DOOH Advertising and Data Transparency: Why They Must Come Hand In Hand
DOOH Advertising is quickly gaining momentum within the advertising industry as being the trusted and future-proof medium (Digital billboards) for ad delivery and measurement.
This is largely due to the demise of the online cookie, a more unified and standardized approach to audience measurement by media owners, and the introduction of smart technologies making real-world, offline audience insights a reality. These factors combined, are what is pushing DOOH Advertising forward as the viable and trusted alternative to online advertising and as such, it comes with a greater responsibility to get audience analysis and data collection right.
What is transparent data?
Transparent data in the world of DOOH Advertising (digital outdoor advertising), is data that is collected using accurate and verifiable means. It is usually collected by media owners and presented to media buyers to inform their decision-making when purchasing DOOH inventory. This includes forecasted data that should be made available before any ad inventory is sold with information such as audience impressions, demographics, location details, and more. This is so that media buyers can make a fair judgment on whether a specific piece of inventory matches their preferences and is one where they can reach their target audience. Additional data is also expected post ad play in the form of proof of play reports which confirm that the ad ran on the digital screen advertised and was not affected by any technical issues.
Recalibration of audience measurement metrics
Until recently, one of the main challenges that DOOH advertisers, brands, and media buyers had been facing was the ability to verify the reliability and transparency of the data media owners provided to them. The technologies and metrics used to quantify OOH audience impressions differed from publisher to publisher and this, therefore, resulted in uncertainty from media buyers about the quality of the data. This has since changed, with industry leaders and organizations taking charge to create a more structured and standardized approach to audience measurement.Guidelines were recently published by the OAAA outlining the best practices for carrying out audience measurement to create a unified approach to impression data collection with opportunity to see (OTS) put forward as the recommended and core metric for measuring audience reach. Opportunity to see has already been a long-standing measurement metric amongst other major advertising platforms therefore to bring digital out-of-home advertising in alignment with the other mediums and to streamline cross-platform media buying the metric was identified as the most suitable. When looking at data transparency it is also important for media buyers to consider the reliability of the audience impression data provided. This can be reviewed by looking at:
Data Recency: For the most reliable accounts of audience footfall in and around a digital signage display, the data should be collected in real-time or near real-time.
Data Precision: For ad analysis data to be accurate it needs to be collected at the exact time the correct ad has played. Any data counted outside of this period is inaccurate and should be discounted from any analysis reports.
Data Inclusivity: The audience detection technology needs to cover all screens and areas while having good visibility of the audience.
DOOH Advertising - The Departure of Cookies
As mentioned, a cookieless future is on the horizon with cookie tracking due to stop in 2023. This leaves online advertisers having to rethink how they will approach digital advertising (digital billboards) and audience data collection. While many advertisers will switch to contextualized advertising or collecting first party, consenualized data from consumers, many will look into additional strategies such as digital out-of-home advertising (also known as digital outdoor advertising or outdoor advertising). In Addition to tracking becoming off limits, studies have shown that people are simply fatigued with online ads with 42% of consumers adopting ad blocking technologies and many just ignoring ads altogether, also known as ad blindness. DOOH advertising (on digital billboards) on the other hand reaches audiences when they are on the go and are more open to seeing advertisements and doesn’t use intrusive technology to collect audience data. The data is collected anonymously and no personal information is ever stored while still offering the same ad optimizations and tailored approach that online ads would.
How Raydiant's Technology Delivers on Transparent Data
Raydiant's AI analytics technology collects audience data anonymously and in real-time. Powered by computer vision and deep learning technology, the software can detect and analyze audiences to provide granular insights on both viewing behaviors and audience demographics. The technology uses the recommended metric of OTS for impression measurement and has an extra layer of granularity in that it can actually attribute viewers to specific screens. Both forecasted data and delivered data can be obtained and displayed on a dashboard of choice to make the insights as clear and digestible as possible. Lastly, the software is robust and is set up to achieve the most accurate results that both media owners and buyers can rely on and trust in.
