Search »

Outdoor Industry Awards Ratings Contract to MRI

Last week, Nielsen Outdoor announced the expansion of its GPS-based ratings service to Los Angeles, as part of plans to deploy the new technology-based measurement service in the top ten media markets in the U.S. This week, the outdoor media industry is announcing the final phase of its own outdoor audience ratings plan, which is being coordinated by the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB), by awarding the contract to Europe’s Gfk Group, Gfk’s U.S. subsidiary, magazine audience researcher Mediamark Research Inc., and media planning services provider Telmar, MediaPost reports.

 

Awarding the ratings contract to Gfk/MRI and Telmar is the third and last phase of a plan to create the most accountable audience measurement system of any medium in the world. Unlike other media measurement systems that essentially measure a so-called “opportunity to see” advertising, the TAB’s initiative measures a “likelihood to see.” The TAB calls its new metric an “eyes-on” system that will provide visually adjusted demographic ratings for outdoor advertising in more than 200 U.S. markets.

“This is a giant leap forward for the out of home industry in an amazingly short period of time and will provide marketers with more credible information than they have ever had before for the purposes of planning and buying the medium,” Mark Kaline, head of media at auto giant Ford Motor Co., said in the TAB’s statement.