‘Reality check is need of the hour’

Measuring audiences has a very clear objective. It is to measure reality, to know what is happening on the streets, in the cities, but currently that reality has changed a lot due to Covid-19. The announcements of impending release of vaccines to combat Covid-19 seem to suggest there is light at the end of the tunnel, but as a business we may still end up in place different from where we were all these years. 

In 2021, it will be essential for OOH to demonstrate the effectiveness of the medium to advertisers in the face of aneconomic crisis, downward revision of ad budgets, and predominance of online advertising. Advertisers are looking to optimise their ROI in more significant ways. Hence, for OOH the first step would be to provide audience data for demonstrating OOH effectiveness. 

There are new needs that audience measurement metrics should have to respond to. The first one, inventory updates.  When a media owner puts up a new billboard, advertisers expect data on the media unit immediately. Moreover, we have to be offering post-evaluation, an investment guarantee. Such a guarantee will enhance advertiser confidence in the purchasing process, and thereby stimulate OOH buying.  The next step is to be able to incorporate all types of panels into the audience measurement metrics. An audience measurement service has to be integrated, providing data from frames in shopping centres, to panels on buses. The study should have to cover digital media, taxi media, metromedia...every kind of frame. 

It is equally imperative to study consumer behaviour and provide insights that aid the media planning processes. Such a system will point to individual consumer behaviour patters – when they go to the gym or a shopping centre, for instance.

Covid-19 has brought about sweeping changes in consumer behaviour across markets. For example, in Latin America more than 13 million people have made their first online purchase, and that will not be the only time they will do so. 

Besides, there are distinct changes in the mobility patterns. For example, in Madrid in January 2020 we had an average 22 trips per person to different places. That number came down to 5 in the period September 1 - 5. So, data capture has to be continuous, covering everything -- from streets to big public events.

The OOH industry has to be aware that the market is under immense pressure. When the barriers are lifted and we return to new normality, media agencies and advertisers are going to ask us for data and OOH media owners will need to project audience data.

Big Data is going to differentiate us from everything we have done in the past. I might add that Cuende Infometricsintegrates three different sources -- Big Data for satellite images, Big Data for mobile phone data and Apps, and Fieldwork which gives us precise demographic information. 

From the analysis of satellite images using artificial intelligence Cuende Infometrics obtains the intensity of traffic flows in a continuously improved process, thanks to machine learning. Further, global coverage of satellite data allows for transnational OOH metrics.

In addition Cuende Infometrics conducts patented analysis of visibility that takes into account every factor that affects the real conditions of OOH advertising, including those on digital frames. Cuende Infometrics is accredited by the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system that assures the quality of our research and satisfaction of our clients.

The time to change is now. The big question is, do you want to choose to be conscious of the real situation. If you choose to be aware of the new situation, you will need to measure and communicate that through data. Only numbers make a strong case for OOH.

With audience data, OOH will make a stronger comeback, with many more innovative facets.