• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, February 2, 2023

The out-of-home media industry doesn’t have an audience measurement standard sanctioned by the Media Rating Council but that’s about to change.

MRC CEO George Ivie said today that a new OOH standard is “imminent,” adding that the group expects to release a standard this quarter for the industry to consider and comment on.

Ivie, speaking at the 4A’s Decisions conference said a finalized OOH standard would be hugely beneficial for that sector.

It would provide “apples to apples” comparisons between OOH and other major media like TV, audio and digital and put the medium in the “consideration bin” of media buying plans “in a much stronger way.” The standard would “align buying OOH with the major buying cycles,” he added.

Currently OOH is measured by Geopath (formerly the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Management) a nonprofit organization that is governed by a board comprised of advertisers, agencies and media companies.

Anna Bager, president and CEO OAAC and who spoke at the 4A’s session as Ivie, said the development was good news for the industry. “It’s important that we compare against other media,” she said. Better comparability equates to “more trust” from the buying community, she said.

Geopath president Dylan Mabin, also participating on the panel, agreed that measurement efforts would be improved by “setting a standard.”