It is testament to the importance the digital signage industry places on the subject, that The Screen 'Audience Measurement' event in London's Covent Garden was a full house. More than 60 people jostled together to network, listen, debate and munch their way through a morning of expert speakers and smoked salmon bagels.

The range of visitors from Screen Forum member companies and guests; included the great and good of the UK industry - including, media companies (HyperSpace & ABC Media), hardware suppliers (Sony & Sanyo), network operators (JCDecaux & The Post Office), software companies (EnQii & CanMedia), content companies (Grand Visual & Realisation) solution providers (Netpractise & Arqiva), and venerable industry bodies (OAA).

The session was opened by Richard Windle of IPSOS MORI. Richard originally worked with The Screen Forum on the creation of their Audience Measurement white paper, and has gone on to expand the concept for POSTAR, the UK ratings agency for the poster industry.

IPSOS/POSTAR announced their proposed development and classification of a set of metrics (opportunity to see, dwell and impact) that are to be measured over long term field surveys for all out-of-home media, using a number of classification devices, including wireless handheld key-tags.

However it was clear that they didn't intend to get to digital out-of-home sector for quite some years - quoting 2010/2011 for the publishing of their findings.

In the meantime, and with no choice but to do it for themselves, Nick Mottershead stated that Match Day Media had already invested in excess of £150K ($300K) with RSMB (one of the companies behind BARB, the UK Broadcast Ratings Agency) and The Helen Harrison Company.

They have developed a system that they use 'week-in, week-out' and Nick offered to share and publish all his systems, IP and data with anyone in the industry willing to work with them, to help build an accepted and transparent medium.

From the suppliers came data on the accuracy and usage of people counting software and camera technology. QuiVidi suggested an interesting approach for driving the industry forward with a program for the joint financing of research by suppliers, network operators and advertisers.

TruMedia presented the novel idea of using people counting systems to actually drive a 'google-like' approach to the sales of media advertising. Where the technology allows advertisers to pay for a fixed number of views - and once the budget for the period is used, the technology replaces the advert in real-time.

The route through all these different measurement possibilities, and the comparison back to traditional media, posed a continual conundrum for the audience. As one guest summarised, 'it would seem that one of the greatest strengths of digital signage could also be one of its greatest weaknesses. We actually have the fantastic ability to track almost all viewer data through our on-line systems- but in doing so we run the risk of being unfavourably compared with media (such as print) that rates itself on significantly less scientific terms'.

'rates will go up by 50-100%, matching local TV rates with
the introduction of accurate measurement tools' - TruMedia

THE SCREEN FORUM - COMMENT

It is clear that network operators have the greatest incentive to work together to develop a transparent mechanism and common currency. If the media market is to serve up the advertising revenues that they need to grow their estates, then they cannot afford to wait for the ratings agencies to pronounce on their behalf. With the systems and technology already in use, and a willingness to work together and build this industry, some big steps could be taken in a relatively short time.

The Screen concluded the event by committing to build on the established systems of the Match Day Media team, and to see if it could use this model to form the basis of an independent framework for other network operators to follow. 'The further we can take the model now, the more chance we as an industry have to shape the thinking and opinions of the different ratings agencies,' summed Richard Cobbold of The Screen Forum.

To support The Screen Forum initiative, please email info@thescreen.org.uk