Verizon Media DOOH panel explores regulatory barriers behind MOVE 2.0 rollout
As the Out-Of-Home (OOH) industry eagerly awaits the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) to roll out its forthcoming unified digital measurement system MOVE 2.0, industry speculation and discussion about programmatic DOOH is only ramping up.
Verizon Media brought together a panel of OOH experts for its latest virtual panel, Trends Decoded: Cutting Edge Out Of Home, to give an update on the state of play with DOOH measurement and provide examples of the effectiveness of digital measurement, even in its current, fragmented state.
Joining Verizon’s director of ad platforms, John McNerney and VP ANZ and INSEA, Paul Sigaloff, were Publicis Media Exchange MD Anthony Ellis, JC Decaux EGM, revenue strategy and operations, Cassandra Cameron and OMA CEO Charmaine Moldrich, as well as QV senior brand manager, Samantha Franklin.
In his initial keynote, McNerney spoke about how “digital transformation is unavoidable”, quoting that 56% of OOH revenue in Australia comes from digital screens. Meanwhile, 70% of digital screens are currently activated for programmatic, with that number expected to rise to 90% very soon.
In the panel that followed, topics including the current state of programmatic measurement for outdoor, and the impending roll-out of MOVE 2.0, as well as the challenges the OMA is currently facing in developing the metric, were all discussed.
Franklin spoke about how a recent campaign for QV skincare products that heavily leaned on DOOH helped drive a 20% uplift in sales. ”
“One of the things we look at is measuring purchase intent. We wanted to look at foot traffic and we needed to persuade people to go into pharmacies. We saw over a 20% sales uplift during the promotion which ran across DOOH,” she said.
Cameron weighed in about current challenges, with changing JC Decaux as a business and educating agencies and clients being some of the key aspects. Until recently, “We were selling digital inventory in the way we were selling classic. We’ve tried over the past few years to embrace change, to think like a true digital business because that’s what we want to compete with,” she said.
“The last 18 months have accelerated that, with a requirement to develop more granular audience and mobility data. We are coming out the other side [of COVID] in a much stronger position. Programmatic increases the flexibility and immediacy with which out-of-home can trade.
OMA’s Moldrich admits that in terms of developing MOVE 2.0, COVID “brought into stark reality what was busy work and what was real work for granular audiences, day-parting, encouraging players who weren’t in the network to join the OMA.
She continued: “The other thing has been the education of the market, we have been thinking as traditional media channels – the market thinks in traditional ways, the way it buys media – so we have to play a role in how we educate the market and work in partnership with the market on all of the things that DOOH can offer.
“We are at the very beginning of that journey. Our concentration has been on two things – to digitise the network, and to find the right currency – then next will be to sell that to the market.”
DOOH Revenue Australia [Verizon Media]
“We are working across all our agencies, the planners and buyers, starting with the client needs, but looking at OOH holistically, not just through a programmatic lens. It’s about asking: how programmatic can really supercharge the results that we’ve got?”
Cameron agreed that education is key, and explained there are misconceptions about DOOH. “Some advertisers aren’t really interested in a programmatic conversation because they don’t understand what it means.
“Unlike other media channels, programmatic OOH isn’t a different media channel, it’s just a different way of executing out of home. Some clients just want to trade programmatically because it’s new and shiny. Others don’t want the path because of previous experience. It can be good or not depending on what you want to achieve with the campaign.”
Moldrich went on to talk about the importance of getting MOVE 2.0 right, and that means taking the time to do it properly. “The complexity of measuring out of home cannot be underestimated,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe we launched MOVE without a quantum computer. We are now going to measure audiences every day, 365 days a year, every hour. MOVE gives you an average audience but MOVE 2.0 will give you a daily audience.”
There are significant regulatory boundaries to developing a robust measurement system for the whole industry as well. Moldrich joined the call from Perth where she is currently meeting with government officials to discuss regulatory barriers to measurement in Western Australia.
“I spend a lot of time talking to government and looking at regulation,” she admits. “Harmonising regulation in Australia when it comes to digital billboards is the biggest challenge we face as an industry that people from outside the industry don’t understand.”
Ellis encourages the industry and key stakeholders to be patient. “The size of the prize in getting this right and having a consistent approach to market is massive. Currently, it’s not happening and there is a desire to get there.
“The pressure is on the media owners to drive the result, and I get those pressures, but the end result is hugely important.”
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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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Anthony Ellis
Cassandra Cameron
Charmaine Moldrich
digital out of home
DOOH
JCDecaux
John McNerney
MOVE 1.0
MOVE 2.0
OMA
Outdoor Media Association
Paul Sigaloff
Publicis Media Exchange
Samantha Franklin
Verizon Media
