Arbitron To Develop Outdoor Audience Ratings System

Arbitron has announced plans to work with the outdoor industry through the OAAA (Outdoor Advertising Association of America) on a comprehensive research programme whose goal is to create an outdoor audience ratings service.

The test, planned to begin this summer will explore methods to enable Arbitron to develop an audience measurement service for the outdoor industry that conforms to existing ratings standards used by radio, TV, magazines and newspapers. The components envisioned for the new outdoor ratings service would include audience demographics; geographic definitions, such as Metro and DMA; audience estimates, such as reach, frequency and Gross Ratings Points; and frequent periodic reports.

Arbitron is planning to examine several different methodologies this summer to determine which to use in a more extensive test in Atlanta planned for this autumn. The results of this major consumer trial will be released in first quarter of 2003 and examined for utility, reliability, scalability and quality of consumer compliance.

Arbitron's decision to explore the development of an outdoor audience ratings service comes in response to the needs expressed by agencies, advertisers and outdoor media companies.

'The development of an outdoor ratings service will be a boon to the industry by providing clear evidence of its strength as an audience delivery device,' said Nancy Fletcher, president of the OAAA. 'On behalf of our members, we are very pleased to be working with Arbitron on this project. The company is highly respected by advertisers and agencies as a credible measurement service and should serve to increase the profile of the medium among advertisers and agencies.'

This past spring, Arbitron interviewed 300 advertisers, agencies and outdoor media executives for its Outdoor Industry Needs Study. The results clearly indicated that an audience ratings profile of outdoor media consumers is needed. Agencies and advertisers urgently requested age, sex, and gender information for those exposed to outdoor advertising, as well as information on roads travelled in the past week and for data on the shopping and buying habits of consumers reached by outdoor media.

'Our Scarborough service provides an excellent way to obtain data on shopping and purchasing habits as well as major roads travelled,' says Jacqueline Noel, director, Sales and Marketing, Arbitron Outdoor. 'The ratings service we're planning to build will provide the other part of the equation. We would deliver information on age and gender and roads travelled, so that agencies and advertisers can get a complete picture of who is exposed to outdoor advertising.'

Currently, the outdoor media industry provides advertisers with Traffic Audit Bureau audited counts of vehicular traffic. While an excellent starting point, the data details 'how many' are exposed to outdoor advertising, but not 'who' is exposed to the medium. According to industry estimates, the outdoor advertising category now accounts for more than $5 billion in ad spending per year.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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