• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 22, 2012

The Media Behavior Institute’s USA TouchPoints has its first trade group member: the Digital Place-based Advertising Association announced this week that it has subscribed to the syndicated service from MBI, which provides advertisers and media companies with insights and data on consumer behavior based on location, activity, social setting and mood, by time of day and day of week.

Under terms of their agreement, USA TouchPoints will advise and collaborate with DPAA on analyses of TouchPoints data for the association's presentations, presumably focusing on the ways that digital out-of-home video networks reach consumers, and their advantages relative to other media platforms. USA TouchPoints also will train DPAA’s staff to use the research company’s database.

USA TouchPoints is already providing the DPAA with data on “tech-forward consumers,” defined as people who lead active, on-the-go lifestyles and who are heavy users of social media and other technology -- and who also happen to be difficult to reach via traditional media like TV. Not coincidentally, this same group overindexes in behaviors like visiting bars and restaurants and health clubs, making them ideal targets for digital out-of-home video networks.

Indeed, one of the main selling points of digital out-of-home video nets -- and outdoor advertising in general -- has been its ability to reach young, well-heeled consumers, who are spending more time out of the home and less time in front of the TV. This trend has been further accelerated by the much-talked-about “fragmentation” of media due to the Internet and mobile, leaving out-of-home as one of the few “ubiquitous” media (which can also be coordinated with mobile, another contender for ubiquity).

USA TouchPoints data will illustrate these related trends, according to DPAA president and CEO Susan Danaher, who touted DOOH as “a way to reach on-the-move consumers at the right time and in the right place.”