Just recently AT&T launched its audience segmented measurement service known as “AT&T Data Patterns” and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas is the first media partner to the table. This mobile statistics and analytics tool allows out-of-home (OOH) advertisers to better plan, optimize and measure campaign outcomes. Best of all, it gives OOH advertisers a better understanding of audience segments as well as movement patterns of people passing by static and digital billboards.
Using anonymous group insights that steadfastly protect consumer privacy, this service will provide advertisers with deeper insights into the aggregated number of people who pass by an OOH advertisement location, as well as crowd statistics including age range, income range, gender, ethnicity and household size.
For example, using this product, it is now possible to identify individuals who have gone past an OOH ad and match that with the retail locations they subsequently visit. As such, we can now link a lift in store visitation to ad exposure from OOH and prove how effective OOH is as an advertising medium.
It’s the type of technological leap the industry has been working toward and advertisers have been seeking. And it marks a significant step forward for Clear Channel Outdoor Americas and the broader OOH community by enabling OOH media to match the precision-level targeting expected, though not fully-realized, from digital.
Simultaneously, advertisers and OOH media companies have been working closely with the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) -- the reigning currency for measuring outdoor advertising on a complementary project to create even greater audience measurement standards. And this month, the TAB will begin testing its new measurement system: Operation M.O.R.E. (Measurement Optimization and Ratings Enhancement). The new measurement system will enhance the predictive average weekly impressions currently used, allowing predictive delivery at a more granular level and allowing measurement by day of week and time of day.
The evolution of Data Patterns, Operation M.O.R.E and myriad other technologies like them bolster our industry’s ongoing efforts to deliver an even better, more holistic approach to audience measurement. As we enter a new era of OOH insights and measurement, different solutions can deliver on the needs of every advertiser and create a cohesive measurement solution for OOH.
As every marketer knows, access to the right data is key to maximizing ad budgets. Working symbiotically, these technologies will allow advertisers to create user profiles based on relevant behaviors, such as in-store visits. That means our clients will now be able to review campaign data and decide how to target the right audience at the right time based on key behavioral insights.
I look forward to realizing the benefits from AT&T’s Data Patterns coupled with the complementary work the OOH industry is accomplishing through TAB with Operation M.O.R.E. These collaborative efforts hold great promise for us, our advertisers and ultimately consumers as we develop and apply a comprehensive and even more sophisticated approach toward timely and robust audience data and analytics.
Image at top courtesy of Corbis. The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage/MyersBizNet management or associated bloggers.