AAM in Action: New Unique Audience Dataset to Showcase Engagement Across Channels

by: Rich Murphy, CEO

At AAM’s January Board meeting, there was much conversation and energy around the theme of authenticity and assurance. As AI reshapes how media is bought and sold, there is a shift toward quality over quantity. Publishers are building quality audiences with subscriptions, events and newsletters, and buyers want to reach these authenticated users across channels.

The industry needs a clearer way to understand a publisher’s unique audience offering with the nuance of how audiences engage across channels. I’m pleased to share a new initiative to achieve this goal.

A New Dataset: Total Unduplicated Users, Gross Users by Channel

Over the past year, we’ve discussed how to evolve AAM reporting with our board, working groups and members. The feedback resulted in a new dataset that introduces a unique audience metric alongside gross audience reporting by channel:

• The unique audience metric is an unduplicated count of paid subscribers and authenticated users across channels
• Gross counts provide visibility into how audiences engage across channels including websites, newsletters, apps, events, print and more

This data will be included in AAM’s new Cross-Channel Audience Report to give buyers a clearer understanding of total audience and engagement. See an example report here.

We are launching this new report with AAM periodical publishers’ December 2025 data and news media publishers’ March 2026 data. Our team will share details on how to participate and gather feedback that will guide further development.

A Step Toward a Broader Vision

This is an important step toward AAM’s mission of fostering a media ecosystem built on trust, transparency and accountability. We are taking other steps as well. AAM formed a new Buyer Steering Committee with representatives from major agencies, advertisers and industry organizations to discuss emerging areas that need transparency and compliance to drive the industry forward. AAM’s Board of Directors now includes representation from the Association of National Advertisers with Jackson Bazley, EVP, Measurement for Marketers, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau with Angelina Eng, VP, Measurement and Attribution.

By working closely with publishers, buyers and our industry partners, we aim to bring structure to an increasingly opaque market and help trusted media stand out.

I’d like to thank our members for your partnership. Please reach out with questions or join one of AAM’s working groups to provide feedback on this and other developments.