From buying panels to buying audiences
The importance of accurate audience measurement data becomes glaring as the focal point of campaign planning shifts away from buying media spots and towards buying target audiences. When planning a campaign certain questions are critical to ensuring successful delivery - “who are we speaking to?”, “what do they want to know?” and “where and when do we reach them?”. With reliable audience measurement data, as well as standardised data formats, we can be sure that we have the foundations to answer these questions and plan effective and efficient campaigns
Getting what you pay for
When it comes to delivery, media buyers demand that they get what they pay for, and rightly so. In the case of OOH, they find confidence in both the methodologies and the data of audience measurement systems because unlike some other major media, OOH global audience measurement guidelines were designed and ratified by both media owners and regulators.As we look to the future where OOH inventory is digitised and traded programmatically, obtaining accurate data becomes critical. The industry’s commitment to absolute transparency and accountability in terms of measurement and viewability is key to ensuring confidence in the delivery of the OOH audiences. With new tools and automated OOH planning and trading platforms being developed, the possibility finally emerges to compare traded and delivered viewed impressions during and after campaigns.
A key to ROI and transparency
With marketing budgets under pressure and an ever-increasing call for accurate return on investment, it is important to note that OOH ROI can be accurately measured using econometric models. These models help brands understand the impact of key drivers on customer acquisition, market share and sales. The conditions for successful measurement of OOH in ROI models was set out in Outsmart’s ROI Fightback research centring around 5 key questions:The Creative Effect
Did the creative support the ROI metric? You must ensure that the metric fits the objective.Modelling the whole
Was an ROI score produced for each media channel and was there variation in the OOH data? The data must have a degree of variation for the model to work well.Low quality data
Was a robust audience measurement system used? OOH is well-placed across the globe in this regard.Exclusion
Was OOH included in the final model? Often OOH is excluded, though this does not necessarily mean that it is not working, only that it could not be statistically separated from other variables.Low spend
Was the OOH ad spend high enough to be picked up by the model? Inevitably, the size of the budget is key to getting a good read on the performance of OOH.