Adspace Digital Mall Network [1], New York, is incorporating Scarborough data into its rate card as its third party traffic data provider, creating more planning flexibility for its advertisers and agencies.
Scarborough reports the number of people visiting malls and frequency of visits, so media planners and buyers can, for the first time, have reach and frequency estimates to evaluate mall advertising inventory. The move by Adspace mall media aims at complementing the television planning model.
“Adspace is a great complement to television, and as the network is integrated into more mainstream media plans that include TV and radio, our audience data must support reach and frequency planning models,” says William Ketcham, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Adspace Networks. “Scarborough data gives us the flexibility to tailor our audience metrics to the needs of our clients.”
Historically Adspace has built its rate card around the needs of out-of-home planners, starting with mall traffic and applying Nielsen viewing data to the traffic figures to generate overall impressions. (Traffic for all mall-based media is currently sourced from the mall operators, which use significantly different methods for counting traffic.)
The move by Adspace is getting approval from the media agency community, because, even if the numbers are lower, they should be more accurate.
Paul Lenhart, digital out-of-home director, Zenith Media [2], says, “It’s a step in the right direction for Adspace to provide the media community with an alternative metric that is more indicative of the true traffic in the mall and the viewership of the Smart Screens. Planning in the out-of-home industry is evolving to make it more comparable to other media, and we appreciate the flexibility that Scarborough data provides.”
Adspace Networks, Inc. owns and operates the Adspace Digital Mall Network, the largest in-mall digital billboard network in the country. Currently located throughout more than 100 Class A malls across the United States, the network consists of 1,400 8’- and 9’-tall plasma screens- called ‘Smart Screens’. The Smart Screen displays show programming which combines a mix of the top 10 sale items in the mall, the hottest seasonal items available, mallevents, and local and national advertising. The network reaches 92 million (source: Scarborough) affluent consumers each month, and is particularly effective at reaching teens, young adults, and women. Adspace is also a charter member of the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB), an organization that will help provide standards and best practices for the burgeoning place-based digital advertisingindustry.
www.adspacenetworks.com