Two More Agencies Boost Outdoor Audience Scheme

The Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) has commissioned data from two additional research agencies to add to its forthcoming outdoor audience measurement initiative. The new research will track the likelihood that passersby will see a billboard, and then integrate this probability into the overall measurement.

The TAB 'Eyes On' scheme is scheduled for completion later this year, with help from agencies GfK Custom, MRI, Telmar and Transearch.

New Jersey-based Perceptions Research Services (PRS) has now been brought in to examine how likely passersby are to notice billboards by using eye-tracking studies to observe the movement and dilation of their pupils.

Meanwhile, in New York the Marketing Accountability Partnership (MAP) - which was launched by The Interpublic Group in 2005 - has been tasked with developing an analytical process to integrate this and other data such as the ad format, location and size, to determine the marketing impact of each individual sign.

Commented Elliot Young, Chairman of PRS: 'Measuring attention is precisely what we use our eye-tracking technology for, which in this case is the level of attention Out of Home (OOH) advertising receives. It fits perfectly within our area of expertise.'

TAB says that this combined effort will make OOH the first medium to report on the commercial audience that notices its advertising. The contribution from these two companies will also aid TAB's goal to replace the industry's current reliance on traffic counts, known as DECs (daily effective circulation).

'The assumption is that all boards are of equal value, which is not true,' said Neil Canter, MD of MAP. 'We see significant value in this initiative because what we are creating for the TAB will provide a better currency that will allow advertisers to measure the return they are getting on their investments.'

The TAB's out-of-home ratings will be based on the number of persons likely to notice a given ad, and provide measures of both pedestrian and vehicular audiences. Ratings will be available in all 200+ markets by early fourth quarter 2008.

Web sites: www.tabonline.com , www.prsresearch.com and www.map-global.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.