australian Retail Media Landscape in Plain Terms
Woolworths’ Cartology and Coles’ Coles 360 lead the market, both reporting strong double-digit growth in advertising income. Wesfarmers is scaling Hammer Media across Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks, and Metcash and Endeavour Group are building their own networks too. Formats range from in-store screens and app placements to sponsored product listings and off-site audience extension.
What a First Retail Media Test Looks Like
Start with one network that matches your category rather than spreading a small budget across several. Set a spend threshold large enough to generate a clear signal, and use the retailer’s loyalty data, such as Everyday Rewards or Flybuys, to target from the first day of the test.
If your own customer data is not organised well enough to make the most of this, it is worth reviewing your setup through a proper CRM and retention strategy before you brief the retail network.
What to Watch for When Reading Retail Media Results
Standard last-click attribution often understates what retail media actually delivers, because a shopper sees an ad and buys in-store days later.
This measurement gap sits alongside the wider shift towards privacy-safe, first-party targeting across Australian marketing, which our article on AI-powered personalisation in a post-cookie world covers in more depth.
Ask any network you test whether they are certified under IAB Australia’s retail media certification programme, since this signals more reliable reporting.
Sequencing the Three Channels Into One Test Plan
Once you have run individual pilots, the real value comes from putting them together properly.
A Funnel Logic That Works
CTV builds reach and awareness at the top, DOOH reinforces the message in the physical world, and retail media captures the purchase decision close to the point of sale. Tested together in that order, each channel supports the next rather than competing with it for credit.
Parallel Pilots Versus One Connected Test
You can run each channel as its own independent test, which is simpler to manage, or design one connected test that measures the combined effect.
Connected tests give you richer insight but need tighter planning, and keeping your creative consistent across all three matters here. A content marketing strategy built around one clear message makes this far easier to pull off.
Avoiding the Everything-at-Once Trap
Launching all three channels together without isolating variables means you will not know which one actually drove the result. Stagger your tests, or use control groups carefully, so you can attribute outcomes to the right channel.
Common Mistakes Australian Brands Make When Testing These Channels
Most failed pilots fail for the same handful of reasons.
Treating a CTV Pilot Like a Brand Campaign Instead of a Measured Test
A CTV test needs a measurement plan attached to it, not just a media schedule. Without one, you end up with impressions and no answer about what actually worked.
Booking DOOH Without a Measurement Plan in Place Before Launch
If you have not set up footfall tracking or mobile attribution before the campaign goes live, you will not be able to prove anything once it ends. Retrofitting measurement after the fact rarely gives you clean data.
Spreading a Small Retail Media Budget Across Too Many Networks at Once
Testing three networks with a budget that only suits one gives you three weak signals instead of one clear answer. Pick the network that best matches your category and commit properly.
Ending a Test Too Early, or Letting It Run Too Long Without a Decision
Cutting a test before it reaches a usable sample size wastes the spend. Letting it run indefinitely without a decision point wastes time and defeats the purpose of testing in the first place.
Budgeting for a Test: Costs, CPMs and ROI Expectations
Setting the right budget expectation upfront saves you awkward conversations later.
Typical Cost Ranges
CPMs vary meaningfully across CTV, DOOH and retail media depending on targeting, format and market, so ask each provider for current benchmarks rather than relying on outdated figures.
Building a Case Your CFO Will Approve
Frame the spend as a defined pilot with a fixed cost, a clear success metric and a scheduled review date. This is a far easier approval than an open-ended request for programmatic budget, and it mirrors the same disciplined approach a good PPC agency already applies to search and social spend.
Realistic Timelines
Most tests need several weeks of live activity before the data is reliable enough to act on. Reviewing results after a few days will only show you noise, not the answer you actually need.
Running Tests In-House vs With an Agency
Deciding who runs the test matters as much as the test itself.
What a Specialist Agency Adds
An experienced programmatic advertising agency brings existing relationships with CTV publishers, DOOH suppliers and retail networks, along with measurement setups built from prior campaigns rather than trial and error. This usually means faster, cleaner tests for you.
Questions Worth Asking Any Partner
Ask how they measure incrementality, whether they have run tests in your category before, and how quickly they can turn results into a scale or kill recommendation. If you would like a second opinion on a media plan before you brief it out, get in touch with our team and we can talk through your options.
When In-House Makes Sense
If you already have strong internal data and analytics capability, running a first small test in-house can be a reasonable way to learn the mechanics before bringing in outside expertise for the bigger rollout.
Conclusion: Turning a One-Off Test Into an Ongoing Channel Strategy
CTV, DOOH and retail media are no longer optional extras for Australian brands. They are becoming core parts of the media mix, and the brands getting ahead are the ones testing properly rather than guessing.
Set a clear hypothesis, size your budget sensibly, measure with a control group, and decide in advance what scaling or stopping looks like.
Do that consistently and testing stops being a one-off project and becomes a repeatable part of how you plan media every quarter. Visit Conquerra Digital to see how our team approaches media planning across web, SEO, paid and programmatic channels together.
FAQs
There is no fixed figure, but the budget needs to be large enough to reach a usable sample size within your flight length. A specialist partner can help you size this against your specific category and market.
Most tests need several weeks of live activity to produce reliable data. Set your review date before launch so you are not tempted to judge results too early.
CTV delivers video ads through internet-connected televisions, DOOH delivers dynamic ads on digital screens in public and retail spaces, and retail media places ads on a retailer's own digital and physical properties using their shopper data.
No. While supermarkets lead the Australian market, retailers such as Bunnings and Officeworks are building networks that suit hardware, homewares and other categories too.
You measure incrementality by comparing a group exposed to the campaign against a control or holdout group that is not. The difference in outcomes between the two groups tells you what the campaign actually added, rather than what would have happened anyway.
Yes. Certification signals that a network's reporting meets an industry standard, which makes it easier to trust the results of your test.
Staging works better for most brands. Testing one channel at a time, or using careful control groups if you run them together, gives you a clearer read on what actually worked.
