Every week in Gauteng billboards (3 859 sites) deliver 2.3 billion impacts, reaching nine million people during 124 million trips. That’s 12.2 trips per person, and a reach of 86%. In the Western Cape, reach is even higher, sitting at 90%. That’s 1 028 billboard sites, with 310 million impacts reaching 3.9 million people over 55 million trips per week (12.7 per person).
These are just a few facts gleaned from the Outdoor Measurement Council’s (OMC) latest ROAD research, now in its third year.
The results, says OMC general manager, Trish Guildford, is a research currency “that is robust, accurate and designed for our local market, delivering value and meeting a host of OOH planning and strategy needs”.
At the launch of the data, international guest speaker James Whitmore, managing director of Route in the UK, said automation was a serious consideration for all media in the near future.
“If this is to work properly and in the best interests of advertisers, it is vital that the data inputs are objective and robust. Joint industry currencies – audience measurement bodies – are having their moment in the sun,” he says. “It is increasingly evident that strong, independent research is paramount for the health of media owners, agencies and advertisers. Without it we fear a future of confusion, inefficiency, ignorance and mistrust.”
Researcher Lauren Shapiro of Kuper Research Shapiro said questions the OMC was asked most frequently were:
- What is a good billboard and what isn’t?
- What is a good schedule?
- What can we expect to achieve?
- How much budget do we need?
The OMC’s research provided this integral data, and the Optimiser software was developed for the purpose of giving media owners, media agencies and marketers the means to plan based on budget and set criteria.
Shapiro pointed out the out of home research wasn’t a simple ‘plug and play’ process. The ROAD research delivered improved understanding of mobility and routing, and the value of a greater number of respondents highlighted the OMC’s commitment in terms of longevity and delivered accurate audience insights to the market. The latest data contained a fused, rolling, robust and sizable sample of over 45 000 people.
Howard Lonstein, OMC committee member and marketing manager of Outdoor Network says one way of demonstrating how OOH can stay current is to “look at how optimising OOH in the media mix can increase the share of advertising spend to the medium”.
Lonstein reckons the best medium to demonstrate this is to synergise with digital. “We are all aware that advertising budgets are not necessarily being cut, but rather being allocated to different media channels,” he says. “By integrating digital with ROAD, some amazing and impactful insights are gained to guide planning and improve consumer targeting.”
