In 2011 we will see new data from Postar. It results from a completely re-engineered study that is designed to provide a fully comprehensive and comparative audience measure for the medium. For the first time, independent measures for the underground, rail, retail and buses will be on hand alongside those for roadside. Airports will follow in 2012. 

 Out of home will be the first medium to fully engage with passive data collection techniques. GPS meters are used to record movements without the requirement for respondents to remember their actions, to fill in diaries, press buttons or log on to computers. The audience is tracked, second by second, using GPS and GPRS sensors. Ten measures a second are given to sense the mode of motion

Whilst the passive measurement of the whereabouts of some 15,000 people is a key feature of the work, it is but one of a number of important aspects. Each advertising frame is positioned to the nearest metre, its orientation determined to the closest degree. The frames are placed on the most precise scale maps; both indoors and out. Electronic count data is gathered to determine the absolute numbers of people at each location. Sophisticated models calculate the flow of travellers through each link in the road, rail and tube network. Lasers determine the fixation of the eye to the nearest sixty milliseconds. Account is taken of dynamic images such as digital and scrolling display. The work on the effect of illumination is greatly enhanced.

Thus one learns who passes what and when. One deduces the likelihood to see something based on the relative orientation of viewer and object.

The study enables advertisers to plan campaigns across the entire medium, confident in their ability to ascertain the contribution of each sector. Buyers and sellers will have a much broader and more detailed body of data with which to work. With greater information, evaluation of campaigns will be easier for all.

James Whitmore