Lumo Digital launches LENS outdoor measurement, calls legacy platforms inaccurate
Mumbrella can reveal New Zealand-based Lumo Digital is preparing to launch its LENS measurement technology in Australia as out-of-home waits for industry-standard digital measurement.
Lumo is one of several outdoor providers who’ve spent time researching and developing its own measurement systems for digital out-of-home (DOOH) locations in real-time. While it is yet to acquire any Australian assets, Lumo is now ready to license LENS to OOH providers this side of the ditch.
Lumo Digital co-founder and CEO Phil Clemas
The creation of LENS followed significant research into generating real accountability and transparency for measuring digital. The platform measures both pedestrian and automotive movement. With results from use of the platform, Lumo Digital co-founder and CEO Phil Clemas, has asserted that legacy platforms have been providing inaccurate figures for years.
Clemas told Mumbrella that the company was previously “using other technology to measure volume but it was missing detail around visitor frequency. [Then] last year we found a software solution that used automated number plate recognition.”
That number plate recognition allows LENS to count vehicles in real-time, as well as visitor frequency. In addition, it generates information on car makes and models.
“We’re streaming data live,” Clemas said. “Every second, every hour, every day. So we can say that we know how many have gone past and when they’ve gone past.
“We know how many times on average the visitor frequency is. And for clients who want basic automotive data, makes and models, we have that at the same time.” He noted that other forms of digital measurement don’t account for all factors in what piece of content audiences may see.
“Digital is, by nature, very flexible around content play, dynamic content, transitions. We need something that measures audience in real time, because you can have a different piece of content playing every minute.
“So we need to have that level of currency and the level of granularity, to provide that ability to measure audiences”.
Since Lumo rolled out LENS across its digital assets, Clemas has been comparing his own numbers to competitor data, and is of the belief that legacy outdoor brands have been pushing inaccurate figures for years.
“Using LENS, we’ve found the traffic numbers are way less than what is shown on the legacy platforms.
“They’ve been pushing out numbers about digital billboards for years. The real numbers are actually half of what people have been saying.
“Without accurate data, like what we are providing, they are ripping off the advertisers. It’s not good for advertisers and not good for the industry.
“We’ve got the technology and the data now, there’s no excuses anymore. We need to rip off the scab and provide for our clients.”
Clemas is aware that Lumo has several significant challenges if it is to disrupt the outdoor measurement game, not least of which the big established players bringing out their own forms of measurement and lack of awareness of the company in Australia.
But, he told Mumbrella he has received international interest in licensing the technology.
“I think that’s probably the biggest limitation at the moment – lack of awareness beyond a few clients in New Zealand that it does exist,” he said.
“So we’ll be making a lot more noise about it over the next several months.
“I think we’re holding ourselves back. So we’re trying to do our best to try and break some of those old mindsets and get advertisers and agencies excited about it.”
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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