Making EYES ON hands on
by blogadmin on Mar.25, 2010, under Buyers Corner
Not that long ago, I was speaking to a client who had heard about the new EYES ON ratings system and was curious to know how it was done. After all, he mused, how DO they see who’s watching the boards? Are there little cameras perched on top? Is that why it’s called EYES ON?
While this may seem comical to those who’ve been involved with EYES ON from its inception, his confusion underscores the need for both education about, and experience with the new system. EYES ON has been much anticipated as the official new measurement currency for OOH media. We know the system was rigorously developed and offers robust information that solidifies our media investment decisions. We know it provides a common currency that allows easy comparison with other media. And as those charged with justifying our recommendations, we feel it offers more meaningful measures than we’ve ever had before.
The challenge is we have to step up the pace and make EYES ON hands on! It will take commitment to the process which is not much different from learning a new language: practice, practice, practice. Planners and buyers need to see the system in action, examining comparisons between DECs and EOI in order to see how the new metrics better serve their needs. Sellers need to communicate why a specific recommendation is right for a particular client and be fully conversant in the new currency so that they may educate their customers. Dialog between buyer and seller is key as well as a willingness to play with the system and learn through doing.
It will take more than a few webinars to get planners and buyers comfortable with these systems and familiar enough to explain the outcomes to their clients. Agencies will need regular guidance and support, whether through vendors or the companies developing tools utilizing EYES ON data. But buyers need to do their part as well by pushing suppliers to include EOI on their proposals and insuring that it’s not just another data point or column in a grid but fully understood so that we, in turn, can educate our clients.
In net, EYES ON needs to become hands on sooner than later and it’s everyone’s responsibility to make that happen.
Let’s just do it!
Norm Chait
Norm Chait is SVP, Director of OOH Investment and Activation for Mediavest Worldwide in New York City
March 31st, 2010 on 10:25 am
It is interesting to see how our recommendations are being influenced when we look at the difference in DECs and EOIs. Recently, we had to sift through some replacement units which we were going to have a hard time selling through because they were not the size we desired (14 x 48s – new units were 20 x 60s) and these were the only bulletins left for our timing along a specific route. Particularly frustrating was the fact that these new units had lower DECs as well. We had asked for a comparison of EOIs from the vendor, but I was able to look this up, and interestingly enough, the new units had higher EOIs than the original units in our plan! This was a relief since we did like the new units and their reads, but knew the clients would focus on the difference in impressions.
May 27th, 2010 on 4:01 pm
In response to the requested need for a standardized audience identification and measurement system with respect to place-based DOOH, I would like to share my opinion.
While EYES ON may utilize what they deem to be the most advanced audience measurement technology, there are viable media opportunities which would not, or could not, be surveyed by EYES ON as accurately as their own measurement. One such DOOH media opportunity is the Mizlou Thoroughbred Racing Network, whose audience measurements are derived from turnstile information provided by the tracks to their respective states for tax purposes. Because of this one example, I believe each media opportunity should be evaluated on a case by case basis and not under one measurement criteria. DOOH encompasses various and vastly different viewing patterns and geographic environments and planners/buyers miss out on extremely viable media environments for their clients because they are forced to adhere to existing guidelines prepared and provided by survey companies (the path of least resistance). These companies may not be aware of all media available in the marketplace and therefore should not be considered the gold standard of audience measurement, DOOH or otherwise. Media decision-makers need to keep an open mind and become marketers who wear media hats rather than myopic thinkers who follow cookie-cutter guidelines and tune out the possibilities of all media options available. What happened to creative buying?
Vic Piano
CEO
Mizlou Thoroughbred Racing Network
June 4th, 2010 on 10:16 am
You may be biting the hand that feeds you by generalizing that buyers are virtual robots just doing cookie cutter plans (or at least the hand that you hope will feed you). Buyers evaluate media on many levels. But when it comes to impressions, it is very important for our industry to have a standard measurement system that will hopefully cover all viable media options. EOIs provide audience impressions and ratings available for each individual panel or display, information regarding demographic audiences similar to other media, and as important – reports commercial audiences actually noticing ads.
Not sure if you are familiar with some of the criteria behind the creation of EOIs, but there is a lot behind this that leads to the end result of individual impressions/ratings for each OOH unit currently audited. This includes weekly circulation counts for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, “noticeability” tests via eye-tracking studies (which ultimately lead to visibility adjustments for each display) as well as demographic information and travel surveys. All together, this leads to individual impressions being calculated for each OOH unit, and since here we see units being audited individually, I can certainly agree that DOOH networks would also need to be audited individually as well.
However, there needs to be some sort of standardization, as what you see from DOOH networks today can not serve as the “golden standard” for providing measurement – in other words, we can no longer leave it up to the individual DOOH networks to provide audience information as they see fit. We need some sort of standardization for auditing, especially since it seems like every network plays up a research study that is conducted by companies like Arbitron and tries to use this to their advantage. Because of this, we have seen companies that provide digital opportunities in a certain venue provide the same research information as one of their competitors, despite the fact that at times, these competitive networks have very different offerings and screens. For instance, it can be hard to believe that an “in-bar” digital network that has screens on walls and an “in-bar” digital network that has screens on juke boxes both have the same ability to be seen, and yet both will tout Arbitron research as a justification for their “reported” audiences.
In addition, a perfect example of why we need standardization can, in a sense, be derived from the way you express your standards for audience measurement. You seem to be basing audience measurement on turnstile information – and if we equate this to measurement for traditional OOH (Bulletins and the like), your form of measurement is on an equal playing field with DECs. We used DECs for so long but realized that there were shortcomings because at the end of the day, this is a gross audience and doesn’t really speak to the likelihood of the ads being seen. Sure, 60,000 people might pass by a Bulletin in a day, and maybe 3,000 people go to a racetrack in a day, but that doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about who might actually be SEEING the ads. This is exactly why we are moving towards a new generation of OOH audience measurement with EOIs.
Digital OOH is certainly a viable area and gaining in popularity. It serves a great purpose for the right client in the right place. There should be a measurement for this growing trend. In time, I am sure TAB will provide digital networks with the opportunity to be measured and at that time, buyers will have another tool in which to evaluate the medium.
Matt Leible
President
Generation Outdoor