Outdoor media owners unite to develop an Audience Measurement system for DOOH

As global advertisers continue to keep pace with consumer expectations of impactful and innovative campaigns, brands such as Samsung, Coca-Cola, Google and BMW are including increasing proportions of digital OOH on planning schedules. In response to this, and in recognition of the importance of robust metrics to evidence buying decisions, the outdoor industry is investing in the development of a global standard for digital OOH measurement. For the first time, advertisers will be able to measure the distinct benefits and overall performance of campaigns in this high growth medium and to use these insights in future planning.

A working group of audience research and insight experts from each of the companies has been assembled and the team is now ready to initiate the project, for completion in 2015.

This pioneering project uses a virtual world to present consumers with a realistic experience of how different types of digital and traditional OOH advertising are encountered.  Combining this with eye-tracking will enable the consortium to provide advertisers with an accurate understanding of consumers’ responses to all types of OOH formats across a multitude of environments.

Results will be made available to OOH audience measurement committees worldwide so that they have the opportunity to review and decide whether the findings are acceptable for integration in to their systems.  This will enable digital OOH to be combined alongside traditional outdoor in advertisers’ schedules.

Markus Ehrle, CEO of APG|SGA commented: «For our stakeholders and ourselves it is a key interest to fully understand the impact and contribution of the fast growing DOOH segment in order to optimize OOH campaign performance individually to the client's needs. We strongly believe that this industry research initiative will provide an international standard which can be implemented in the various national research systems on top of the existing visibility adjustments as the study will be conducted in a very scientific and transparent way. This accountability is a key success factor for continuing sustainable growth of DOOH in the future.»

Parveen Bdesha, International Research and Insight Director, Clear Channel Outdoor said: «Clear Channel Outdoor has a global commitment to provide advertisers and agencies with new approaches to understanding their audiences in an increasingly complex multi-media world.  By collaborating as an industry to develop an audience measurement system for digital out-of-home, we can help unlock the medium’s potential by giving them accurate, comparable and compelling data about the audiences they wish to reach, and consequently better inform their media planning decisions.»

Shaun Gregory, CEO of Exterion Media said: «Today’s consumer is constantly connected and we need to make sure the experience we, as an industry, provide echoes that. It is why we are committed to harnessing the digital opportunity and using increasingly available technology to create the experience the audience we are engaging with would expect. The only way we are going to achieve this is through collaboration, which is why I am hugely excited that so many major players in OOH are coming together to develop this industry standard for measuring DOOH. The insights it will bring will only help us to provide a better experience for brands, agencies and consumers and accelerate the rapid growth of DOOH.»

Neil Eddleston, Managing Director, JCDecaux OneWorld commented: «For JCDecaux it is natural to extend our long term commitment to internationally comparable OOH audience accountability to the increasingly significant segment of business that is digital. It is to be greatly welcomed that this collaborative initiative has the broad support of major stakeholders in the industry and that it integrates with earlier measurement systems of non-digital OOH, already globally endorsed by our clients and buyers in collaboration with Esomar, the world research body.  It is significant that these measures are based on contact with the advertising message itself at the point of display.»

Further details of the digital audience measurement system will be announced in due course.