• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 20, 2011

At a time when the eyes of many advertisers and agencies are shifting from national to local, and even hyper-local perspectives, media planning software and systems giant Telmar has announced a breakthrough that will enable Madison Avenue to seamlessly plan out-of-home media buys utilizing market-level data based built from specific sites and locations in each market.

The new system, which already has been incorporated by Aegis out-of-home media unit Posterscope, is said to be the first system of its kind based on the so-called "eyes-on" metrics developed over the past several years by the Traffic Audit Bureau.

The eyes-on metrics, which utilize weights and factors that visually account for how consumers might actually be exposed to an ad in an out-of-home location, is considered by many on Madison Avenue to be the most accountable metric yet for an ad actually being seen. It shifts the burden of a medium from a historic "opportunity to see" to a likelihood to see advertising buys.

Telmar said the system has been beta tested by Posterscope, which has been using it to develop strategies and plans for big out-of-home advertisers, including Coca-Cola Co.