As an advertiser/marketer, making the most out of your digital out-of-home inventory is a high priority. But how do you measure the success and effectiveness of your campaigns?

Like other advertising methods, out-of-home advertising has unique data collection metrics to generate reports and ensure that advertising is reaching the agreed numbers.

Most marketers who take advantage of digital signage make use of third-party tools/software such as Seedooh, Veridooh, and OIS. Third-party tools are used as a way to “guarantee” that specific conditions between the advertiser and digital signage operator are met. A common concern bought up within the DOOH industry is standardisation for metrics and measurement.

Standardisation In DOOH Measurement

There is a range of different measurement tools within the DOOH industry and each of these measures and reports on different metrics. Not only do they look at different metrics, but the way these are measured can also often vary from provider to provider. These variations, along with the self-regulating nature of the industry have led some groups/agencies to work towards a standardisation method.

The most well-known of these organisations are the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Digital Signage Federation (DSF). These organisations invite companies and individuals working within the digital signage industry to work together. By acting as a cooperative, industry-wide issues can be addressed by experts in a way that benefits everyone.

A common theme that has been bought up over recent years is standardisation (or lack thereof). Many advertisers want to enter the DOOH space but want the assurance of measurable, standardised data to track their campaigns. Without knowing if they are getting what they’ve paid for, many advertisers are hesitant to spend on digital signage.

Common Reporting Metrics

Share of Voice

Many third-party verification tools measure the share of voice a campaign has. This metric is useful at all three stages (booking, in progress, completed) and is how your campaign compares to others in the same loop.

Share of voice is given as a percentage, and usually within a set time frame. For example, company A buys one of six slots available in the loop, company B buys two of six slots (the remaining 3 are vacant), and company A’s share of voice would be 33% for this particular loop.

This data is provided by third-party verification tools for advertisers and allows them to know how they have (or will) perform comparatively. As such, this is a commonly used metric that many advertisers want access to.

By itself, this data may not be useful but can be combined with things like sales or brand awareness. When combining these data sets, advertisers can compare the performance of their campaigns with competitors, or even their own.

It is likely that as a metric, the share of voice will continue to play a part in out-of-home advertising for the foreseeable future. It is possible that the way it is measured and used may change, but it will still remain a staple in OOH advertising reports.

Loop Frequency

Loop frequency is one of the most commonly used digital signage metrics, it measures how often in a given time period an entire loop plays. Loops themselves can vary in length, so measuring how many times a loop plays is common practice. It’s often expressed as how many times per day (or per hour) a campaign is played. Knowing how many times a loop plays in a given period of time can help advertisers track how often their campaign is played.

It’s common for campaigns to be booked based on how often a loop plays, so verifying this data is important. This data is verified by third-party tools, ensuring that advertisers are getting their agreed and paid screen time. There are many different ways to track the value of loop frequency as a metric. Some common methods are to A/B test and see what frequencies help or hinder other marketing goals.

Anonymous GPS Data

Anonymous GPS data is a more uncommon method of collecting and measuring DOOH data. An older, comparable method would be to sit and physically count how many people/cars were to pass the display. By using anonymous GPS data, third-party tools are able to automatically detect how many phones/cars pass by the display.

As an automatic system that only records if the device passes, this data is known to be somewhat inconsistent. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good baseline and indicator of the amount of traffic that passes by. In fact, this type of technology and measurement has helped some companies come up with more advanced measurement practices.

Anonymous GPS data is debated as a measurement metric as third-party verification tools all calculate it in their own manner. Without any standardisation, this data can show different results depending on which provider is used.

This metric isn’t likely to go anywhere soon, but will eventually be phased out for cheaper and more accurate measurements. We’ve already started to see this with things like vehicle registration identification and presence detection camera’s.

Generated QR Codes

The popularity of generated QR codes spiked during the course of the pandemic and is likely to see continued use. Whilst commonly used to check into locations, QR codes have a range of uses. Along with a wide range of uses, QR codes are also one of the few ways that advertisers themselves measure their success.

By placing QR codes in creatives, advertisers can measure exactly how impactful their campaigns are. The benefit of QR codes is that the data is first-party data and is accessible instantly. QR codes can link to any webpage, meaning marketers/advertisers can send viewers straight to the purchase point/call-to-action.

Long term it is likely QR codes as a metric will stay around for a while, they’re extremely adaptable and viewers are now familiar and comfortable with them. Something else may come along that replaces or improves on QR codes, but the premise will remain the same.

These aren’t the only metrics used to measure the success and effectiveness of DOOH, there are many more. Not only is there a range of metrics, but there’s a wide variety of third-party tools used to measure them. These third-party tools can also measure said metrics in a variety of ways, due to a lack of standardisation.

Doohly supports a few different third-party verification tools, whilst also supplying reports on campaign performance. Aside from supporting third-party verification tools, Doohly is also an easy-to-use digital signage CMS platform. If you’re looking to get started with digital signage, contact our sales team today.