Part 6 - Measurement Matters
Author: Judy L. Hoffman
Network owners must find efficient ways to monitor screens and ads and offer detailed advertising reports for advertiser's, marketers and media planners.
And it is important to translate these into measurement terminology that is understood by the advertising industry.
In the case of digital signage advertising it is a new media and any new media is considered a risk by the industry. Media planners and ad agencies love the idea, but they speak a language that is foreign to the digital signage industry. They want audience measurements to prove reliability. It is the consensus of many that the answer lies in a mix of traditional measurements and 'real-time' data of screen views and store views.
The Return-on-Investment, or ROI translation with digital signage advertising can be frustrating for ad agencies and media planners. With more and more advertising networks being deployed and results being monitored, we are seeing solid measurements for ROI coming forth and digital signage advertising is emerging as the lowest cost in the industry with CPMs (Cost-per-Thousand), as spoken by advertising people, range from $2.00 to $12 per thousand viewers.
But caution is suggested when calculating CPM. How accurate is that "per thousand"? Traditional advertising targets viewers by zip code, zones, or viewing areas, and relies heavily on the potential customer to actually view the ad.
In the advertising industry there is a sizeable difference between 'readers' and 'circulation'. Print media may relate 'reader' count for a particular publication is 60,000. What they really mean is that the publication is distributed to 24,000 households with the assumption that there are 2.5 readers per household. This same concept holds true for television and radio; there is no exact count of who actually sees or hears the ads.
Compare a digital signage scenario. A store has 20,000 customers pass through a designated area each week. A digital sign is strategically placed for optimum viewing by all who pass. Couple this with statistics that 70% of shoppers make purchasing decisions while in the store. How targeted and easy to measure is that? And how much more accurate?
The next article will consider "impressions", "reach and frequency" and ways to measure and report these in terms that the industry accepts.
About the Author
Judy L. Hoffman has freelanced marketing and public relations services for over 20 years serving a wide range of industries worldwide and, while working as PR Specialist at Noventri (www.noventri.com), has nurtured a keen interest in the digital world and the effects of digital signage in the field of marketing and public relations. Hoffman is a freelance writer and has been published in numerous trade journals, newspapers, and online publications. Hoffman holds a Bachelors in Marketing Management.