#FEPEMilan More DOOH Metrics Needed?

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

“Audience measurement of the fast growing Digital Out-of-Home segment within the Out-of-Home channel is virtually non-existent and, in the case of the US, woeful,” Tony Jarvis, research architect at Olympic Media Consultancy, told delegates last Friday at the sold out 53rd annual 53rd FEPE International Congress in Milan.

“We need to measure DOOH!,” said Jarvis. “For OOH and notably DOOH, ‘content and ‘context’ together with ‘metrics’ is the winning combination.

Noting that while global Digital Out-Of-Home media revenues grew to $6.97 billion in 2011, and while most major countries having traditional OOH formats measured or about to be measured, Jarvis challenged: “Where do we go next?”

“Our question must be addressed from the advertiser or general media agency planning position as it needs to be driven with an understanding of the context of a ‘media mix’ and advertiser ‘accountability’ required,” he said. “These are the keys to the competitive edge the media campaign is looking to establish for the brand and therefore to OOH if it is going to be seen as a ‘must have’ channel.”

Metrics must provide a rigorous basis for both intra media analysis – across the various OOH formats – and inter media analysis – with other non-OOH media channels, Jarvis said. These principles will support OOH’s role within a 360 degree view of other media channels under consideration by the planning agency.

“Survey data to support reach frequency analysis and optimization are vital and these cornerstones apply to all unmeasured major OOH formats.”

This perspective underlines two fundamental measurement requirements that are not being met by DOOH today, Jarvis told the Congress attendees.

  • Granular detailed competitive ad campaign and spending reporting built from each DOOH spot executed via every digital network. This level of historical campaign detail, which is readily available for TV, print, radio and the internet is lacking for DOOH;
  • The final media plan for the brand will be based on delivering target reach and frequency goals, brand or category purchase, loyalty, engagement and even CPMs.

“To be relevant, DOOH must provide the ad industry with comparable, transparent, fully accredited metrics based on high quality ad exposure audience data,” Jarvis said. “Only based on this level of ’accountability’ can the overarching brand advertising requirements, across multiple channels, be achieved.

“GRPs and CPMs are no longer sufficient to sell a medium. However, both these metrics remain a piece of the consideration set for advertisers and their planning teams. Along with reach and frequency, they are fundamental to the various media mix and channel evaluation models used to evaluate the ROI of the relative elements of any multi-media campaign.

“Until that is achieved, DOOH and other non-measured formats will simply be left out of ROI evaluations and consequently not earn the share of budgets they deserve.”

“DOOH needs to provide audience research that is owned and overseen by an ad agency driven, tri-partite industry. It also needs to be measured according to ESOMAR OOH Guidelines. The industry desperately needs to start working with ESOMAR to develop Version 2.0 of the Guidelines to include all Digital OOH and all other growing formats. These two fundamental research strategies will provide metrics at the lowest cost with the highest quality,” he said.

Jarvis recommended several industry initiatives regarding the measurement of DOOH:

  1. OOH Specialists and the general media Agencies need to step up involvement to keep the playing field comparable with other media;
  2. Ensure that OOH metrics serve cross channel or media mix data, tools and techniques;
  3. Embrace new research technologies and learn from TV research innovations;
  4. Provide granular ad spend campaign metrics via the syndicated services;
  5. Drive Version 2.0 of ESOMAR Global Guidelines on Out-Of-Home Audience Measurement to include DOOH and all major OOH formats

He also asked for support for his own Green Paper on the future of Digital Place-Based network measurement, ‘Time to Take Ownership’, outlining the research process and action steps he believes are required to achieve this goal for digital video place-based networks in the US and ultimately globally.


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