‘The old agency model is finished’: Final thoughts from Cannes Lions 2026

Excerpt from Performance Marketing World's ‘The old agency model is finished’: Final thoughts from Cannes Lions 2026

With this year’s Cannes Lions in the rear view mirror, find out who has left the South of France best positioned for future success – and who is under the most pressure.

Oshri Raz, VP Americas, Limelight:

“Walking away from Cannes this year, one message stood out above all others: our industry is shifting its focus from measuring media to measuring outcomes.

“For years, digital advertising has optimised around impressions, clicks and engagement. Those metrics still matter, but the conversations at Cannes showed a clear shift towards a much bigger question: what business outcome did this campaign actually deliver? More and more, advertisers are looking for end-to-end measurement, from the first impression through to conversion, acquisition and long-term customer value.

“The next step is building a truly unified view of performance across an increasingly fragmented media landscape. As channels like CTV and digital-out-of-home continue to scale, attribution can no longer be treated as a nice to have.”